NFL Ratings are down double digits. Radio Show host such as Travis Clay have attributed the decline to ignorant protests like those of Colin Kapernick. ESPN analysts and multiple talk show platforms around the country lean towards Americans cutting the cord and switching off the cable. NFL Sunday Ticket will deplete $270.00 from your pocket over the course of a season. NFL Primetime games have been lackluster, falling short of excitement and regularly pitting a 1-3 team against a 2-2 team. The Presidential debates and racial divide in America has captured the mass audience, pulling us away from our otherwise hollow entertainment.
Meanwhile, game 7 of the NBA Finals delivered the highest rating of all time. NBA ratings across the board were positive in 2015-2016 season.
I think the racial divide being a reason for ratings decline is a huge reach. I think the notion that the NFL is violent and evil (injuries, concussions, etc) in a PC society would be a more applicable reason if you were to seek one.
I am not that interested in the NFL this year, but I still love it
Some of the games and matches are just not enticing.
There are just not enough good teams at the moment. Trent Dilfer can come back and win the Superbowl on the Broncos if he had to. Seriously, who is good this year? The Minnesota Vikings led by Sam Bradford???? Really? The league has reverted back to a defense wins championships type of league with tough defenses, and the offenses have been really fucking shit.
The teams with relatively good offenses have absolutely atrocious defenses. There is no balance on the teams. This is resulting in bad, inconsistent football being played.
Meanwhile, the NBA has storylines, superstars, and matchups everywhere. They may only have like 2-4 teams that have any real shot of winning it all, but there is still drama there.
Last edited by Spedizzo; October 12th, 2016 at 8:37 AM.
Although a small sample size, I have personally found myself disengaged from the NFL to an extent. I can check my fantasy players on Red Zone or my mobile app. I make an effort to watch New England play; I grew up in Boston. I catch every hometown game of the Bengals. Outside of those matches, there are not a lot of interesting storylines in the NFL.
Just a few years ago you had the Brady/Manning feud, Michael Vick excitement, undefeated seasons, records being broken, etc. Now, the most interesting story revolves around an ignorant back-up QB who believes he is making a difference by not standing for a national anthem, when in reality he just looks like an asshole.
I also believe that many Americans are cutting cable. Cable is expensive. I have PlayStation VUE and only have the ability to watch CBS on Sunday (Bengals), Thursday Night Football, which has been lame, and Monday Night on ESPN, which hasn't really tickled my fancy. I, by no means, am yearning for football outside of those platforms. My buddy owns a bar and he dropped the NFL Sunday Ticket because he was spending $2,500 a year on the package and lacked any boost in business or sales in said time frame.
I believe the way we digest news and entertainment, as well as the avenues we view said entertainment through, are changing. Platforms like the WWE Network, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., have done a wonderful job at adapting to those changes. The NFL are behind the times. Their so wrapped up in billion dollar cable deals they fail to stay current and lose business. I would gladly pay $20 a month for an NFL streaming device. I am not going to pay $300 a season for NFL Ticket.
Although a small sample size, I have personally found myself disengaged from the NFL to an extent. I can check my fantasy players on Red Zone or my mobile app. I make an effort to watch New England play; I grew up in Boston. I catch every hometown game of the Bengals. Outside of those matches, there are not a lot of interesting storylines in the NFL.
Just a few years ago you had the Brady/Manning feud, Michael Vick excitement, undefeated seasons, records being broken, etc. Now, the most interesting story revolves around an ignorant back-up QB who believes he is making a difference by not standing for a national anthem, when in reality he just looks like an asshole.
I also believe that many Americans are cutting cable. Cable is expensive. I have PlayStation VUE and only have the ability to watch CBS on Sunday (Bengals), Thursday Night Football, which has been lame, and Monday Night on ESPN, which hasn't really tickled my fancy. I, by no means, am yearning for football outside of those platforms. My buddy owns a bar and he dropped the NFL Sunday Ticket because he was spending $2,500 a year on the package and lacked any boost in business or sales in said time frame.
