Article claims poll shows nat'l anthem protest is reason for rating drops

[Kontradiction]

I sense a move to the Political forum coming soon.

 

[PatsDeb]

This is the dumbest thing I've heard today. I really hope the league see this and reacts to it by fining players who protest during the anthem. It will just be another clumsy misstep that blows up in their faces.

So true. There are a multitude of reasons why ratings are dropping, and while I have no doubt that some folks who are not watching are doing it because of the National Anthem issue, a whole lot more are not watching because of the suckage of the games. Here in the northeast I believe there are folks that are consciously not watching as much of the NFL as they used to, like me. Take last night. I was flipping around the channels and normally would have put on the Thursday night game, even though it was not a great match up. It's an NFL game, right? Now I just checked the score on the computer at 10:30 (a blowout at the time, I guess the Jags scored a few times late) and congratulated myself for not wasting my evening watching that crap.

Even the games I want to watch are getting unwatchable. Seattle vs. AZ on Sunday night - should be a great match up, right? Although the kickers made it crazy at the end of OT, during the game itself, I swear, every time either team made a pass of more than 10 yards, FLAG. Holding. Ugghh. Stupid refs.

The NFL is suffering from over-saturation and a declining product, topped off with a commissioner who gets it wrong on every issue (Tom Brady; domestic violence; stupid fines for celebrations and players defending themselves; no suspensions for repeat offenders on the field; trying to move games overseas; letting broadcasts show protesters [their your games - tell the broadcasters not to show the protesters or mention them!]), leaving a bad taste in lots of folks mouths, but not all for the same reason(s).

As you say, let's see how Fraudger screws it up going forward.

 

[patchick]

This would have to be a nationally representative poll of television viewers and ask them why they were watching less football in order to be at all valid.

Better yet, identify viewers who are actually watching less football and ask them why rather than sking respondents to guess why other unknown people might be watching less. Have you ever gotten a political poll that asked you to speculate why other people might be voting for a candidate?

Now I'll go ahead and speculate anyway. I'd say the obvious problem is over-saturation. 3 nights a week of national night games + a slate of Sunday games is too much. When it was just MNF, they could pretty reliably schedule a compelling matchup. Now, the national games are totally potluck, which becomes extra-glaring in a season like this with a lack of compelling teams and storylines. (JAX vs. TEN, feel the thrill!) And worse yet, the feeling that there's always a game on makes each game feel less like must viewing.

(IMO there's pretty much zero chance the national anthem stuff moved the needle. Even the most offended among us Pats fans aren't tuning out Pats games because -- check it out -- Pats games are interesting. And they only happen once a week.)

 

[neuronet]

This would have to be a nationally representative poll of television viewers and ask them why they were watching less football in order to be at all valid.

Even more would be needed. For instance, that sample would need to include people that were actually watching less, not just people speculating about other people watching less. And even then, it would assume we can trust people accurately say why they were watching less.

While I tend to be dismissive of the social sciences, it isn't because their job is easy. It is because the subject matter is so complex, that ridiculous polls like this one are nowhere near sufficient to lay bare the mechanisms underlying collective behavior. To trust a reporter to interpret it is worse than trusting the people who have spent their lives studying it.

The way to test the hypothesis is to stop the protests, and see if viewership goes back up. My prediction: no freaking way. My reasons for not watching have nothing to do with the protests. It is 100% to do with being disillusioned with the NFL at an organizational level, being fed up with the ********, and not wanting to support that dumpster fire of an organization. Deflategate was the elephant that broke this camel's back.

 

[IllegalContact]

I don't think the anthem was at the heart of the issue.......I think it stems from losing tons of casual fans because of the garbage that comes out of goodell's office........the casual fan thinks the NFL is nothing more than WWF

 

[primetime]

Even more would be needed. For instance, that sample would need to include people that were actually watching less, not just people speculating about other people watching less. And even then, it would assume we can trust people accurately say why they were watching less.

While I tend to be dismissive of the social sciences, it isn't because their job is easy. It is because the subject matter is so complex, that ridiculous polls like this one are nowhere near sufficient to lay bare the mechanisms underlying collective behavior. To trust a reporter to interpret it is worse than trusting the people who have spent their lives studying it.

The way to test the hypothesis is to stop the protests, and see if viewership goes back up. My prediction: no freaking way. My reasons for not watching have nothing to do with the protests. It is 100% to do with being disillusioned with the NFL at an organizational level, being fed up with the ********, and not wanting to support that dumpster fire of an organization. Deflategate was the elephant that broke this camel's back.

Right, that's what I meant. And I agree about the social sciences, despite being a social scientist myself. To make a valid conclusion, you'd need a large enough and representative sample of people, and you'd need survey items that asked things like...

