yungmack Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 12 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said: I disagree. While there was some decline, the protests were obviously the most polarizing and politicized thing around the NFL in some time. It's silly to overlook it. The nature of the protest was and is seen as a disrespect to the country and military by many. Regardless of what the players try to say it is or isn't. Do something during the anthem and that's how it's going to be seen by a huge amount of folks. Regardless of explanation. Nobody I know of, including myself, is saying the protests aren't affecting ratings, just that ratings have been in decline for years. The insistence by some that the decline is all about protests is disingenuous at best, and something darker at worst. As an aside, I find your statement, "Regardless of explanation," to be odd. When someone clearly tells you they're doing something for a specific reason, with no hedging, it's off the wall to tell them, "It doesn't matter what you say because I've decided the real reason is something else entirely and I'm going to criticize you on that basis." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I watch the Bills of course, in the 1:00 window mostly, and if they win, I'll turn over to RedZone for awhile. If they lose, the TV goes off for the rest of the day. I watch the Thursday and Sunday night games to help me fall asleep...maybe see 15 minutes of each, max. Especially hate how SNF has become "Football Night in America" with all the bells/whistles etc to rival a Super Bowl game in the 1990s. Al Michaels is a great announcer, but I've grown tired of him. Wouldn't mind seeing Tirico in the prime spot. Have not watched more than 15 minutes of MNF this year, total. I'm a Sunday Ticket subscriber, so if they've lost me, for a large portion of the TV schedule, I can't imagine the "casual" fan watching much of the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFunPolice Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said: Especially now that the old " dependables" to knock off the evil empire , the Ravens and their defense , the Broncos and Manning , are long gone. Who is the saving grace to protect football fans everywhere from a Super Bowl involving New England ? There doesn't seem to be one this year. It will take a Brady injury or perhaps the Steelers can nab home field advantage. Brady's Championship game failures have mostly come on the road. Most New England games feel like watching a pro team competing against a mediocre college team. The games aren't even close. Their offense is completely unstoppable, and it doesn't matter who goes down. They score 30+ every week. It's just not interesting. They are almost never in a close game. How is it that one team is that much better than everyone else? NE's WR are always wide open, catch the ball, and run for 7-10 yards. Every freaking play. Then their stupid army of RBs catch little swing passes and run for 10 yards before they are touched. Nobody in the NFL can cover freaking Danny Amendola or Chris Hogan all of a sudden. It's mind-numbing. Eventually watching NE demolish everyone they play gets boring. Manning actually did pretty well against them in the playoffs, considering that almost nobody else ever beats them. I cannot remember Brady ever losing to Pittsburgh. Most of those games are 45-27 type wins for NE that aren't even that close. The Eagles are a cute story, but it all feels pointless. They can go 15-1 and they will lose to NE in the SB. "Then why watch, if you think that?" Exactly. Edited November 28, 2017 by TheFunPolice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatdrinks Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 1 minute ago, yungmack said: Nobody I know of, including myself, is saying the protests aren't affecting ratings, just that ratings have been in decline for years. The insistence by some that the decline is all about protests is disingenuous at best, and something darker at worst. As an aside, I find your statement, "Regardless of explanation," to be odd. When someone clearly tells you they're doing something for a specific reason, with no hedging, it's off the wall to tell them, "It doesn't matter what you say because I've decided the real reason is something else entirely and I'm going to criticize you on that basis." No one is really saying the decline is all about protests. It's something current and relevant that didn't exist in years past. It's likely being underrrated in these polls and articles for political purposes. There is nothing odd about the " regardless of explanation" statement at all. If you decide to protest anything, anything at all DURING the national anthem in front of the flag it will be interpreted by many as a slight against their country, flag and what it stands for. They've stopped listening before you try to explain your " good intentions". People take it as a personal attack. If it wasn't or isn't about the Anthem, country and everything it stands for, why was it being done during the anthem? Nothing is more polarizing than politics, that's why that old chestnut about " politics and religion" exists. The NFL ( and its ratings) would be wise to act like the business that it is and make these things go away. They have the power to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dma0034 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I think a big problem is I'm tired of watching 4 teams play on MNF and SNF. The matchups are bad. Ravens vs. Texans? Packers vs Steelers? These are totally different with Rodgers and Watson but did anyone think the Texans or Packers would win? They both loss by one score and I never thought once they'd win. They need to start flexing MNF games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy10 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 2 hours ago, yungmack said: I read most of the comments following the article and about 95% hit the protests as the reason for the ratings decline. Yet according to polling done among the general population, it is only one factor, and not a major one, as the article states. In fact, ratings have been in decline long before Kaepernick taking a knee. So how to explain the large number of anti-player protest comments at this particular website? So many of them went off into a litany of racial caricatures that it seems the protests just serve as an excuse to spew out long held negative opinions about black people, Democrats, MSM, "elites," etc. that it seems to me the website must for some reason appeal to these sorts. Anybody know anything about it? Scanning that website, it seems their focus is the SEC. So yeah, most of the comment threads on any topic with that crowd turn into frothy spittle tirades about race, lamestream MSM media, dumbocrats, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 2 hours ago, 26CornerBlitz said: It's not their fault if other teams can't get their crap together and it would be nice if opponents would stop gifting them Super Bowls with dumb decisions as the Seahawks and Falcons both did. I never said it was their fault, just said I am sick of watching it. I think a lot of other fans are too. Totally agree with Polish Dave, I was numb to last years super bowl, wasn't