NFL ratings down. Everyone knows why except the media

[CharlesDavenport]

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/10/...ersaturation-at-root-of-nfls-ratings-decline/

Read that bullshit and know that the reason is that people watch football to watch football. Like a frog in a pot coming to boil, we've endured more frequent and raunchy ads, more chatty analysts, and more petulant players. We sit and watch because we love our teams, and we watch the other games for a lot of reasons. As the ads get increasingly inappropriate for kids, and the players make inappropriate political "statements", people will obviously turn it off. No mystery. People turn on football games to watch football games. When they get a heavy dose of political correctness and male enhancement products, it isn't a family event anymore and people will not tune in.

 

[slashsteel]

Tom Brady Was Suspended
TV networks know that in order to sell games to viewers, you need stars. One inhibitor to that goal is when the league spends $10 million and two years trying to paint their biggest star as some sort of criminal over something that never mattered before in the history of sports.

perhaps if they would have handled spygate correctly, billacheat would have been banned for life. And Poor Tommy Tom wouldn't have been targeted for cheating.

Perhaps "it never mattered", as they never had one organization at that time....go to continual lengths to break rules.

**** this writer **** goodell and **** the Patriots.........

 

[Steelr4evr]

They sweep cheating under the rug. See pats**** since 2001. They took hitting out making it a ******* boring group hug tackle fest. They allow some teams to commit holding penalties all day. See James Harrison for reference. The product is nothing like it used to be. A lot of fans are just fantasy football people who have no real loyalty to ****. I love the Steelers but hate the brand they're forced to play

 

[stillwright]

A part of it is there is to much footall anymore in my opinion. Sundays ....Sunday nights. .....Monday nights. Thursday night (now on Thanksgiving they add a third game).....Saturdays. Also putting the games on ESPN and the NFL Network loses some people. I rarely watch TV so I cut my cable back to the very basic plan. If it isn't on the major network I try my firestick. If that doesn't work I might try a bar but for the most part I will just follow along the Steelers on my phone.
As far as the TV adds....I rarely even watch them. It is a big part of the game anymore and that in it self has hurt it. 10 to 15 minutes of commercials after a score. Sad really.

 

[antdrewjosh]

I agree too much football is on. College and pro

 

[Ron Burgundy]

A part of it is there is to much footall anymore in my opinion. Sundays ....Sunday nights. .....Monday nights. Thursday night (now on Thanksgiving they add a third game).....Saturdays. Also putting the games on ESPN and the NFL Network loses some people. I rarely watch TV so I cut my cable back to the very basic plan. If it isn't on the major network I try my firestick. If that doesn't work I might try a bar but for the most part I will just follow along the Steelers on my phone.
As far as the TV adds....I rarely even watch them. It is a big part of the game anymore and that in it self has hurt it. 10 to 15 minutes of commercials after a score. Sad really.

The NFL should be on TV at three times. Sunday at 1:00. Sunday at 4:30 EST for the west coast. Monday night. Period.

 

[TFB12]

perhaps if they would have handled spygate correctly, billacheat would have been banned for life. And Poor Tommy Tom wouldn't have been targeted for cheating.

Perhaps "it never mattered", as they never had one organization at that time....go to continual lengths to break rules.

**** this writer **** goodell and **** the Patriots.........

Wasn't it Bill Cowher, your hero, the one who said on national TV that Spygate was a bunch of bullshit and everybody was doing it and still does it?

Also, I would inform you that taping signals wasn't and is still not illegal but I wouldn't want to exterminate the only excuse you have for why your team can never seem to beat the Pats. Wouldn't want you to lose sleep over it

 

[nitsuj1225]

A part of it is there is to much footall anymore in my opinion. Sundays ....Sunday nights. .....Monday nights. Thursday night (now on Thanksgiving they add a third game).....Saturdays. Also putting the games on ESPN and the NFL Network loses some people. I rarely watch TV so I cut my cable back to the very basic plan. If it isn't on the major network I try my firestick. If that doesn't work I might try a bar but for the most part I will just follow along the Steelers on my phone.
As far as the TV adds....I rarely even watch them. It is a big part of the game anymore and that in it self has hurt it. 10 to 15 minutes of commercials after a score. Sad really.

