I have heard a plethora of local and national sports talk shows examine this problem.
Almost all of them discuss the issue in bad faith ie they don’t want to face some very unpleasant truths.
1) They ignore the boycott. They pretend it isn’t really happening despite viewers TELLING THEM EXACTLY WHAT AND WHY THEY’RE DOING IT. Many sports talkers are the usual lefty mushheads and, perhaps not coincidentally, further insult the audience by mocking their ideological stance - even as they praise the ideological stance of idiot jocks.
Lazy rhetoric dominates: ‘Are you really going to stop watching football because of the protest?’ Answer: hell yes!
2) Advertising. It will come as no surprise that individuals working in advertising-supported broadcast media simply cannot fathom a world when advertising itself was the cause of the problem. Forget player protests - for years the audience has told anyone who would listen that 6-7 minute breaks such as the touchdown-point-kickoff sequence with little or no football were killing the game’s momentum and their interest. Now live games have competition for attention from digital devices and DVRs. In addition, the ads continue to plumb the depths of annoyance (loud music, whiz-bang graphics, etc.), bad taste, and unimaginative spots featuring an army of Dumb White Guys.
At least the writer of this piece is willing to deal with reality. Many are still not.
I agree it is a perfect storm they have created for themselves. And the dumb white guy commercials are what the remote is for I never watch.