Revenue down 50% this year? My god, ignorance is bliss. Whatever empty seats you see, they have already been sold (except in Los Angeles) and those are special cases. I could not help but notice some of the pictures taken of empty seats were 30 minutes before game time.
In Washington today, I noticed some empty seats, but the stadium was sold out - some people chose not to show up, but it wasn't all that much.
As far as the networks are concerned, the contract is between the league and the networks. The networks are paying the NFL whatever the contract calls for regardless of ratings. If a network has to do a make good on an ad, that is the network's loss and not the NFL.
Now it is true, revenue may be affected in the future, but not until the network contracts are up for renewal. ESPN has already stated they may not bid on future contracts, but that could be a future bargaining ploy...who knows.
The football ratings have fallen some but still are the highest rated network shows according to Nielsen. Whatever revenue is being lost is ancillary revenue, such as parking revenue and a cut of concessions which is basically pocket change to the owners.
Cool. I like being fawned over and remember for my wise words here on FR. Welcome to the club.
:D
Everything you said in your post is true - and sad for our country because the NFL needs to be flushed until real patriotism returns.