Posted on 10/11/2016 8:08:51 PM PDT by jazusamo
Ratings for the National Football League are off substantially this season , and of course nobody at the league has the slightest idea why. It can't be due to the ungrateful arrogance of has-been 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, or the increasing politicization of the sport by lefty sportwriters (and they're all lefties) and ESPN. No, it must be something else:
The NFL has a ratings problem. The causes are many, and the leading cause is certainly up for debate. But that isn’t stopping the NFL from denying that the problem has some controversial undercurrents – or that the problem exists in the first place.Sunday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants drew a 10.2 overnight rating as it mostly went up against the second presidential debate, according to Sports Media Watch . It’s a steep drop from 13.1 in Week 5 of the 2015 season and the lowest overnight rating since Week 8 of the 2013 season.
The presidential debate, and the 2016 election season, are no doubt cutting into TV ratings for everyone, not just the NFL. But for an 11 percent overall drop through the first four weeks of 2016 that is likely to deepen after Week 5? Seems more like a convenient excuse.
I can think of a few others. The sport is overlong, packing a whopping 11 minutes of action into a commercial-stuffed four hours of viewing time. Except for a few quarterbacks, the players are largely interchangeable and anonymous. And the television presenttion itself is essentially unwatchable, filled with graphics that add nothing to the enjoyment of the sport.
In short, the NFL sucks. But don't expect the league to acknowledge that. Top brass would rather blame the election:
Yet, here’s the NFL sending an internal memo to all 32 teams reassuring them that the ratings are nothing to worry about. “There is no question that unprecedented interest in the Presidential election is impacting primetime ratings,” reads the letter from NFL reps Brian Rolapp and Howard Katz. Curiously, the letter brings up the effect that the backlash over the growing national anthem protests among players is having on the ratings, which they dismissed.“Finally, it is worth noting that we see no evidence that concern over player protests during the National Anthem is having any material impact on ratings. In fact, our own data shows that perception of the NFL and its players is actually up in 2016.”
Right. And black is white and in is out and up is down.
In all seriousness, the league itself may have no evidence, but I certainly do … from the hundreds of fans who literally told me they stopped watching the NFL because they were sick of the anthem protests and the injection of politics into NFL games in the first place. Is the anthem protest backlash the onlycause of the ratings decline? No. It is most certainly a confluence of a lot of different issues. But to simply deny that there is a segment of the ever-crucial 18-49 demographic that saw the anthem protests as a “last straw” kind of moment that made them turn the channel on the NFL’s diminished on-field product is to demonstrate that you are out-of-touch with your own customers.
I used to think there were three things a malignant pop culture could never ruin: music, women's bodies, and sports. Wrong on all three counts. Do yourself a favor: turn the NFL off, reclaim four or eight or twelve hours of your life per week, and go do something useful.
Meanwhile, this just in from ESPN: I rest my case.
Special added bonus: NFL player rap sheets.
Seems the Bills will face the 49’ers on Sunday - with Kaepernick starting.
The main AM radio afternoon sports guys in WNY were in full leftist meltdown mode - one kept whining about how he feared Bills fans were going to embarrass themselves with racist demonstrations against Kaepernick, while the other got on a rant about Trump and how there is just so much racism and hate outside the city, particularly in the outer suburbs and countryside.
Talk about getting tired of lefties - they were completely off their rockers and should apologize to Buffalonians.
Not true. There may be certain areas or pockets of the country where it’s not as big as it use to be but in places like South and Midwest it’s still a big deal for youth and will continue to be for the continuing future. It’s religion
And espn is giving Obama 1 hour next week to smooth it all over and to tell us how deplorable we all are
Payback is a b**ch.
Our lives are better when we boycott: NFL, Faux News, Macy’s, Target, ABCNNBCBS, NY Slimes, Compost.
Haven’t watched a game yet, and haven’t missed it all.
You are not going to preach your BS politics to me, you do not have a captive audience.
I don’t need you at all.
Absolutely agree.
Haven’t watched a game this year. Don’t miss it. It’s been ruined by all the tatted-up ghetto retards and leftist sports “journalists.”
I watched a few games the first week of the season, and all that did was remind of why I quit watching about mid-season last year. The game is boring. There are way too many penalties, timeouts, and commercials. Far too many players are low IQ morons who strut around and act like fools even when their team is far behind. Kapernick and the other BLM $hitheads are just another reason not to watch.
NFL, MSM, JCPenney,Newspapers, Target... It’s a mystery alright...
What you can do is get a list of advertisers and wherever there’s another choice, don’t buy their products.
I think the little pink bows the players wear on their shoes did it. - well maybe the Miasma Dolphin uniforms too .
Except for a few quarterbacks, the players are largely interchangeable and anonymous...
This article has NO credibility with that line right there.
And if you dont watch football, please dont reply.
It is the SINGLE MOST STUPID line I’ve read in a long time.
Even with the 11 percent downturn, they’re up 27 percent over, I think, the past five years.
The modern version of the NFL is a sport where the cool players can’t or won’t self police the jerkwad players. So the NFL had to come up with lame rules to stop the worst of the swishy celebratory prancing and chest slapping displays.
I doubt if anything happens to the anthem protestors from their fellow players.
Freegards
And then there's all the social justice lefty propaganda they have been forcing down our throats for watching their ever increasingly awful product. Candlelight pre-game shows to fight global warming, pink everywhere, "no means no" ads, black panther halftime shows, and super boring PC super bowl commercials with all the fun stripped out. Kapernick and his followers are just the players taking their cues from the league and stealing their PC lefty spotlight and making it their own PC lefty spotlight. It's just not a fun pastime really.
I no longer watch four or five games a week. Over the past few years I watched my Eagles and maybe one other game, if there was a good one one. Now? I still watch the Eagles. That's it.
We used to watch the NFL to escape politics. To witness battle whose outcome is based on skill and preparation.
Now players are free to make political statements, along with thuggish behavior while playing a game that is detrimental to their health.
Then the fans have bid up the price of this entertainment.
Time to push back.
however, just anecdotally, we're not watching it very much, and I love football....and absolutely no NFL merchandize....
Bump!
You get to a certain age and you look like an a$$hole looking at big fat black dudes groping each other for 10 hours on Sunday. The wives laugh at you too. For Christ sake, go outside and shoot something
“I still watch the Eagles. That’s it. “
—
Now if you were a REAL patriot you’d watch The Patriots. :-)
Go Pats !
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