Posted on 12/26/2017 10:14:39 AM PST by Kaslin
We’re quickly approaching New Years, which is traditionally a time for reflection on the events of the past year and plans for how to do better over the next twelve months. That’s particularly true for the NFL, which has seen both its television ratings and live attendance in many stadiums plunge precipitously in 2017. As the Washington Times reports this week, the leadership in the league is busy analyzing precisely what caused all of this and how they might address it in 2018.
Your first guess might logically be that the National Anthem protests were a big driving factor. That was definitely part of it, but media analysts and league insiders are also seeing a number of other disturbing trends affecting their bottom line, many of which were entirely of their own making.
The NFL is approaching the playoffs looking for a ratings turnaround after a year of record-low television numbers.
Outcry over players protesting by taking a knee during the national anthem isn’t helping, but it’s only one of several reasons fans are turning away from professional football, media analysts say.
Injuries to marquee players such as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, teams with losing records in the nation’s largest media markets such as New York and Chicago, a glut of prime-time games, and viewers with other options have also taken a toll.
“I’d be stunned if any single factor contributed more than 2 percent to the ratings decline,” said Andrew Billings, director of the University of Alabama’s Sports Communication program.
So how bad were the numbers overall? In week 15, average television viewership was down 9 percent from the same point in 2016. Week 14 was similarly off. That translates into an average loss of 1.6 million viewers for each televised game overall. And it’s been an ongoing problem rather than a case of a single week here or there when the nation was otherwise distracted.
Some of the drivers of this were, to be fair, beyond the control of the league. Two of their biggest markets are New York and Dallas, and if you’ve been following the fortunes of the Giants, the Jets and the Cowboys you can see how people might be less excited to tune in. Ratings for the Cowboys and Giants games are down by 7% while viewership for New York Jets games is off by, er… 37%. Doesn’t that seem a bit unfair? True, my Jets are stinking up the joint at 5-10 going into the final week, but the Giants have only won two games! C’mon, man.
The league couldn’t predict or correct for the implosion of those popular teams in large media markets, but other factors were definitely under their control. The obvious target of criticism is the anthem protests which the league could have shut down as soon as Kaepernick started all of this. They didn’t do that and they’ve paid the price. If a combination of new rules from the top and a tougher line from the owners can eliminate that problem over the offseason they may begin to recover next fall.
But the other big driver seems to have been market saturation. The NFL Network has simply gotten too greedy, trying to have football on for half the days of the week. (That’s in addition to locking off certain games so they are only available on their own cable network, which not everyone has or wants.) We’re up to four different game slots on Sundays when there’s a game in London (another colossally bad idea), with prime time games on both Monday and Thursday, in addition to Sunday night. No matter how big of a fan you may be, there’s such a thing as too much football. Fans primarily want to watch their own team, and if they’re not playing they’ll watch one or two other games. But now the market is drowning in games and fewer people are making the time to watch.
On the bright side, all of these things sound fixable… except for the Jets fielding a winning team, apparently. Now that Roger Goodell has somehow landed himself another plush, five-year contract, will he make the needed course corrections and turn this around? Money is what makes the league go ’round, so I’m holding out hope that he will.
I was a Stiller season ticket owner for 38 years, at times during the 70's I owned 16 seats {mostly for business} but some for extended family.
I no longer am a ticket owner, by choice, and my neighbor {also is my financial agent} offered me 4 corporate luxury box tix to the Steelers/Browns game this weekend.
Stay warm, free food and booze, I passed.
I'm gonna get a pedicure...for my dog.
They should start a “listening tour” where they can reintroduce themselves to the fans.
The plot was to rehire Roger for $40M? Major fail!
You’d probably fall asleep anyways....................
Good luck with that, NFL
There have been so many excuses for poor attendance.
Among others:
Attendance down in SF because the sunny side of the stadium gets so hot.
The numbers are skewed because the LA Chargers in there first season in LA are playing in a 27,000 seat stadium.
Attendance down for LA Ram games because of new competition from the LA Chargers.
Attendance down due to natural disasters fires and floods and hurricanes.
Attendance down recently because people are Christmas shopping.
Attendance down due to cold weather in many parts of the country .
TV viewership down during baseball playoffs due to some exciting playoff series
TV viewership down due to the start of NBA basketball.
