NFL Low TV Ratings: It will get worse

[The Derski]

Let them play.

Lulz... After last week I don't blame seaquack fans for saying that.

 

[KnightAndDay]

Pretty much lost all interest in the NFL a year or so ago. I'll half-heartedly watch a game or 2 every now and then when I'm bored or if there's nothing else on. But overall the product is completely watered down from what it was 10-15 years ago.


- Awful, awful, awful reffing.
- Far too many attention whores.
- Constantly trying to put a team in Toronto, London, etc.
- Rules favor the offense way too much.
- Obsession with players kneeling/sitting during the anthem.
- Color rush. This one needs no explaining.
- A lot of the off-field fines/penalties are bullshit.

 

[fordman84]

Yes, it will get worse.

Book it right now though, this time next year when they are doing YoY comparisons the price of TV ads will go up. When the Pres race isn't going on, people will tune back to NFL. Not all of them, but there will be a 7-8% bump and the NFL will trumpet it as if "The NFL is BACK BABY!" and everyone will believe it.

 

[SonnyCID]

Lulz... After last week I don't blame seaquack fans for saying that.

And I don't blame Packers fans preferring to whine about the refs in another game than acknowledge how "God" awful their team looked on Sunday.

 

[DirtDirtDirt]

Ratings may be down, but I believe it was last Sunday night, when there was some awful Sunday night football game on, it absolutely crushed the ratings of an elimination baseball game........I forget all the participants, but this is a fact

So being down, does not equal "Being in trouble"

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I do think the election year has something to do with it, but I'd be curious to see where the drop is on a market by market basis because CHI, NY, SF...3 major TV market teams are either bad or not really contending. I know if I lived in CHI or SF, the Cubs/Giants series would be more interesting than the Bears and 49ers lately.

Fringe fans are always the 1st to jump ship.

 

[SonnyCID]

Ratings may be down, but I believe it was last Sunday night, when there was some awful Sunday night football game on, it absolutely crushed the ratings of an elimination baseball game........I forget all the participants, but this is a fact

So being down, does not equal "Being in trouble"

Could cause them trouble in regards to sponsors. If you pay the NFL the going rate to air a commercial to 25 million viewers, but are only landing 20 million, that would be a problem.

 

[Guy Incognito]

I remember a few years ago that at least Yahoo fantasy football stats required you to pay in order to get real time updates. So people heavily invested in fantasy sports were watching to see how "their" players were doing.

It's now updated in real time. And smartphone usage is still growing. So you can stay updated in real time without having to sit in front of the TV.

 

[3riverbabe]

Oversaturation

Couldn't agree more. Do we really need a Thursday night game? A lot of them are lame. Most people only go out of their way to watch them if their favorite team is playing or if it's a really good matchup.

And waaayyy too many commercials. Thank heavens for the Red Zone Channel, which I flip to during the ads.

 

[SonnyCID]

Couldn't agree more. Do we really need a Thursday night game? A lot of them are lame. Most people only go out of their way to watch them if their favorite team is playing or if it's a really good matchup.

And waaayyy too many commercials. Thank heavens for the Red Zone Channel, which I flip to during the ads.

Prime time games used to draw viewership because they only had good matchups. You just knew from the very start of it that the NFL was playing with fire with TNF because it's always been one of the weaker games of the week.

 

[Guy Incognito]

Couldn't agree more. Do we really need a Thursday night game? A lot of them are lame. Most people only go out of their way to watch them if their favorite team is playing or if it's a really good matchup.

And waaayyy too many commercials. Thank heavens for the Red Zone Channel, which I flip to during the ads.

The Thursday night games are turds. Total money grab by the league. Every once in a while a good game breaks out, but they're typically blowouts where one team packs it in early. The only way they can make the Thursday product not shit is to set up the games so that they involve teams coming off the bye each week. Expecting teams to get ready to play an NFL game with one day of practice is nuts.

 

[DirtDirtDirt]

Couldn't agree more. Do we really need a Thursday night game? A lot of them are lame. Most people only go out of their way to watch them if their favorite team is playing or if it's a really good matchup.

And waaayyy too many commercials. Thank heavens for the Red Zone Channel, which I flip to during the ads.

Bingo....Red Zone channel, and fantasy football, are 2 huge culprits for me......I actually think fantasy football has made thousands, if not millions, of NFL fans, more interested in their fantasy teams, than their favorite teams, and will find themselves locked into the red zone, and not on a particular game on CBS or Fox....Or staring at the computer or phone/......

 

[Brees#1]

Rivers was likable? When did that happen?

He may not be likable to someone like Cutler but he cares about his team and off the field he takes care of his family and donates to important charities. He's also married with six kids. Nobody cares if a standup is talking trash to dbags. Cutler showed since that MNF game against Rivers just how dou*how he really is.

 

[SonnyCID]

Mark Cuban is right about the NFL.

Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

 

[rmilia1]

Well A. It's a Presidential year B. The Cubs/Dodgers/Red Sox all made the MLB playoffs C. The prime time games have sucked.

 

[Mondo Jay]

Super Bowl 50 was the pinnacle of the NFL's existence. Nothing else matters now.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

If there are too many flags, that means players are committing too many penalties. They're not going to go back to the old rules because of injury lawsuits, so you'd better get used to the flags.

I'm used to them. However i guarantee its contributing to the decrease in ratings.

 

[SonnyCID]

The rule book has grown 10x in the past 15 years. It's a different game than it used to be.

 

[packerzrule]

And I don't blame Packers fans preferring to whine about the refs in another game than acknowledge how "God" awful their team looked on Sunday.

keep me out of this skeezeks

 

[Guywithtoaster]

NFL needs to get rid of Thursday Night Football.

I haven't watched a single TNF game all year and don't plan on to unless the raiders or hawks are playing. Even then, due to work I might not be able to watch the games on Thursday. Considering most NFL fans like both high school football and college football its hard to justify spending an additional day a week watching a single game.

Normal week for a football fan

Sunday: regular NFL games + SNF
Monday: MNF
Tuesday: No Game
Wednesday: No Game
Thursday: TNF
Friday: High School Football
Saturday: College Football.

Only 2 days of the week are football free. While die-hard fans won't mind the additional games, its hard to imagine many housewives letting their husbands dedicate 5 days of the week for football. The NFL should go back to games on Sunday/Monday.