I still do not expect to see empty stadiums or TV revenue to the NFL taken away.
Stadiums don't need to be empty. Revenue just needs to drop enough to get owners attention.
When was the last time you ever heard of a single team reducing ticket prices in any major sport?
I think it will happen, I think it is on its way to happening. I don’t think it will all be directly related to boycotting because of players kneeling in disrespect.
As the article reminds us, football was a big social event for many years. Parties and holiday meals were planned around games. The men and some women would gather in front of the game and share moment by moment- different ages had something in common.
What strikes me, at least with those we know is the most likely to have stopped or stop watching football due to kneeling is the older men in the family. That seems to have a domino effect on that family watching football. My husband actually stopped watching NFL before the kneeling started, he was fed up with the thugs and rule changes. After he quit watching it was a trickle down effect. My stepson and son in law and our daughter both quit watching. With three adults in the family no longer watching other activities were planned and by the time the Super Bowl came around last year no one in my family watched it. We used to have big parties, it was like another holiday.
I think I realized football was becoming a thing of the past last Thanksgiving when we went to my daughter and son in law’s and the TV was not on. My teen grandson didn’t even ask to watch it. Those not involved in getting the meal ready gathered on the porch for an old fashioned visit.
I don’t think the NFL will die right away but I do think the beginning of the end was last season. As more turn away and find things to replace it, then more family members give it up to join the others. It has lost its social standing. The few I know still watching are watching alone, and find it hard to even talk to others after a game- because so many no longer watch.
The older, die hard fans seem to have been the glue that kept families tuned in to football, they are the likeliest to be insulted by NFL actions, and statements by players and management.
One of my daughters works at a company that gives out event tickets. Her company has not made any statement about the protests one way or another- but have stopped giving out NFL tickets. I don’t know if those at the top of the company are protesting or just afraid they will upset people who are angry if they offer them NFL tickets.
In the end it doesn’t matter if people stop watching because they are protesting or because they want to join the family in other activities. It doesn’t matter if companies stop giving out tickets because the company doesn’t approve of the actions of the NFL or because they think their clients might disapprove. All of these are lost fans for different reasons; I guess you could call it a trickle down effect.
If there is no family connection to watching football, where will new fans come from? My children and grandchildren began to watch football with my husband as babies. We haven’t had a game on in our home in over 2 years, no one has even mentioned it. We just do other things.
At some point this has to effect advertising, TV revenue, NFL related merchandise.