1. Thinking about this NFL season that began September 6, on an average weekend do you watch less than you did a season ago?

2. [IF YES] I'm going to ask you about reasons that may have contributed to you watching less. Would you say X contributed a lot, a little, or not at all to your decision to watch football less? (RANDOMIZE)
a) National anthem protests
b) Reports of brain damage
c) Quality of play
d) Officiating
e) Roger Goodell
f) Deflategate scandal
g) Domestic violence scandals
h) Less free time
i) Presidential election
j) Cut the cable
k) Commercials
l) Game is rigged
m) Thursday night football and oversaturation

Something like this. You could create a Likert for each (2 for a lot, 1 for a little, 0 for not at all) and compare the scores. You could cross-tab for things like income, race/ethnicity, gender. Obviously, I just whipped this up in 5 minutes, but it's pretty clear to anyone with a social science background that there are much more valid and rigorous ways of testing this than asking people about their perceptions of what other people have done. It's bad social science and irresponsible reporting. And it would actually be an interesting survey. For instance, are women watching less football because of domestic violence?

 

[neuronet]

. [IF YES] I'm going to ask you about reasons that may have contributed to you watching less. Would you say X contributed a lot, a little, or not at all to your decision to watch football less? (RANDOMIZE)
...
e) Roger Goodell
....

Wouldn't it be hilarious if that pinned the needle?

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

See the problem with so called Polls, is that you have to watch out how much bias they put into the poll.

True. Then they honestly might overlook factors when they ask poll questions. Online, I do it all the time when doing polls. For instance, a lot of fans may simply be viewing streaming games online.

 

[1960Pats]

So true. There are a multitude of reasons why ratings are dropping, and while I have no doubt that some folks who are not watching are doing it because of the National Anthem issue, a whole lot more are not watching because of the suckage of the games. Here in the northeast I believe there are folks that are consciously not watching as much of the NFL as they used to, like me. Take last night. I was flipping around the channels and normally would have put on the Thursday night game, even though it was not a great match up. It's an NFL game, right? Now I just checked the score on the computer at 10:30 (a blowout at the time, I guess the Jags scored a few times late) and congratulated myself for not wasting my evening watching that crap.

Even the games I want to watch are getting unwatchable. Seattle vs. AZ on Sunday night - should be a great match up, right? Although the kickers made it crazy at the end of OT, during the game itself, I swear, every time either team made a pass of more than 10 yards, FLAG. Holding. Ugghh. Stupid refs.

The NFL is suffering from over-saturation and a declining product, topped off with a commissioner who gets it wrong on every issue (Tom Brady; domestic violence; stupid fines for celebrations and players defending themselves; no suspensions for repeat offenders on the field; trying to move games overseas; letting broadcasts show protesters [their your games - tell the broadcasters not to show the protesters or mention them!]), leaving a bad taste in lots of folks mouths, but not all for the same reason(s).

As you say, let's see how Fraudger screws it up going forward.

Let's not forget that it isn't just Fraudger. He's only the fall guy for the owners.

You hit the nail on the head from every angle. It isn't just the games that we know could be lousy, but it's all games. I probably watched a quarter of the games that I normally would and I was still turning them off. The thrill is gone.

Over-saturation is a real culprit too, as you said.

I imagine that after the way the NYFL decided to go with the players this time, the next time the players go for a contract it will be a lot different. There won't be any players hugging Kraft and telling him he helped saved football. It doesn't appear that he did.

I think another issue is the tinkering with and micro-managing of the rules. I watch the officials in a game now and I actually start to feel sorry for them, even though I agree they are bad. They have no idea what's happening sometimes and are looking at each other to make calls. I don't recall stuff like that happening until recently.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

• greed,
• expansion,
• generational preferences,
• bad matchups on TNF, which are supposed to be the league’s showcase games on Thursday nights,
• rule confusion,
• penalty fatigue,
• and the greatest threat to the league’s ongoing existence: concussions

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

To tweet it, we have reached Peak Football, as Mark Cuban said not so long ago.

There is so much of it, people are getting tired of it.

It's not just so many games throughout the week, but the 24/7 coverage in the sports media that often hypes TMZ stuff.

One tweak might be to assign most prime-time games to last year's playoff teams - you have to earn a national audience. I'd still put in great rivalries if the teams are competitive.

Here's another idea: Have ALL the teams to take the same bye week in late October. Maybe everybody will miss football a little bit and sort of even things up a bit. No hits from fans watching the World Series.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

NFL prime time ratings have declined for 25 of 26 games

 

[aluminum seats]

You can have a problem with someone's right.