I believe the way we digest news and entertainment, as well as the avenues we view said entertainment through, are changing. Platforms like the WWE Network, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., have done a wonderful job at adapting to those changes. The NFL are behind the times. Their so wrapped up in billion dollar cable deals they fail to stay current and lose business. I would gladly pay $20 a month for an NFL streaming device. I am not going to pay $300 a season for NFL Ticket.
20 dollars a month for the NFL? But then you pay 10 for WWE, 10 for netflix, 10 for Amazon. You might as well just get cable by this point. You don't have to pay 300 dollars a season for the NFL ticket when you get like 6 games a week on regular cable.
Maybe they should stop suspending their best player for a quarter of a season for not turning over his personal cell phone for public consumption
But no, this isn't a cause for concern since none of us are owners of an NFL team. Those who are owners may have to deal with only earning a crap-ton of money instead of a shit-load of money though. I'm glad ratings are down because perhaps it will spark the league to stop doing the whole "No Fun League" thing where they fine players for dunking over the goal post and wearing colorful shoes. And maybe, just maybe, it will result in Goodell's tenure as commissioner coming to an end sooner than it would if ratings were soaring.
20 dollars a month for the NFL? But then you pay 10 for WWE, 10 for netflix, 10 for Amazon. You might as well just get cable by this point. You don't have to pay 300 dollars a season for the NFL ticket when you get like 6 games a week on regular cable.
Regular cable was costing me $135 a month, plus $10 for WWE and $10 for Netflix, not to mention my $45 Internet bill. When you add those up, it comes to $200 a month. PS Vue, Netflix, Internet and WWE only cost me $100 a month, cutting my bill in half. If I added a streaming NFL service for $20 a month, if hypothetically offered, it would only put my bill at $120, still saving me a tremendous amount for a family of 4 on a monthly basis.
They should cut out Thursday Night Football. They should also be able to flex Monday night games. Oh and stop having games where you are throwing flags on phantom penalties.
Flexing games to a different day entirely would be problematic. From a fan perspective, if I bought tickets to a Sunday game and it got flexed to Monday Night, I'd be pissed. Plus there's the issue of the venues potentially having conflicts and all the gameday employees having to work a different day. It would be nice don't get me wrong, sitting on my couch I'd prefer MNF to have the best matchups, but I can see why it's not practical. The way they flex games into Sunday Night Football is good though.
I'd like to see Friday Night Football replace TNF. Why not have games on Friday night? Is it because we respect the old tradition of Fridays being for High School football? That seems like a dumb reason. Having a Friday Night NFL game wouldn't ruin high school football. It would give an extra day of practice/recovery and it would be nice to have a weekly primetime game that isn't on a work night. I'd be against simply eliminating TNF though. I know everyone complains about the quality of the games but I still like having it there.
Flexing games to a different day entirely would be problematic. From a fan perspective, if I bought tickets to a Sunday game and it got flexed to Monday Night, I'd be pissed. Plus there's the issue of the venues potentially having conflicts and all the gameday employees having to work a different day. It would be nice don't get me wrong, sitting on my couch I'd prefer MNF to have the best matchups, but I can see why it's not practical. The way they flex games into Sunday Night Football is good though.
I'd like to see Friday Night Football replace TNF. Why not have games on Friday night? Is it because we respect the old tradition of Fridays being for High School football? That seems like a dumb reason. Having a Friday Night NFL game wouldn't ruin high school football. It would give an extra day of practice/recovery and it would be nice to have a weekly primetime game that isn't on a work night. I'd be against simply eliminating TNF though. I know everyone complains about the quality of the games but I still like having it there.
They probably don't hold them on friday because it's assumed people go out on friday nights. While they may be at a bar watching the game, it won't help the ratings.
