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.
The NFL right now is like an alcoholic who drinks more and more in order to dampen the pain he's feeling in and around his liver.
It may not be over yet, but...the bugler is on the last cadence of "Taps".
..."And it’s been an ongoing problem rather than a case of a single week here or there when the nation was otherwise distracted....
So that's the line Goodell used to get the new five year contract? Hella salesman that guy.
“Once again, a years worth of games have transpired, and the average team has a .500 record.”
Haha... Can you think of a scenario in which the average team does not have a .500 record?
Someone has to lose.
That is all so true. Football is a good couch sport, but...That is one of the things I find so great about it, is that if it sprinkles rain, they don’t stop or cancel the game. About the only thing they DO cancel it for is lightning.
I have been to a number of places, and I love going to a game when the snow is pouring down and the temperatures are frigid, or it is pouring rain and the field is covered in mud, or if they have thick fog creeping through...I even went to a game one time where they had to attach ropes to each upright of a goal post and stake it out. (The wind was so strong that day that a portapotty was actually picked up and smashed against the ground and disgustingly into a pile of splintered and broken plastic-thankfully, nobody in it.
All you say is true...and I do enjoy watching from the comfort of a warm living room with a bathroom only a few feet away.
Huh? There's not that much football, especially when you compare the football season to the practically never-ending baseball season. Before this year, I watched at least two games every Sunday (or Monday, Thursday, etc.), and never grew tired of it because I knew the season ended for most teams in late December. This is more wishful thinking by those who still don't understand how most of us view the shameful behavior of the multi-millionaire spoiled brats and thugs who play the game.
Those last four reasons have been true every year, not just this year.
Yes, but don’t they all have college degrees. LOL
Too cold.
BTTT!!!!
NFL - Not For Long.
Let it all eat itself and die.
They continually compare 2017 to 2016. But wasn’t 2016 down from 2015 as well?
Your summation is pretty good, IMO. The quality of the product has declined. The middle finger to the USA is the reason for the sagging ticket sales and loss in viewership, but the lack of a quality product makes walking away from it that much easier. TV, like religion, is sometimes referred to as an “opiate of the masses”. Once the opiate becomes less effective, it is easier for the addict to walk away from his addiction. The anti-USA/BLM protests started at a time in which the effectiveness NFL product/drug was already seriously diluted.
I think most of the long term players (Line O/D, linebackers, QB, kickers... are very intelegent or the would be 2 or 3 years and out. Most of the idiots are in the speed spots. Most of them, speedsters, can’t take the hits and maintain that speed. Some receivers seem to use experience to overcome the lost half step that comes. Same with Running backs. The lines have to be smart, TE, FB QB ... same. It’s rare where a 7-12 year NFL player sounds like an idiot.
Disclaimer- I haven’t watched NFL in 10 years.
Put coaches back in suits and trench coats with fedoras, wing tips, white shirts, skinny ties.
Can all radio communications with players on the field and use hand signals with runners.
Play in the weather, let the fans sit out in the weather too.
Cap salaries on beginning players for the first 2 years after the draft.
So much for their self esteem.
All politics OUT. No Bob Costas assaholic comments about guns. No kneeling players. No BLM crap.
Then a return to the 70s. No long hair hanging out of helmets, etc.
No more coaches trying to be junior players..icing the kicker and other unsportsmanlike crap, etc.
No more pink October...I watched the NFL to escape life for 2 hours, not to be reminded of dreaded diseases.
No more retarded animated football robots playing guitar on TV etc.
The superbowl should be more like the late 60s, and not some nutty Hollywood extravaganza.
All other games have also way overdone the glitz and fluff crap...football has become an afterthought.
No women in locker rooms and on sports sideline commenting.
NFL is for Sunday and Monday nights...period.
No NFL game should be in England or Mexico city.
College ball is Saturday, Friday is high school.
I don’t want NFL every random day of the week.
Fire Goodell."
That's so good...Needs repeating...{:-)
YES
Unless Step 1 is to ban on field protests and discipline those involved, they will not get me back.
The league has shown that they have no love of this country, and that all of their patriotic posturing over the past 50 years is just cynical marketing. I feel betrayed and lied to.
I will not be coming back.
I have turned a corner. On Sunday afternoon, I no longer think I should be watching football. The season has gone on without me, and I’m OK with that. On Monday morning, I don’t know who won the game, and I don’t care.
This has made my life better, not worse.
I thank the NFL for getting me off my ass and back out into the world. I get two days a week to do my own thing, and now I use both of them.
1. Too many good high-profile players lost for the sesason, namely Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz.
2. Historically good franchises like the Giants and Broncos doing really poorly this this season and the Cowboys and Raiders having disappointing seasons.
Have really hammered the league's popularity. And there is now real fear that the league may lose even more popularity because historically good players like Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and Drew Brees are within a few seasons of retirement.
In short, the NFL is facing some very serious challenges.
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