Posted on 09/29/2017 12:31:00 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Operators of two of the largest U.S. ticket marketplaces say they are seeing declines in orders for NFL games amid festering controversy over the national anthem.
NFL ticket sales at TickPick slumped 17.9 percent this week compared with the prior week, their steepest decline since 2014, while sales at TicketCity plunged 31 percent. For pro football games in September, ticket sales at TicketCity are down 16 percent from a year ago. TickPick's NFL sales rose this month, but by the smallest margin since 2015. The vendors' data reflect tickets sold in the secondary market, as opposed to direct sales from NFL teams.
The slump in ticket sales underscores the pressure facing the NFL over the anthem protests, which were started last year by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The league's television ratings also appear affected, with viewership down 11 percent so far this season and some fans are calling for a boycott of the NFL's corporate partners.
"There are people who are saying that this is my form of entertainment and I don't want politics in my entertainment," said TickPick co-CEO Brett Goldberg, emphasizing that he doesn't personally share that viewpoint, in an interview.
A new poll by CBS News found that Americans are unhappy with both the protests during the anthem and President Trump's comments on the issue.
Views hinge on partisanship, but also shift with how Americans view the intentions, not just the actions, of the players and president. Most Americans say that the players' intention is to try to call attention to racism. However, Republicans also feel the players are trying to disrespect the flag and the military, too and strongly disapprove.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Duh...
Good. Any big name advertisers dropped yet?
President Trump - “If the NFL doesn’t change, their business will go to Hell”.
Guess he was right again.
It’s going to take a sustained effort. Boycotts usually fail.
The controversy is not over The National Anthem. It's over the protesting of The National Anthem.
Gad, but I hate CBS.
100% slump would be appropriate, in my opinion.
The NFL team I was a fan of for 35+ years had a couple people take a knee. If they first decided to stop being stupid and stand for the anthem then change the team name to something else (the team name has been permanently disrespected) then blow up the stadium (the stadium has been permanently tarnished) and rebuild it somewhere else in the city then I will go to a game.
Boy, they never saw that Mac Truck coming! I can just hear Gomer Pyle going tsk, tsk!
Always TRUMPS fault...he just said everything we were thinking and afraid to say to loudly...the we are racist is not going to work much longer..
I can pretty much guarantee you that any fan who posted a video of himself/herself setting all of their NFL merchandise on fire is never coming back.
It's even worse than that for the NFL. The absolute worst thing that can happen is for a sizable chunk of their fan base to avoid watching any NFL games for even one weekend. Once these fans realize how much of an idiotic waste of time it has been for them to sit in from of the TV for 3+ hours just to watch 12-15 minutes of football, they're never coming back.
They are trying to call attention to racism by disrespecting the flag and military.
That's the problem.
“Allan Jones, CEO of Check Into Cash and suit maker Hardwick Clothes, said his companies will not condone unpatriotic behavior.”
And it’s a one way shift. There are many people who will stop watching over this. But how many who haven’t watched NFL games will start because they sympathize with the players? I would guess that number is vanishingly small.
I Agree.
This is especially true for sports. Fans have always came back in the past.
Budweiser in one town.
Hubby and I grew up with the Cowboys. They're dead to us.
There should be a class action against the NFL for violating their own rules, written code of conduct that the fans count on when attending or watching an NFL game.
The NFL is cheating the fans of the experience they paid for in attending or watching games. I bet if they has 50 million plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit they might break the NFL.
Where are the good Class Action attorneys.
Where are the ANTI-TRUST attorneys?
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