There are problems with the league. The solutions they likely have in mind down the road won't help anything. More playoff teams, longer schedule, teams overseas, etc
1. Too many shitty teams
2. Handful of good teams
3. Too many teams have virtually no chance every year, and it starts at the top with ownership
4. Over saturation
5. Thursday Night Football
6. Too many flags
7. Too many rule changes...2 personal fouls and cya (like 6 with the NBA)...why not force coaches to sit the guy for a series?...every penalty leads to auto first downs...they can't remove kickoffs now with teams trying to pin players instead of letting them start at the 25...but you know they'll probably consider it...but then do you remove onside kicks?
8. Too much instant replay...I don't want replay to go away completely...but it needs a reduction, it slows the game way down...something like only scoring plays and turnovers...we don't need 10 minute explanations or conferences with Hochuli and the rest
9. Lack of new star QB's...Peyton has retired..father time will catch up to Brady eventually...Brees, Rivers, etc have virtually no chance at a ring, etc
10. Lack of personality...the NFL has wanted to remove the personality from the game for awhile....coaches are all boring coordinators, the players get penalized for certain celebrations...the days of Ditka, Parcells, Johnson, Mora, Glanville, Cowher, Phillps, Vermeil, Schottenheimr, etc are long gone...the days of Owens, Moss, Lewis, Sharpe, Sanders, Favre, etc are over..you have Beckham..but he's one guy...some are entertained by Belichick and dry as hell press conferences and occasional sarcasm, but most often he's not very entertaining, etc whereas a guy like Rex is always good for a quote
Regular cable was costing me $135 a month, plus $10 for WWE and $10 for Netflix, not to mention my $45 Internet bill. When you add those up, it comes to $200 a month. PS Vue, Netflix, Internet and WWE only cost me $100 a month, cutting my bill in half. If I added a streaming NFL service for $20 a month, if hypothetically offered, it would only put my bill at $120, still saving me a tremendous amount for a family of 4 on a monthly basis.
A $20 a month model doesn't work because football is such a short season (especially for us Giants fans). Gamepass and Sunday Ticket need to really operate on either a 'per week' or season long model. It's just a reality of the football calendar.
I agree with Fro about the 'No Fun League' thing. The NFL seems to clamp down on all the wrong things all the time and I'm sure it puts people off.
They probably don't hold them on friday because it's assumed people go out on friday nights. While they may be at a bar watching the game, it won't help the ratings.
This's a fair point but idk because college football does pretty well with ratings on Saturday night don't they? And once College Football stops, the NFL gives us Saturday night games. But that could be a factor.
College football has to get a lot of its ratings from drunk college kids pulling for their school and drunk middle aged men who wish they were still in college.
The ratings are falling back like anything that's risen to astronomical heights at an unprecedented rate. So, ok.
I'd like to think that this kind of thing could have the benefit of keeping the powers that be from installing a longer reg season or branching out the postseason. At least give them pause for the time being. Silver lining.
I wonder if the manner in which they targeted a single player while having zero evidence against him was an "Emperor has no clothes" moment too. It just showed how little regard the NFL has for anything other than showing they have the power to do whatever they want. Especially when added to all their other failed investigations.
Goodell did say he was going to suspend Harrison and the others linked to that report without evidence and only based on the report IF they didn't meet with him.
I think its ok for people to not like Brady and justify the suspension while also not liking Goodell whatsoever. Brady did himself no favors in fighting it for over a year. Had he took the suspension last season. It doesn't drag out for so long. It just doesn't. In turn, it doesn't consume almost two years worth of time. The punishment was absurd for an equipment violation, but it was stupid to take the approach the Patriots did, whether it was a lynch mob mentality or not, the approach was stupid.
I don't put the Brady suspension up there as reasons why the ratings are down. The story had fatigue and lasted way too long, but it was already finished before the season started. Plenty of people don't like Goodell, but we also have to remember he's a figure head of the owners. When he leaves or is fired or whatnot. The next guy is going to be just as proactive in things like expansion, tweaking the playoffs, etc. Unless you get some purist as a commish but then would the owners commit to a guy who isn't proactive?
