Theoretically the first to feel the pinch of this drastic drop in viewership should be the advertisers. But I really wonder how tightly correlated the amount of advertising is to sales, at least in the short term (a year or two), especially for the larger corporations.
Free agency .. Major impact. Smart franchise will go with rookies and youth.
Rebuild. New league.
I’m pretty sure the leagues can get by with one season of bad ratings.
Two seasons of bad ratings and the advertisers are going to be demanding the leagues return to the table to renegotiate.
Three seasons and all bets are off.
Ad campaigns are a major expense for even large corporations and they have to show ROI for every ad dollar spent.
The leagues are playing with a hot and fast burning fire.