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

[deroc5050]

I honestly don't buy the Anthem issue as being the reason for the ratings decline. I have no proof but just using common sense, if you wanted to watch football why would you let some back up QB's issue with the National Anthem.. be a reason why you would stop watching football.

Unless your like Hardcore America Super Power Pride syndrome.. and anything that would symbolize something that would put your idea's of what our country is in a different light.. Actually i can't even make sense of this.

The ratings are dropping because of several reasons and the National Anthem issue is at the bottom of the list.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

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.

Great post, spot on with the analogy of What About The Children.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

I honestly don't buy the Anthem issue as being the reason for the ratings decline. I have no proof but just using common sense, if you wanted to watch football why would you let some back up QB's issue with the National Anthem.. be a reason why you would stop watching football.

Unless your like Hardcore America Super Power Pride syndrome.. and anything that would symbolize something that would put your idea's of what our country is in a different light.. Actually i can't even make sense of this.

The ratings are dropping because of several reasons and the National Anthem issue is at the bottom of the list.

One theory I saw that made sense to me was the decline in daily fantasy leagues like Fan Duel or Draft Kings. The quality of play is largely bad as well. There are indeed a number of factors.

 

[Dr Pain]

At the Ravens Steelers game, they had a huge pregame event, giant flag, hundred military holding it, A10 flyover, black Army Soldier singing the national anthem, closeups of players singing along and they showed this at at 1, when kickoff should have been. Then somehow they managed to have all this off the field and kickoff at 1:04. It was obvious it was a taped event, edited to show only players singing the anthem and then broadcast at 1 when they cut over to the game.

The NFL is trying to wrap itself in the flag now that they need it

 

[PatriotsReign]

One theory I saw that made sense to me was the decline in daily fantasy leagues like Fan Duel or Draft Kings. The quality of play is largely bad as well. There are indeed a number of factors.

Anything that results in less fantasy football is a good thing

 

[PatriotsReign]

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.

I doubt even 25% of NFL fans participate in fantasy football. Of around 20 fans I know, only one is a fantasy football guy

 

[borg]

I doubt even 25% of NFL fans participate in fantasy football. Of around 20 fans I know, only one is a fantasy football guy

A Fortune magazine article last year estimated that 57 million people in US/Canada spent an average of $465 each playing fantasy sports and 73% played fantasy football (43 million people). Young adults make up the biggest demographic of fantasy players.
Your peer group has little involvement and my male friends no longer do the office live draft thing but many get one or more free ESPN teams just for something to do while the wife watches the Lifetime Network. My teenage son on the other hand is hooked, unfortunately, and he estimates half the boys in his high school play fantasy and some bet big. (sad isn't it). And his peer group only watches Red Zone because the actual contests mean nothing in their fantasy focused worlds. They have the Red Zone on, their laptops open for stats and their phones in hand texting about their greatness....while barely looking at the screen unless they overhear the announcer mention one of their fantasy players. Remember, the youth of today can only focus for 8 seconds unlike my generation (or just me) that could stare at a stock ticker for 7 hours non stop.
My point....don't project your world as the norm. Remember, teams are adding wifi to stadiums to feed this beast. This can of worms is wide open and the NFL owners wanted this type of fandom. Personally, I'm over fantasy ....just another fad among many that eventually exits my conscience ...though I still have my Members Only jacket, my Saturday Night Fever album, and I sometimes have the urge to part my hair down the middle

 

[NormZauchin]

The Washington Post did the NFL decline in ratings as a lead story on today's sports page. They never mentioned the national anthem protests, nor, less surprisingly, anything about Deflategate. They listed decreased quality of play due to reduced practice time, restrictions on player celebrations, competition with the presidential election and the World Series, and finally, oversaturation, particularly the Thursday night game. Of course, the Post brings its own biases to this issue.

 

[BigPeteG]

Well the poll doesn't prove anything of course. But for a lot of people this country football is a very patriotic and religious game. It's very Christian and very American. So I think that many of these fans do feel disrespected and find something different to do with their time.

Go watch a game at West Point and even though they are not very good at football - you will quickly understand what I am talking about. The effect is even stronger in other parts of the country<MHO

ESPN's mixing of social justice warriors and sports is quite bizarre to these fans and its just a turn off. I think the lack of escapism is part of the problem - but the larger problem is just not knowing your audience. how do conservative people react to this? They don't protest - they simply spend their money elsewhere, watch other programming etc.

true the games aren't that good, etc. But this hasn't really changed much.

 

[jmt57]

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.

To take your point a step further, it used to be that fantasy football players would still watch games to (a) watch a player on their team, and (b) watch the scroll at the bottom of the screen rather than the game.

Now everybody (well, except for Tunescribe) has a smart phone. Not only is there no need for fantasy football players to be tethered to their computer at home, they don't even have to watch the actual football games to see how their teams are doing.

To me it is incredibly ironic that a phenomenon that the NFL embraced in order to increase revenues - fantasy football - is in my opinion part of the reason why ratings are dropping. People can now play fantasy football successfully without even watching NFL games!


edit: just saw your next post about your son and his friends. Goes pretty much hand in hand with my thoughts.

 

[BradyFTW!]

At the Ravens Steelers game, they had a huge pregame event, giant flag, hundred military holding it, A10 flyover, black Army Soldier singing the national anthem, closeups of players singing along and they showed this at at 1, when kickoff should have been. Then somehow they managed to have all this off the field and kickoff at 1:04. It was obvious it was a taped event, edited to show only players singing the anthem and then broadcast at 1 when they cut over to the game.

The NFL is trying to wrap itself in the flag now that they need it

On the bright side the anthem was actually sung well. As opposed to that near-unrecognizable mess we heard before SNF.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Sounds like Joe Lockhart's elephant brigade is hard at work at 345, planting stories about ersatz polls and shoveling up the piles of s#!t left behind by Goodell and his cronies.

 

[deroc5050]

Anything that results in less fantasy football is a good thing

I honestly could give 2 ****s about Fantasy Football.. I get why some people might like it but I cant stand hearing all these experts talking about and devoting their lives to who's injured, who's playing well against a certain type of defense.. or whatever.. I DON'T CARE, I JUST WANT TO WATCH QUALITY FOOTBALL GAMES!

 

[ANGR89]

I know it's a espn article, but you have to love Drew Brees

Brees, Strief: Mistrust hurting NFL popularity

 

[FirstAndGoal]

It's like hot dogs. Tastes great but no one wants to see how they're made as you may not want one after.... same with the NFL. The crap they've been pulling and what people have been able to see in the making of the product has soured a lot of people. It's difficult for me to see the NFL in a positive light in lieu of concussions and how they've handled them, the attacks on the Patriots, domestic violence, and the general arrogance of the NFL. I still watch but I've certainly lost some enthusiasm so I wouldn't be surprised if others who are less invested, are turned off too.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

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

Other than the first couple weeks when the media was making an extravaganza out of the kneeling, have you even noticed?

I mean, I don't really agree that they're protesting their beliefs in the best of ways but thats about as far as my emotions are towards it.. they want to do it that way and be unique snowflakes, whatever, its a free country and people choose all kinds of dumb things to do... but I don't even notice it other than a prime time game or 2

If I happen to be watching the anthem and I see one of the protestors, I just said "ha, look at that idiot" and that sums up my involvement with it.. I gear up for the game at that point and move on with my life.. Do I think they might be misguided in their approach? Yes. Do I think the NFL should crack down on them with draconian type punishments like fines, suspensions, etc just for expressing themselves? No, that's excessive and you're basically punishing otherwise normal citizens for expressing their political beliefs and that is the opposite of what America is about in my opinion