I doubt the ratings drop has anything to do with the way they handled the Brady suspension since a lot of people were actually for it.
I think people liked that they went after Brady the first time. But the second dip was really bad. By then, the complete lack of evidence was clear and the total farcical nature of the investigation just made the NFL look bad.
No, I agree. The Giants do fucking suck. The suckage of the Giants could be a reason the ratings are dropping. Who wants to watch such a terrible, soft team?
Let the players get a personality again and people might feel that games are worth watching again. And when your choices are either Lions games or a 1-3 team against a 2-2 team, your Sunday watching is better for SVU marathons.
As I get older, I'm having a hard time watching games that don't feature the games I follow. I flip to MNF when Raw is on a commercial break/shining stars segment, but that's about it.
I feel that the concussion stuff is having a smaller impact than the fact that there is over saturation of the product (WWE never does that), the players having been flagged for having a personality, and people having less patience for watching a three hour game and would rather catch highlights on ESPN.com (like WWE again).
I would prefer it if the NFL bailed on Thursday Night and went to Sunday Early. 4 games slots on Sundays would be great.
1000 am est
100 pm est
430 pm est
800 pm est
I wouldn't watch all the way through but I do enjoy when the London game is on early. The NFL could simply have one East coast game on in the early slot each week.
The penalties kill the game flow. I understand a false start, or unnecessary hold, but hot damn, let these grown ass men play football already. The NFL is attempting to suck the personality out of players as well. If Terrell Owens or Michael Irvin played in today's NFL, they would be fined every game.
I would prefer it if the NFL bailed on Thursday Night and went to Sunday Early. 4 games slots on Sundays would be great.
1000 am est
100 pm est
430 pm est
800 pm est
I wouldn't watch all the way through but I do enjoy when the London game is on early. The NFL could simply have one East coast game on in the early slot each week.
I would rather they stagger the games in the middle. That is college's schedule benefit. HT of one game means kickoff/4thQ of a different one.
1230p, 230p, 430p and "Game of the Week" at 830p.
The networks flip one game CBS and two games FOX and vise-versa so the network with the solo game could just take the 230 slot and leave early and late to the other. Then flip the next week.
I don't see how having an extra game on sunday helps the primetime ratings.
My proposal does not help PrimeTime ratings for football.
What it does is get rid of bad football on Thrusdays because of a short week. It also allows the NFL to stay on TV for an additional 3 hours. I know it is not what everyone would want but for me I am more likely to watch a Sunday Morning game than I am a Thursday Night Game.
NFL is still badass. I mean, if you had told me coming into the season that Carolina vs. TB on MNF was going to be a dogshit game I would have laughed it off. On paper that should have been an outstanding match up.
If they want ratings increases they need to allow/encourage touchdown dances.
I like Thurs. football for purely selfish reasons too, but the games are always pretty bad and from a player health point of view there's absolutely no defending it.
In other words I'll watch 'em as long as they put 'em on, just wouldn't argue one word if they were halted.
For the record I would be for a Sunday Morning game even if they keep the Thursday Night Game.
This week the TV offerings for me would be something like
Broncos vs Chargers Thursday Night NFL Network
Steelers vs Dolphins Sun am CBS
Rams vs Lions Sun 1pm FOX
Bengals vs Patriots 1pm CBS
Cowboys vs Packers 1pm FOX
Colts vs Texans Sun Night NBC
Jets vs Cardinals Mon Night ESPN
I set it up so Fox and CBS each get two slots. Id have to look more into it if it would make sense and work out all the way through. With this set up KC at Oakland would have to play earlier or it would be a Fox game...
I like Thurs. football for purely selfish reasons too, but the games are always pretty bad and from a player health point of view there's absolutely no defending it.