Thank you. So incredibly tired of the moronic talking heads clearing their throats and making their grand pronouncement that so and so "has the right to do it." Yes, no kidding. We know. For god's sake please stop repeating it.

Let's imagine if this approach was applied to everything....guy drops a pass that hit his hands...

"Yeah, you see Bob, he dropped it, but he absolutely was breathing oxygen there. And this game is on TV, and I think it's good that it is! Absolutely. He dropped that pass, but let me tell you, he SHOULD NOT be executed for that. In the National Football league, nobody should be killed for dropping a pass. And I really believe that. But it's good we're talking like this, that drop can really be a part of a national conversation. But he dropped it, and like I said, he's breathing air. Which contains oxygen. Not afraid to say it."

 

[PatriotsReign]

Here's the reality of this issue....

Sure, it could be the NA protest are the #1 reason for the drop off. Then again, maybe not.

Whatever the true reason, I'm 110% fine with it no matter what it is

What baffles me are people that seem to have an emotional reason for the ratings drop NOT to be due to anthem protests.

Seriously, Who cares?!!

 

[PatriotsReign]

Thank you. So incredibly tired of the moronic talking heads clearing their throats and making their grand pronouncement that so and so "has the right to do it." Yes, no kidding. We know. For god's sake please stop repeating it.

Let's imagine if this approach was applied to everything....guy drops a pass that hit his hands...

"Yeah, you see Bob, he dropped it, but he absolutely was breathing oxygen there. And this game is on TV, and I think it's good that it is! Absolutely. He dropped that pass, but let me tell you, he SHOULD NOT be executed for that. In the National Football league, nobody should be killed for dropping a pass. And I really believe that. But it's good we're talking like this, that drop can really be a part of a national conversation. But he dropped it, and like I said, he's breathing air. Which contains oxygen. Not afraid to say it."

We all have the right to tell everyone to bugger off too. And the sun comes up every single day

 

[Joker]

well, the only way to find out the answer is to reduce the variables involved. My solution...FIRE GOODELL. See if the league bounces back.

 

[PP2]

Exactly - this is an idiotic poll. How come they didn't ask the people who responded why they themselves were watching less? And the anthem protests are hardly likely to make the same number of viewers watch the games for less time (as the NFL itself claimed was the case). That points to bad game quality or too many games or simply lack of engagement.

It's also worth noting that there is a matching decline in the English Premier League:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/s...in-nfl-and-epl-a-blip-or-something-worse.html

This post should have ended this dumb thread right there and then.

 

[borg]

As I sit in my office today with Red Zone on in the background, I think I figured out why I and possibly a majority of people are starting to tune out NFL games. Our interest is no longer game specific, it is player specific thanks to our obsession with fantasy. For the most part, who wins or loses is irrelevant to a large segment of the population ...only fantasy points matter. I no longer care about the scores of most games, just yards and TDs.
Fans have been reprogrammed.
PS...the last time I was excited to watch nonPatriots football was Tebow Time ....and that was only because God had money on his boy.

 

[FirstAndGoal]

Well, as a veteran and not someone who particularly gets upset by the protests as many claim we do, if people are more upset about the protests than the NFL handling of things like the concussion and domestic violence issues, that's really sad. I don't believe it and I wish people would stop this crap about it being disrespectful to veterans. It's not our anthem, it's yours so if you're upset, stop using us to prop up your arguments. It's like the "what about the children" answer. Active military is 1% and 7% of the population have ever served. If 50% of the veteran population gave a crap (and I doubt it would be that high), it still wouldn't account for the numbers. It's not something I would do but it's not particularly upsetting to most veterans I know so I'm not sure why people use us as their emotional crutch except to justify their own anger.

 

[borg]

Well, as a veteran and not someone who particularly gets upset by the protests as many claim we do, if people are more upset about the protests than the NFL handling of things like the concussion and domestic violence issues, that's really sad. I don't believe it and I wish people would stop this crap about it being disrespectful to veterans. It's not our anthem, it's yours so if you're upset, stop using us to prop up your arguments. It's like the "what about the children" answer. Active military is 1% and 7% of the population have ever served. If 50% of the veteran population gave a crap (and I doubt it would be that high), it still wouldn't account for the numbers. It's not something I would do but it's not particularly upsetting to most veterans I know so I'm not sure why people use us as their emotional crutch except to justify their own anger.

When I see these players do their kneeling schtick, I don't see protesters, I see jackasses...and life's too short to give the time of day to jackasses....I ignore them....and I ignore the NFL for the most part because of the excessive jackassery. Thank god Belichick builds teams that for the most part minimize the jackassery. Sure, the Pats may employ a serial killer every now and then, but no team is perfect