Mark Cuban predicted this 2 and a half years ago. Not that I think the NBA is doing any better but you can't argue with what he said about the NFL beginning to come true this year. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...cuban-says-greedy-nfl-10-years-away-implosion

Multiple factors are contributing:
-Too much coverage, even in the offseason
-Rich athletes making political statements rubs a lot of people the wrong way
-Rich athletes and their criminal activity
-Goodell's incessant changing of rules just to make it seem like he's doing something
-Goodell's inconsistent and in some cases unnecessary punishments/fines
-Spygate, Bountygate, and Deflategate
-Big market teams have sucked for a while (Cowboys, Jets, Giants, Raiders, Bears, Eagles, Redskins) Giants are the only ones with a SB win this century and have royally sucked in the years they didn't make the SB.
-High ticket prices/uncontrollable drunk fans at games
-Cord cutting in record numbers
-Stagnant middle class economy over the last 10-15 years...working class fans (majority of football fans) don't have as much disposable income to drop hundreds of dollars a week on going to games or a couple thousand a year on DirecTV+Sunday Ticket.
-Younger generation isn't as into football as the older generations. As much as some people hate to see it, soccer is the up and coming sport for the younger generation in the US. Hockey is also gaining fans.
-Most recently, hearing about Steelers players partying it up in Miami before a letdown game. They don't take it seriously so why should fans? This happens league-wide so it's certainly not just our team.

A few of those have been problems for years but adding in the more recent cord cutting, political statements, a growing younger generation, and Goodell's continued ridiculous ruling, fans are starting to finally reach their breaking point.

 

[paperclip]

Also putting the games on ESPN and the NFL Network loses some people. .

my opinion too

 

[Steelr4evr]

Got NFL ticket for the first time ever this year and the ******* didn't have Monday night football included. I had to spend another 10 a month to get whatever sports package bs to include espn. That really burned my ***. I gave up sports bars because of drunk morons. Plus just like above the game is going in the *******. It's boring and predictable with ****** rules of engagement.

 

[ark steel]

Easiest question you have ever had to answer?

Are you sure you want to add TFB12 to your ignore list?

OK, that is #2. #1 is

Are you sure you want to add ElfiePolo, jewish, African American, behavior analysts with Aspergers to your ignore list?

 

[Spike]

College games are getting as longer or longer than pro games now? I set my DVR for their 3 hr gametime +30 min and still sometimes get cut off. Endless replays and commercials.

5 minutes of commercials, one play, 5 more minutes of commercials, that's why I NEVER watch any football games "live" anymore - I usually record everything and give them an hour spool-up headstart so I can FF through all the crap.

 

[ark steel]

Mark Cuban predicted this 2 and a half years ago. Not that I think the NBA is doing any better but you can't argue with what he said about the NFL beginning to come true this year. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...cuban-says-greedy-nfl-10-years-away-implosion

Multiple factors are contributing:
-Too much coverage, even in the offseason
-Rich athletes making political statements rubs a lot of people the wrong way
-Rich athletes and their criminal activity
-Goodell's incessant changing of rules just to make it seem like he's doing something
-Goodell's inconsistent and in some cases unnecessary punishments/fines
-Spygate, Bountygate, and Deflategate
-Big market teams have sucked for a while (Cowboys, Jets, Giants, Raiders, Bears, Eagles, Redskins) Giants are the only ones with a SB win this century and have royally sucked in the years they didn't make the SB.
-High ticket prices/uncontrollable drunk fans at games
-Cord cutting in record numbers
-Stagnant middle class economy over the last 10-15 years...working class fans (majority of football fans) don't have as much disposable income to drop hundreds of dollars a week on going to games or a couple thousand a year on DirecTV+Sunday Ticket.
-Younger generation isn't as into football as the older generations. As much as some people hate to see it, soccer is the up and coming sport for the younger generation in the US. Hockey is also gaining fans.
-Most recently, hearing about Steelers players partying it up in Miami before a letdown game. They don't take it seriously so why should fans? This happens league-wide so it's certainly not just our team.