In other words I'll watch 'em as long as they put 'em on, just wouldn't argue one word if they were halted.
It's once a season for each TNF team that they have a shorter turnaround but in fairness they also get longer turnarounds once per season.
They could probably schedule it a little more thoughtfully to coincide with bye weeks but I am not totally sold on the health and safety concern. The game has made massive rule changes over the last decade with player safety in mind.
Continuing on my Sunday am idea there are 17 teams who play in the eastern time zone. Each could host a Sunday 10 am game through the year and you have the London games. That way teams on the east coast do not feel like they always get the 10 am games. Also I would probably consider something where it is never a team traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast for the 10 am game.
List of East Time Zone teams
Philadelphia Eagles
New York Giants
Washington Redskins
Detroit Lions
Atlanta Falcons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts
We have the Broncos, a team with no QB whatsover against a team who has no chance at playoff contention (and if they did, wouldn't go past wildcard anyway) and no defense.
Sunday night:
We have the Colts with Andrew Luck, his O-line is as thin as paper and his defense is asshole, against the Texans, just a blah team. Sadly this is one of the better Sunday night games.
Monday night:
We have the Jets, a team that is pretty much already out of play off contention, has erectile dysfunction problems at offense (and defense), in a very random AFC/NFC match against the Cardinals, who themselves are playing blah this year.
It looks bad, and it is... but there aren't many better matches to make. All around no one really looks -good- except for maybe the Patriots.
It's once a season for each TNF team that they have a shorter turnaround but in fairness they also get longer turnarounds once per season.
They could probably schedule it a little more thoughtfully to coincide with bye weeks but I am not totally sold on the health and safety concern. The game has made massive rule changes over the last decade with player safety in mind.
I'm not saying it's definitively ruining player's lives or anything, there's just not much justifying playing a game as violent as pro football and cutting the recovery time by half. Even once a year. Guy's are practically immobile getting out of bed on Monday and you've got two days left to recuperate and install a gameplan for Thurs? It's actually silly to say out loud when you think about it.
But like I said, I tune every week, so I'm hardly on some soapbox about it.
We have the Broncos, a team with no QB whatsover against a team who has no chance at playoff contention (and if they did, wouldn't go past wildcard anyway) and no defense.
Sunday night:
We have the Colts with Andrew Luck, his O-line is as thin as paper and his defense is asshole, against the Texans, just a blah team. Sadly this is one of the better Sunday night games.
Monday night:
We have the Jets, a team that is pretty much already out of play off contention, has erectile dysfunction problems at offense (and defense), in a very random AFC/NFC match against the Cardinals, who themselves are playing blah this year.
It looks bad, and it is... but there aren't many better matches to make. All around no one really looks -good- except for maybe the Patriots.
Cowboys vs Packers would make for a watchable sunday night game, easily. Even the Eagles vs Redskins or Pats vs Bengals would work.
If you're booking this week on the fly, Bengals versus Patriots should be your Sunday night game, Packers against Cowboys as your Thursday night game and Monday night you feature a potential explosive game between Carolina and a Drew Brees lead Saints, one of the more popular teams in the league.
How a Packers/Cowboys game is not in a prime time slot baffles my mind.
I actually am interested in all 3 primetime games this week. I'm hoping the Chargers can upset the Broncos. Colts/Texans is a big game for that division and could be an evenly matched one. And Jets/Cardinals are two teams that were 10+ game winners last year both trying to salvage their seasons. Palmer should be back and I love watching that Cards offense. I think sometimes we as fans have a tendency to say games are crap when it's 2 teams with losing records but this early in the season, having a losing record doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad team.
The 4:25 games are the best this week though. Falcons-Seahawks and Cowboys-Packers. I hope my region gets the former but I'm guessing we'll get the latter since the NFL loves to jam the NFC East down everyone's throats.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Honey_Badger