I’m sure there are others. Take your pick.
> Almost as annoying to me is the push by the NFL to show how much the league “appreciates” the military and veterans. It is blatantly transparent pandering... <
It is worth noting that the NFL did not put on those “patriotic” displays out of any respect for the military. The Department of Defense paid the NFL to do it.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2017/09/24/draft-n2385792
Also, the felons and thugs that are identified in crimes remain as players. Over the last several years this has had a corrosive effect.
BLM and kneeling supports criminal thugs, and the league is filled with them
1. The quality of the play has deteriorated a lot over the last 20 years, turning off many of their serious fans.
2. The league has a demographic problem that is shrinking the size of their core fan base.
3. In the internet/satellite/streaming TV age, there are simply a lot more entertainment options than ever before -- meaning the TV audience is being dispersed across more options even as the core fan base is shrinking.
The national anthem debacle was simply the last straw for a lot of fans, and the NFL made a huge mistake because it will be impossible for the league to recover those fans after they stopped watching for two weekends and realized what a pathetic waste of 3+ hours an NFL game has become.
Just curious have about nfl merchandise sales?
All true...I am of the opinion that even if that were not the case, they would still be searching down that pathway to exploit it.
They are not smart, because if they were, they would attack it at the root and put it to bed, and they have been too cowardly to do that.
1. Listen to what the fans up there are saying.
2. See what those fans are experiencing as they watch an NFL game.
Without this kind of reality check, the league is destined for a long, slow decline.
Yes,... you probably would be.
I don’t think it’s oversaturation or teams in big markets doing poorly this year. I think it’s: 1) Fans who don’t like football players disrespecting the country, police, military. 2) Fans who don’t like politics intruding into football (this includes some fans who may agree with the players politically). Anyone who has a “real” job and isn’t a coddled millionaire football player understands that you can’t spout politics to your company’s customers. 3) And, to a lesser extent, fans are getting tired of the excessive celebrations. I know someone who turns the tv off when that happens. A high-five is fine, but the stupid dances, etc. are juvenile. Fans want to see the players just do their jobs. What really drives one of my brothers crazy is when a team that’s losing scores a touchdown and acts like they just won the superbowl. My brother yells at the tv,”You’re STILL losing; stop celebrating an start playing.”
Someone may write about that now that Christmas shopping has ended. Many people bought NFL merchandise as gifts, one of my daughters married into a family that did that in a big way. They are also a military family through and through and did not support the NFL this year or buy any NFL merchandise.
I bet someone will dig out those numbers in the next few weeks and write about whether enough people did that to make a difference. I did notice a lot of NFL stuff deeply discounted when I was out shopping so that may be a hint.
Fixable??? Not for this life-long Packer Backer.
They have terminally crapped in their mess kit.
Yes.
First MAJOR step — no politics and no issues. That included pink month and any similar antics.
People who want to watch football want to watch football — and not have to listen to political opinions/arguments or social issues.
MLB could also take notice. Players in pink shoes wielding pink bats seem to take something away from the sport. Key word: sport. Not political opinions/arguments or social issues.
The loss in fan attendance and viewership is due ENTIRELY to the thugs spitting on the flag.
Green Bay has been a season ticket sell out for decades, even during the dark years if I remember correctly. They may have lost almost every week but we fans still went to the games and did not miss a game on TV when they were playing. The place was always packed.
Likewise the bears fans always showed up for the games. They were die hard loyal (Much as I hate to say anything good about a bears fan or anything else associated with Chicago). And even if the bears fans didn’t show up for a contest against Green Bay the Packers fans would travel anywhere to watch their team. We are not travelling any more.
We put up with the decrease in play quality, the poor officiating and all that other noise. But we will not stand by and be spit upon, or have our flag and the graves of our veterans spit upon, by some semi-literate thugs.
The league can rot for all I care. Until the kneelers are punished and removed from football we fans will remove ourselves from football. If the thugs retire before they are fired we fans will never come back.
Yep, covering for the African scum. They led the insults in the face of normal Americans. They acted like they still lived in the hood. They acted like criminals, many of whom have lengthy arrest records. Take a knee and hit the door, all race pimps, all of them, get out of our tax subsidized stadiums.
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