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However, it still was not a good result for CBS and the NFL as the matchup went late and delivered 9.9/18 in metered market ratings. That’s down 13% from the 2016 TNF opener on CBS and NFL Network when the New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills 37-31. In the first of five TNFs that CBS has this year, last night’s game was shown on NFL Network and made its live debut on Amazon Prime.

The NFL has long been the cornerstone of the U.S. pay television market. Viewers’ loyalty to their favorite teams and the tradition of watching games on Sunday afternoons (and Monday nights) provided stability and certainty for stakeholders across the TV ecosystem. . . . The question today, however, is what if this entire edifice is just a house of cards? NFL ratings have fallen significantly across all providers over the past seasons and so far 2017 is not looking any better. The only positive element to that decline may be that fewer people have to watch the sad sight of...

Preliminary television ratings for Sunday's NFL games finished lower as compared to the same week last year. CBS said its national games, which featured the Green Bay Packers' 27-24 win over the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs' 24-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, were down 1 percent in the overnight ratings as compared to its Week 3 national games for the 2016 season. Fox's game, which featured the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Eagles in many markets, was down 16 percent, compared to Week 3 of last season, which featured the Giants playing the Washington Redskins....

On a day full of criticisms from Donald Trump, political protests, linked arms, players taking a knee or not coming on the field during the National Anthem and renewed pleas for unity from the league NBC and the NFL took a hit last night on Sunday Night Football. In metered market numbers, the primetime match-up between the 27-10 winning Washington Redskins and the Oakland Raiders snared an 11.6/20. The worst SNF has performed this season so far, that’s an 8% dip from the early numbers of last week’s Atlanta Falcon’s 34-23 win over the Green Bay Packers. Gaining cheers and...

On Friday night President Trump lashed out at NFL players protesting the national anthem on Friday while at a campaign rally for Senator Luther Strange (R-AL). On Sunday over two hundred NFL players and staff knelt down in protest during the national anthem. Americans reacted to the controversy by boycotting the league. Early numbers show weekly NFL ratings may be down by 10% due to the stunt.

These NFL shove-in-your-face protests are getting out of hand and quite childish just to prove their point. Personally, I think most NFL players are doing this just because it's "cool" and a photo-op, ooh how trendy. Just when you think it couldn't get worse, along comes Terry Bradshaw shoving his opinion on the matter in support of their protest, and that's the straw that broke the camel's back for me to watch NFL anymore. I thought the point of NFL commentators wasn't to express their own political beliefs! It must be nice knowing NFL players and sports commentators get paid...

Donald Trump drove this bus, tweeting away at 100 mph. It blew straight past Crazy Town. His speech on Friday and subsequent posts about firing “SOBs” who kneel during the national anthem threw plutonium on a fire that has been smoldering for a year. That fire blew up on an increasingly beleaguered — and increasingly holier-than-thou — NFL. The national media narrative heading into yesterday’s NFL play was simple: “You either support players who take a knee during the national anthem, or you are a racist.” Condemnation of Trump was necessary, if not compulsory. Players tweeted it. Media types broke...

WOW Cafe & Wingery of St. Bernard in Chalmette took to Facebook on Sunday afternoon to say it won't televise the Saints vs. Panthers game after a group of players participated in a protest during the national anthem. "I apologize to all of our guests but we will not be viewing the Saints game today in house," the post reads. "Some of our local players chose to sit during the National Anthem, which will not be supported or praised at WOW. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you." Lindsey Manasco, a 31-year-old manager, waitress and bartender...

In Support of Police and Firefighters, FANS are burning their NFL Seaon Tickets on Social Media in Support of AMERICA and our Patriots, fighting back against those who Kneel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A778dMvbrJg

Some NFL games on Sunday had an abundance of empty seats. See pictures...

During the past month the overall stock market is up more than 2% but shares of companies that broadcast NFL games—Comcast, Walt Disney, Fox, CBS—are all down between 1% to 8%. The NFL is now a hotbed of protests—a carry over from last year that began when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began protesting during the National Anthem, to protests this year by those who feel Kaepernick, who is without a team, is being unfairly treated by by the league, to a stronger push by some players for an increase in NFL social activism. […] An article in The...

After the first two weeks of the NFL season, there’s a clear storyline that has emerged: Think pieces about the NFL’s quality of play are en vogue. From The Ringer’s Kevin Clark to Bill Barnwell of ESPN to that old NFL bible—The Weekly Standard—this week saw a ton of NFL observers examine the league’s quality of play as well as the perception behind that. The headline of Clark’s piece didn’t hold back: How Football Stopped Being Fun. How does that correlate with NFL ratings, which is more the focus of this column? Well, that depends on how you want to...

It's DEFCON 1 this weekend – not between the U.S. and North Korea, despite the battle of insults between "Dotard" President Donald Trump and "Rocket Man" Kim Jong-un. Instead, the war is between the president and the sports world, specifically the NFL and NBA. It led the Drudge Report on Saturday. Since when have professional sports become political? Long before Trump moved into the White House. The NFL is famous for its activism. Support for Black Lives Matter after Ferguson. Solidarity with Trayvon Martin. Lectures from Bob Costas – not on the upcoming game, but on gun control or global...

The Colin Kaepernick-led player protests may be hurting the NFL broadcast networks where its hurts them the most: in the pocketbook. With NFL TV ratings plunging by double-digits over the first quarter of the 2016 season, some NFL TV networks are being forced to provide so-called "make-goods" to advertisers, media sources tell Sporting News. MORE: Worst of the Kaepernick takes When advertisers and ad agencies buy commercial time on NFL partner TV networks, they're promised certain numbers in terms of ratings and audiences. If the game fails to reach those numbers, the networks have to "make good" for the audience...

The San Francisco 49ers Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams kicked off in front of a nearly empty stadium. Los Angeles Times reporter Lindsey Thiry tweeted a photo at the time of kickoff, which showed thousands of open seats. In fact, most sections in the photo have more empty seats than fans. Thursday night football. Time for kickoff. pic.twitter.com/SinMLDH6AD ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported that 63,500 tickets had been sold for the game, but of course, simply selling a ticket doesn’t mean the buyer will actually show up to the game. It’s hard to believe there are more than...

CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC will generate about $2.5 billion in NFL advertising revenue this season, but a 10 percent shortfall could translate to a $200 million cut in earnings, an analyst estimates. NFL's ratings woes continued in Week 2, and Wall Street is taking notice, given there are fewer excuses for falling viewership than there were a year ago when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were distracting TV-watching Americans.

We all knew NBC would win last night — but how many of you had the Chiefs? (And be honest, commenters.) The 2017 NFL Kickoff Game slipped 12 percent versus 2016’s version, putting up a 14.6 rating/25 share. Last year’s — a rematch of Super Bowl 50 — was already down 7 percentage points when compared with its own predecessor. The 2016 season-opener (a 16.5 overnight rating) featured a rematch from the prior year’s big game. And it was a close contest, as the defending champion Denver Broncos edged the opposition Carolina Panthers by just one point. This time around,...

Fewer people are watching the NFL on TV, and no one really knows why. The NFL Players Association admits that the trend is an obvious concern. The league has kept quiet, likely fearful that talking about the situation would lend credence to the dynamic, possibly causing other fans who are still watching the games to say, “Maybe I should stop, too.” The decline has become a mystery, for the media and surely for the NFL.