A few of those have been problems for years but adding in the more recent cord cutting, political statements, a growing younger generation, and Goodell's continued ridiculous ruling, fans are starting to finally reach their breaking point.

I don't disagree.

I find the NBA almost unwatchable. Too frequent stops in the game for ridiculous "fouls", **** that, to me, looks like what we would have gotten called for walking (palming the ball while dribbling and a gazillion steps before a layup).

Hate Soccer with a passion, although I think it is the Soccer channel (don't know why I have it, must be in a package) shows some Australian Rules Football games. Australian Rules Football is what soccer ought to be.

 

[nitsuj1225]

I don't disagree.

I find the NBA almost unwatchable. Too frequent stops in the game for ridiculous "fouls", **** that, to me, looks like what we would have gotten called for walking (palming the ball while dribbling and a gazillion steps before a layup).

Hate Soccer with a passion, although I think it is the Soccer channel (don't know why I have it, must be in a package) shows some Australian Rules Football games. Australian Rules Football is what soccer ought to be.

Agree about the NBA. Stopped being a "fan" 10-12 years ago. I was a Sixers fan so that was the best decision I could've made at the time considering where they're at now. Although the NBA finals this year was entertaining and the only time I watched more than 15 minutes of a game in years. Now they're adding advertisement patches to jerseys this year...we'll see how that works out for them. If it does work out, it wouldn't surprise me to see Goodell go down that road if ratings keep dropping year over year.

Australian Rules Football is legit like you said, similar to Rugby. Very entertaining to watch even just for a neutral fan. Count me in as one of the "millennial" (hate that word) soccer fans though. The MLS is garbage (at least for now), it's all about European leagues for top quality soccer. So if anyone's only exposure to soccer is an MLS game, you could be missing out. Then again, I realize soccer isn't for some people which is fine.

I'll always be a Steelers fan, it's just Goodell and the rest of the league lost me as a fan of the NFL for almost all of the reasons I mentioned in my first post.

 

[wig]

Terry ******' Bradshaw 12, Teams in the league do NOT do what the P*ts do. They do NOT have Ernie "Rainman" Adams up in the booth whispering down the opposing teams calls ahead of every offensive and defensive snap.

Nor do other teams sneak in and steal playbooks and scripted opening drives. Nor do they film walk-throughs. Other teams QBs don't go William Gacy on their phone moments after being told they'll be interviewed the following day by the NFL regarding their involvement in the football deflation scandal. Other teams don't randomly fire, then rehire personnel at the drop of a hat in order to make it seem that THEY'RE the ones constantly ******* up and breaking the rules, but no, maybe they aren't, but maybe they are...

Other teams don't bring 3 times the audio/radio equipment to every game. Other teams DO however have headset malfunctions at virtually every game in your team's ****** stadium. Other teams DO complain about their locker conversations being overheard at your team's ****** stadium.

And the best part of all of it is - Everyone knows (particularly you P*ts fans) that all your division titles, your playoff wins, even your tainted Superbowls are completely invalid. No fan of the game, nobody who seriously follows the NFL will EVER give any significant credit to the P*ts. We all know they've cheated their way along. There's no respect for your team.

Which is a bit sad for those players who are actually quite talented and who work hard. Because they'll never quite get the benefit of respect that they probably deserve because they spent so much of their careers on a team that got them where they are by cheating. How much of their accomplishments were due to actual talent and hard work and how much were due to knowing which receiver was the primary on every single play? How much was due to knowing which linebackers were blitzing and which were dropping into coverage every defensive snap?

