Posted on 01/12/2021 12:34:52 PM PST by EdnaMode
With the addition of a playoff team in each conference and two more Wild Card games, the NFL called it "Super Wild Card Weekend," but when it came to television ratings it wasn't super at all.
According to Sportico, ratings for the games were down 25% on Saturday compared to last year and 20% on Sunday.
Ratings overall were down 7% in the regular season, so that is a big jump to upwards of 20 for the first weekend of the postseason.
So, what are some possible reasons? It may have just been too much football.
There were roughly 10 straight hours of action both days, which is just a lot even for the most invested of fans. The games also were not all that spectacular. Half were one-score games, but the outcome in all but the Bills/Colts were never really in doubt.
Another reason could be the events in Washington last week and people's attention over the weekend still being directed towards that.
While on the surface six playoff games in two days seemed like a good idea for the league, at least for this year the results in terms of fan interest it was not.
Giving up the NFL means giving up on tracking their ratings too. Reclaim your time.
Yep, I’ve wondered how sports ratings have been down, when so many people are stuck at home more often, and watching favorite sports should be something which sports fans would want, as a piece of normal life, as a sign life will get back to normal eventually, etc.
What can it be? I know we aren’t supposed to say that revulsion about sports leagues kowtowing to all this black lives matter activism causes fans to tune out. So I wonder what official reasons they will come up with.
Were there games? So what. Even if I knew I wouldn’t watch them. It seems the NFL is more interested in playing games with the American people and our patriotism.
We really love sports and athletics but we’ve just about had enough. It’s not a game anymore it’s a soapbox for things that suck.
Another reason could be the events in Washington last week and people’s attention over the weekend still being directed towards that.
With so much stuff on the cable, dish and internet, people don’t need the NFL to fill in their cold winter days...................
Didn’t even know it was Wild Card weekend, that’s how disinterested I am in Football now
There were no Shazam! ballot dumps at Cleveland or Cincinnati like there were in Philadelphia.
Ratings were down 20+% from last year but how much were last years ratings down from previous years?
Excellent!
They just wanna get the season over and start over next season. Hopefully a clean slate.
The Bills game was fantastic. Bills Mafia!
This entire season has been a joke - I quit watching back when the kneeling and lecturing started, but an NFL “game” in an empty stadium with some cardboard cutout fans and piped in crowd noise with masked knuckleheads on the sidelines is not a game.
For the first time, I rooted for the Cleveland Browns against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not because I really give a damn anymore, but because Ohio ran honest elections and Pennsylvania didn’t
Seems people are breaking their addiction from the modern day “opioid of the people”.
JoMa
If you call yourself a conservative and are still watching the NFL...well, you’re not conservative.
Not big enough.
Working from home, I find myself taking walks with my wife and the dog through the neighborhood more often, chatting with neighbors.
Better than watching drivel on TV.
The purpose of spectator-sports/bread-and-circuses is to escape from the cares of the world while watching them.
Turning them into social-justice-warrior virtue-signaling extravaganzas defeats that purpose and they are no longer needed.
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