So why the ratings plunge?

[Hawk-Lock]

LOL seriously? People actually care that much whether a guy takes a knee during the national anthem? I understand some people care about it, but care enough to....NEVER WATCH THE NFL AGAIN! Okay, your loss lol.

 

[Smellyman]

LOL seriously? People actually care that much whether a guy takes a knee during the national anthem? I understand some people care about it, but care enough to....NEVER WATCH THE NFL AGAIN! Okay, your loss lol.

Yup, that's bizarro world.

 

[gowazzu02]

It's a combination of a lot of things. Biggest of which is the product has deteriorated. Whether cause of the player "wins" during the CBA, teams don't hit any more, they dont practice as much. and there are alot of BAD football teams out there.

The league seems to be down Superstars. Rodgers not what he once was, Cam is down again, Peytons retired, Brady was suspended a quarter of the season, RW is playing hurt (still winning but not magical with his legs) Big Ben has a scummy past. The RB position has been trivialized, etc. etc. etc.

I think the flag fest and "taking the fun out of football" by flagging anytime a player smiles after a TD.

I think the constant rule changes

I think the election does have a part to play

Todays society is really ADD when you compare to decades past. I watch the hawks game and then nfl redzone during the sunday for example.

 

[chris98251]

Read a short article on PFT, Goodell says viewership isn't down, they just are not watching as long.............................

That is such a Marvin spin.................

Marvin does spin much better in fact.

 

[West TX Hawk]

Read a short article on PFT, Goodell says viewership isn't down, they just are not watching as long...

"No I wouldn't say that their popularity is waning-just that their audience is becoming more selective"

Band manager, Spinal Tap

 

[West TX Hawk]

What would really do the NFL in is if it ever came out that some games were rigged.

If hard evidence ever surfaced that any refs were paid off or if there really were orders from those in power to influence games or encourage outcomes etc, the league would go the way of WWE. Imagine 60 Minutes interviews of refs, congressional hearings with Goodell subpoenaed to testify. Hopefully this never happens-games being rigged that is.

 

[RiverDog]

LOL seriously? People actually care that much whether a guy takes a knee during the national anthem? I understand some people care about it, but care enough to....NEVER WATCH THE NFL AGAIN! Okay, your loss lol.

Not to never watch the NFL again, but it pisses enough people off that they don't feel compelled to watch a game this week.

I can imagine a conflict existing with a 5 year old child and their parents, when the child is told that they must stand and pledge allegiance to the flag then watch Krapperdick on Sunday sit on his ass during the anthem. The easy solution is to change the TV to the baseball game.

 

[IndyHawk]

Wuss millennials who think the game is too violent..,.

:2thumbs: No doubt about that. :2thumbs:

 

[Overseasfan]

Streaming. TV isn't as big of a medium as it was 5-10 years ago.

Presidential election and baseball play-offs naturally take some viewers away as well.

Streaming for free online.

Cable is expensive and thus unnecessary to have with platforms such at Netflix, Hulu and online streaming around.

I will say the commercial thing is a big turn off as well, I'd almost rather watch a blank fox background than see ads, so obnoxious.

Funny thing is that the dutch nfl broadcasts do for the most part have blank fox backgrounds instead of ads.

 

[RiverDog]

Funny thing is that the dutch nfl broadcasts do for the most part have blank fox backgrounds instead of ads.

Interesting observation. Are those broadcasts you are referring to live? I saw a lot of American programming when I was over there 4 years ago, Sports Center and what not, but I wasn't there for any live NFL telecasts, and I didn't see any blacked out commercial spots but by the same token, I didn't pay any attention to what kind of commercials they were airing as to whether or not they were European advertisements.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I think it's a lot of things.

1. Presidential race
2. Over saturation of games
3. Bad prime time games
4. People's access to traditional cable diminishing with streaming channels, especially millennials
5. Lack of star power in the league. No Brady, no Peyton, Romo hurt and others like Rodgers having a down year
6. No
Fun
League

Which IMO is a big one. Goodell and the owner's have decided to control the player's personalities by creating no fun rules for celebrating and tamping down what has made the NFL fun, characters.

Why watch if you have no rooting interest when it's just a bunch of homogeneous players all acting like perfect little robots not able to express themselves. Sterile.

 

[Bobblehead]

2 things
10 am games
Pajama games.. oh I mean TNF in pajamas.