How great can Tom Brady really be when his career backups come in and put up numbers virtually as impressive? It can't even be argued that Brady is a system quarterback. He's a cheating quarterback who'd given the defense moments before the snap. His accomplishments will always be seen as the result of the most elaborate system of organized cheating ever orchestrated in professional sports.

And you P*ts fans know it. And deep down, it galls you. So on some level, I feel a bit sorry for you. You bluster and you crow and you pump out your chest. But deep down you know that nobody respects you. Sure we expect the P*ts to come in and do well. But it's because we know that T*m Brady or whoever will be playing QB knows which of our linebackers is blitzing and which is dropping back. He knows when to audible to a run an when to expect zone defense. And your defensive captains will know who Landry Jone's primary receiver is on every passing play and they'll disguise coverage until the snap and then suddenly that receiver will be doubled and Landry will find himself pressured. You think we don't know that? You think Ernie Adams hasn't memorized all the Steeler's playcalling verbiage and once he hears it over the radio he wont' call it down to Brady or your defensive captain and tell them precisely what to do? That's why Ernie Adams has a ******* job. Rainman doesn't serve any other purpose. We know it. You know it.

Get over yourself Terry. Call yourself a fan if you want. Play Madden on God-Mode. Your team's owner has the cable television rights. He gets to do whatever he wants. The league can't do **** about it because then they'd risk losing all that TV revenue. Do you really think fans with any ******* idea what's going on don't know "what's going on?"

And THAT'S why viewership is dropping. It IS because of Tom ******* Brady. Sorry if I dropped a bit too much truth on you Terry ******' Bradshaw 12.

 

[miiike]

In no particular order: 1. too many game times now, 2. They spent the last 10 years gearing the game to fantasy football making it horrible to watch, 3. The fantasy football people now have easier ways to follow than actually watching games, 4. Botched punishment of serious and silly offenses, 5 the no fun league, 6 the inevitable downtown (see baseball and boxing).

 

[oneforthebus]

A part of it is there is to much footall anymore in my opinion. Sundays ....Sunday nights. .....Monday nights. Thursday night (now on Thanksgiving they add a third game).....Saturdays. Also putting the games on ESPN and the NFL Network loses some people. I rarely watch TV so I cut my cable back to the very basic plan. If it isn't on the major network I try my firestick. If that doesn't work I might try a bar but for the most part I will just follow along the Steelers on my phone.
As far as the TV adds....I rarely even watch them. It is a big part of the game anymore and that in it self has hurt it. 10 to 15 minutes of commercials after a score. Sad really.

I agree with this. Sunday used to be football day for me, all day. It was something I looked forward to all week. I would watch Monday night if I cared about the teams. 3 hours 3 nights a week is just too much. I don't really care to watch most of the other games unless they directly affect the Steelers playoff chances or something. I rarely watch a pregame show anymore...there's just way too much commentary.

 

[Spike]

What? nobody blaming that dude with the afro?

 

[Coach]

Part of the reason is the protest movement by some NFL players. How much? Hard to say. 3-5%?

I think the NFL is losing its #1 target market of 18-34-year-old males. These millennials are different cats, and there's too much focus on big money and not enough focus on Joe average fan, who these days has 300+ channels and streaming options in his or her free time.

I don't care if ratings are down. All ratings are down. the upside is Goodell can't relying on rating baling him out in the future.

 

[nitsuj1225]

Part of the reason is the protest movement by some NFL players. How much? Hard to say. 3-5%?

I think the NFL is losing its #1 target market of 18-34-year-old males. These millennials are different cats, and there's too much focus on big money and not enough focus on Joe average fan, who these days has 300+ channels and streaming options in his or her free time.

I don't care if ratings are down. All ratings are down. the upside is Goodell can't relying on rating baling him out in the future.

