Posted on 12/17/2017 7:13:49 PM PST by blam
As the NFL copes with a ratings slump and ESPN slashes $80 million in salaries after losing 15,000 subscribers a day in October, another major issue facing the league continued to play out in week 15 – terrible attendance.
Ravens vs. Browns, Start 2nd Qtr
While many blame the kneeing epidemic of unpatriotic players refusing to stand for the National Anthem – which started in the summer 2016 pre-season by former San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, others point to a boring season, cord cutters and broke millennials staying home.
Either way, it’s ugly. Since most NFL attendance figures are based on “tickets distributed” as opposed to actual turnstile count, and most NFL ticket sales are to season-ticket holders, it’s nearly impossible to tell how many people are simply choosing not to attend games for which they’ve already bought tickets. Except, pictures don’t lie…
MetLife Stadium was a ghost town at the end of the first quarter, and “1/2 full” as the Philadelphia Eagles and NY Giants headed into the 4th quarter:
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at newzsentinel.com ...
The ticket sales for next season, and to some extent, viewership of the Superbowl will tell the store of how effective the boycott is. Followed the Jets and Giants since I was a kid, also liked the Steelers since the glory days of the Steel Curtain. This season, I have no clue how they’re doing, and I don’t GAFF.
Even soccer used to be pretty rough. Things that would get a straight red card now, weren’t even called as fouls back in the 70s.
Now if a defender so much as breathes on another player it gets called.
Super Bowl advertising rates should be plummeting by now.
We are former bronco fans . They left me . Don’t know that I can ever get that feeling back again .
The real point is, will another stadium ever get built using Muni bonds.
The answer is no. The NFL and thanks to the NFL, no new stadium or arena will ever be built in a public/private partnership again.
If a team wants to play in a city or municipality, they can pay their own way.
The lingerie league...
What a heartwarming sight!
Watched my first NFL game since the Super Bowl today, and it was the 4th quarter of Pats-Steelers. Worth the wait.
Arenas in big cities are always ok. They seat 20k people and can be used for basketball (pro and college), hockey, concerts etc.
An 80k seat stadium with a 20k parking lot is a whole different ball of wax. Football, and if you’re in NJ, a few Springsteen concerts.
Visited my father in law at the hospital and he had the Pats-Steelers game on. Mid-way in the second quarter there was a wide shot of the stands and I was shocked (and pleased) at how empty it looked.
I hope the ending of that game helped heal him.
otherwise, I hope he was asleep at the end of it when the Pats won.
Yep, it’s not a boycott. They killed my fan. There’s no fixing this, because what’s dead is dead.
As far as the dwindling attendance at the games, I can see the sports media trying to pull off an old trick. Years ago before pro wrestling got big most matches were held in places like the old Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, the Westchester Cty Ctr in White Plains, the Olympic Auditorium in LA, the Hesterly Armory in Tampa, places that had at most a 1500-2000 seat capacity. They would position the cameras and adjust the audio to make these small arenas appear much larger, more crowded and noisier than they actually were. It’s a stunt that was attempted and failed miserably during Her Hernious’ campaign stops.
“It is not likely that I would ever come back to the NFL fan fold even if, with all predictable reluctance, all of the players began standing again.”
Same here. Now that I know how these ignorant, ungrateful, unthankful, unappreciative fools feel about my country, my heritage, my veterans, my flag, my anthem, it can’t be undone. The NFL was never about politics until THEY made it about politics.
The simple ritual of honoring the flag, the country, our veterans and our military was always a special moment for me. The flyovers always put my heart in my throat for a moment. I thought most of us loved that minute or so of remembrance. They trashed it and it can’t be undone. I will never enjoy the NFL again.
And yet there are a good number of Freepers who still support the millionaire America hating women beating cop killer supporting thugs. Don’t believe me just peruse the post
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.