 

[Bobblehead]

The NFL has a real blue collar fan base.

The Kaep thing is a bigger deal than most realize. I know a lot of guys who say they are done with the NFL for good.

I don't quite get it, but it is what it is.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Some suggestions:

Get rid of Thursday night games.

Fix the officiating problem, too many penaltys, get rid of "steering games via the penalty flag"


Shorten and limit commercial breaks.

Get rid of the regular season overseas games.

Rog stepping down.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Some suggestions:

Get rid of Thursday night games.

Fix the officiating problem, too many penaltys, get rid of "steering games via the penalty flag"


Shorten and limit commercial breaks.

Get rid of the regular season overseas games.

Rog stepping down.

- I'd amend the TNF games back to the end of the season. We used to get excited for them cause it was a novelty, now it's ubiquitous and over saturated.

- Definitely officiating. Hawks game, refs let them play. SNF with Cards, 33 penalties. That's ridiculous, no one wants to watch that.

- Not sure if people care about the London games, even Jags fans. Teams that are going have terrible ratings and fanbases, so not sure what we're saving.

- Roger stepping down would help internally with player relations, but don't think fans are staying away cause he's commissioner.

- Less commercials? Never happen. Ever.

 

[StaffAmerica74]

The games this year in primetime have been absolutely awful. I have a weird facination with Brian Hoyer ( Ive thought hes a great qb since he was starting for the Browns the year before Johnny Manziel was drafted and for some reason everyone thinks hes terrible) But even I think it insane how many times I have been able to watch the bears in their own timeslot this season. Every night i go to turn on the game and I see whos playing and immediately have zero interest.

Thats about to change with all the hawk primetime games coming though. The home games in Seattle feel like the old loud pumping crowd I am used to which seemed to be missing in 2014 and 2015

 

[Bobblehead]

LOL seriously? People actually care that much whether a guy takes a knee during the national anthem? I understand some people care about it, but care enough to....NEVER WATCH THE NFL AGAIN! Okay, your loss lol.

I think your right, no one would stop watching just because Kap took a knee. However, it maybe the straw that broke the Camel's back so to speak.
We are tired of:
All these penalties.
pink uniforms
rules and rules of how you can hit
how you can celebrate
Cost of the game
well the list can go on I suppose, but no it's not just that, it's everything.

 

[West TX Hawk]

Mark Cuban called this back in 2014. Described how the NFL is oversaturating us with a good product while they expanded primetime games. A lot of the higher ups laughed at this cause they felt he was just jealous the NBA wasn't as much of a juggernaut.

"Just watch,” Cuban said in a March 2014 conversation with reporters. “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I’m just telling you, when you’ve got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That’s rule No. 1 of business."

Thursday night games almost always are blow outs, generally with bad teams, due to shorter weeks to prepare/rest. This obsession with getting the NFL popular in London (with bottom dwellers) and having early morning games doesn't help. I think I've tuned into one of these and it was just because yahoo was streaming it for free when I went to update my fantasy team.

Awful refs, long reviews, and ever increasing commercials also plague the game. Flag happy, no contact games are unbearable.

There are also about 4 consistently good teams while everyone else gets lumped together in varying levels of 'average to bad.' Parity isn't a good thing if it's only with the bottom 2/3 of the league. NFC East, AFC South, NFC South have all been generally a grab bag of who will be lucky enough to win 9 games. No other team has sniffed the AFC East lead in a decade.

Cuban just may be right. I remember that interview and how he predicted the NFL would essentially implode in 10-20 years.

The thing that still keeps people's attention is the "violence." Romans loved watching violence in their spectacles and theatre goers still love the rough action flick. But the more violence they take away from the game with more ambiguous rule changes, the less people watch...which strangely contradicts the CTE awareness movement so prevalent now.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

Penalties, over-saturation, crappy presentation with London/TNF games, wussification, the whole "No Fun League" issues we've complained about for years. All take their toll, and all are a part of it.

The Kaepernick thing just seems to be a catalyst at a time where people were already souring on the game and wanting a diversion from issues they were trying to avoid while watching football.

 

[evergreen]

one answer; commercials. I now watch the games on rewind instead of live because of commercials. Not spending $$ on direct TV either. Live is better quality because it's 1080 plus its free. Free except the cost of hours of commercials...