I fall in your stated millennial age range and 300+ channels is not the norm for my age group. It's all about Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go and not ESPN and Sunday Ticket. I know very few people with full blown TV packages nowadays and the ones that do aren't in that age group.

For cord cutters (mainly millennials), the benefit of having all those channels is surpassed by the ability or desire to pay for them. Simple as that. The NFL used to be a reason for sticking with cable packages. So many people only have TV just for sports. With all the crap going on in the league today, it's losing that edge. Diminish the only product some TV subscribers care about and they turn elsewhere.

 

[Steeltime]

Also, I would inform you that taping signals wasn't and is still not illegal ...

The allegations against the Patriots prompted NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson to send a letter to all 32 team owners, general managers and head coaches on Sept. 6, 2006, reminding them that "videotaping of any type, including but not limited to taping of an opponent's offensive or defensive signals, is prohibited from the sidelines."

But the Patriots kept doing it. In November 2006, Green Bay Packers security officials caught Matt Estrella shooting unauthorized footage at Lambeau Field. When asked what he was doing, according to notes from the Senate investigation of Spygate that had not previously been disclosed, Estrella said he was with Kraft Productions and was taping panoramic shots of the stadium. He was removed by Packers security. That same year, according to former Colts GM Bill Polian, who served for years on the competition committee and is now an analyst for ESPN, several teams complained that the Patriots had videotaped signals of their coaches. And so the Patriots -- and the rest of the NFL -- were warned again, in writing, before the 2007 season, sources say.

[Under Belichick,] an entire system of covert videotaping was developed and a secret library created. "It got out of control," a former Patriots assistant coach says. Sources with knowledge of the system say an advance scout would attend the games of upcoming Patriots opponents and assemble a spreadsheet of all the signals and corresponding plays. The scout would give it to Adams, who would spend most of the week in his office with the door closed, matching the notes to the tapes filmed from the sideline. Files were created, organized by opponent and by coach. During games, Walsh later told investigators, the Patriots' videographers were told to look like media members, to tape over their team logos or turn their sweatshirt inside out, to wear credentials that said Patriots TV or Kraft Productions. The videographers also were provided with excuses for what to tell NFL security if asked what they were doing: Tell them you're filming the quarterbacks. Or the kickers. Or footage for a team show.

In fact, many former New England coaches and employees insist that the taping of signals wasn't even the most effective cheating method the Patriots deployed in that era. Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team's offense. (The practice became so notorious that some coaches put out fake play sheets for the Patriots to swipe.) Numerous former employees say the Patriots would have someone rummage through the visiting team hotel for playbooks or scouting reports. Walsh later told investigators that he was once instructed to remove the labels and erase tapes of a Patriots practice because the team had illegally used a player on injured reserve. At Gillette Stadium, the scrambling and jamming of the opponents' coach-to-quarterback radio line -- "small s---" that many teams do, according to a former Pats assistant coach -- occurred so often that one team asked a league official to sit in the coaches' box during the game and wait for it to happen. Sure enough, on a key third down, the headset went out.

And from the same story as to why the Eagles and Steelers publicly said that the Patsies*** well-documented cheating did not affect the outcome of playoff and lowB repuS games:

Martz says now that he returned Goodell's call from the 49ers' practice field. During a five-minute conversation, Martz recalls that the commissioner sounded panicked about Specter's calls for a wider investigation. Martz also recalls that Goodell asked him to write a statement, saying that he was satisfied with the NFL's Spygate investigation and was certain the Patriots had not cheated and asking everyone to move on -- like leaders of the Steelers and Eagles had done.

"He told me, 'The league doesn't need this. We're asking you to come out with a couple lines exonerating us and saying we did our due diligence,'" says Martz, now 64 years old and out of coaching, during a July interview at his summer cabin in the Idaho mountains.

The league solicited such comments to cover up the fact that numerous games were subject to the Patsies*** cheating.

How many such games? The Patsies*** claimed to have filmed 6 to 8 opponents' games, but that was a lie:

From 2000 to 2007, the Patriots videotaped the signals of opposing coaches in 40 games.

Repeating what he had proclaimed publicly, Goodell assured Specter the destroyed tapes went back only to the 2006 season. But then he confessed something new: that the Patriots began their taping operation in 2000 and the destroyed notes were for games as early as 2002, "overwhelmingly for AFC East rivals," contradicting an assertion he made just two weeks earlier in public. The commissioner told Specter that among the destroyed notes were the Patriots' detailed diagrams of the Steelers' defensive signals from several games, including the January 2002 AFC Championship Game -- in which Ward later alleged that the Patriots called "our stuff out."

http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13533995/split-nfl-new-england-patriots-apart

The Patsies*** - a culture of corruption , and a well-deserved reputation for violating rules and cheating.

... but I wouldn't want to exterminate the only excuse you have for why your team can never seem to beat the Pats. Wouldn't want you to lose sleep over it

http://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=311030023

http://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=281130017

http://www.espn.com/nfl/game?gameId=241031023

Can you get even the basic facts right?

 

[Troglodyte]

College games are getting as longer or longer than pro games now? I set my DVR for their 3 hr gametime +30 min and still sometimes get cut off. Endless replays and commercials.

5 minutes of commercials, one play, 5 more minutes of commercials, that's why I NEVER watch any football games "live" anymore - I usually record everything and give them an hour spool-up headstart so I can FF through all the crap.

College has different rules for stopping the clock than the NFL which makes it longer and longer half times.

What kills me watching NFL games on TV is: boring x-tra point or FG, commercial break, boring kick-off for touchback, right back to commercial break. 2 boring plays over 5 minutes.

 

[Spike]

What kills me watching NFL games on TV is: boring x-tra point or FG, commercial break, boring kick-off for touchback, right back to commercial break. 2 boring plays over 5 minutes.

that's what I said - it's 5 or 6 commercials, then one play, then 5 or 6 more - that's why I so love my DVR's & Sunday Ticket - I never have to watch games live, I switch back and forth between games and when I time it right, 3 games at once, non-stop football for 6 hours straight with no commercial interruptions - I am a football junkie - my tailgate drunk never ends - starting times mean nothing to me, I can watch at my leisure

Technology can be your friend

 

[Coach]

I fall in your stated millennial age range and 300+ channels is not the norm for my age group. It's all about Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go and not ESPN and Sunday Ticket. I know very few people with full blown TV packages nowadays and the ones that do aren't in that age group.

For cord cutters (mainly millennials), the benefit of having all those channels is surpassed by the ability or desire to pay for them. Simple as that. The NFL used to be a reason for sticking with cable packages. So many people only have TV just for sports. With all the crap going on in the league today, it's losing that edge. Diminish the only product some TV subscribers care about and they turn elsewhere.

I really didn't define it, but Millennials are one of the reasons ratings are down. Like you said millennials have more options with TV.

Half of the one I meet are near allergic to p()@@y, barely drive or got their drivers licenses late, and play contact sports less frequently than the previous generation.

They are much more likely to hang out at Starbucks coffee, play video games, and live with their parents in their late 20's to early 30's.

Things cost more these days and many Millenials are in debt due to student loans, or to not make enough money to buy an NFL Sunday ticket due to a poor economy.

 

[MTC]

-Commercials are number 1 factor. Too much commercials. I mean realistically you're only watching 11-15 minutes of actual football action.
-Over exposed league---something I've noticed about the nfl compared to other leagues is the constant off field distractions that the media tries so hard to implement into the game(spy/deflate/bounty gate, marijuana use, domestic violence) fantasy football, etc
-Loud personalities. I'm not a fan of the antics of AB or OBJ but the celebrations should be taken lightly. The league is boring as is. These guys are trying to add a bit of flare