mad, wasn't shocked just numb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Vader Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 2 hours ago, Gordio said: I could only speak for myself but I have loss interest in the NFL partly due to every year New England seems all but unbeatable. I am tired of seeing Tom Brady, tired of seeing Belicheat. Just tired of it. Their dynasty has crossed the line a long time ago of being ridiculous. No QB that was drafted as a 6th round pick in 1999 should be still dominating the league. It borderlines on insanity if you think about it & questions come into my mind whether the games are actually fixed(or at least the NE games.) This isn't college basketball in the 1970's when UCLA was dominating, no team with the way the NFL is setup should have a run of dominance going on three decades. What is truly sickening, is how the sports media continues to fawn over the Patriots* as the greatest football dynasty in the history of sports. They never once acknowledge how much the whole cheating culture has influenced their championships. Sickening. I will never acknowledge their "accomplishments". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris66 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 7 minutes ago, Mark Vader said: What is truly sickening, is how the sports media continues to fawn over the Patriots* as the greatest football dynasty in the history of sports. They never once acknowledge how much the whole cheating culture has influenced their championships. Sickening. I will never acknowledge their "accomplishments". Maybe its because the national media doesnt put any stock into so called cheating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 7 minutes ago, Chris66 said: Maybe its because the national media doesnt put any stock into so called cheating. Perhaps they should, instead of sweeping it under the rug. Perhaps they should pay attention to the breaks NE gets during game officiating. It is like NE is untouchable, a different set of rules for them that no one else gets, and this is not a new occurrence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaviorPeterman Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Trump right again, is this guy seriously ever wrong despite the critics and incessant fake news coverage? NFL better get it's act together fast. Stadiums are half empty every week and fans are tired of the political crap spilling over into sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 It seems to me that the NFL has failed to even consider one major solution: trimming the game time from ~3 hours to 2:45. Cut some of the commercial time (painful, I know) and - I hate to say this - get rid of replay review. The fact that they have to cut to a long ad break for a decision that shouldn't take more than 45 seconds MAX is painful to watch. Baseball doesn't cut to ads, and the decisions come in quickly for plays that are no easier to decide on. Unless they fix that, the downside of review - i.e., interminable delays - outweighs the obvious positive. The NFL has to realize that they aren't the only player any more - there are too many other options. They have to get better, and that starts with the viewing experience. Better viewing requires better editing, and as far as I can tell no real editing has occurred since around the time of the Heidi game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royale with Cheese Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 9 minutes ago, SaviorPeterman said: Trump right again, is this guy seriously ever wrong despite the critics and incessant fake news coverage? NFL better get it's act together fast. Stadiums are half empty every week and fans are tired of the political crap spilling over into sports. He says false things all the time and you know that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTBill Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I agree a lot with the article. I'd add - 17 week schedule with bye weeks. You'd like to think an extra weekend would = more viewers, instead it waters down the schedule even further. When I was a kid, you didn't watch 1 game, you watched 2 (or more if you switched back and forth between networks). The games were compelling. Now, I barely watch a whole game - and that's only a Bills game if it happens to be on. Another point I'd add is the drop of Millenials. They don't care about the NFL at all. This probably exacerbates the whole protest thing. The people who are most likely to agree with the social justice argument aren't even tuned in. They are out doing things. I'd propose this as a fix - Ditch the Thursday game, too much is too much. Reduce all of these international games - unless they are played during the "regular" timeslot. Allow stations to choose their game to air based on what their viewers want. I suspect part of the "dip" in ratings too may be the satellite contract. I know a lot of folks who used to just watch what was on at their house - but now, they go to friend's homes who have the contract - or sports bars. There are probably a lot more eyes on the game than what shows up in ratings, and these didn't use to be the way of it. Of course that won't appease advertisers who need to see ratings in order to pay $ for ad spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kota Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 The protests probably amount to nothing. The league has been in decline for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 4 hours ago, Chuck Wagon said: Cord Cutting doesn't mean "no espn". The proper execution of cord cutting is getting access to most, if not all, of what you used to watch, but cutting out the cable company and using alternate resources to save money. With Sling TV and plenty of other sources to get games, to "cord cut" and not have access to what you want to watch means you are doing it wrong. not to mention you're not really cutting the cord, as you're still paying the cable company (most likely) for high-speed internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo_Stampede Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 3 hours ago, CodeMonkey said: So your contention is that even though the cable companies are losing subscribers "by the millions", and the ratings in general for NFL games has been in decline for years for all outlets, but those same outlets will keep paying contract prices that go up every year? Probably cut other costs to keep the king. 12 minutes ago, kota said: The protests probably amount to nothing. The league has been in decline for years. TV has been in decline. NFL has yet to be in decline. We will find out when TV contracts are up. NFL revenue has climbed higher than ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwight in philly Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 4 hours ago, yungmack said: I believe you are right. Ratings (vertical/growth ratings) have been in decline long before the protest, which those who insist the decline is due to the protests conveniently overlook. But they also conveniently overlook that Kaepernick's protest had zero to do with the military and everything to do with the killing of black men, and the eruption of protests this year was specifically in reaction to Trump's bizarre attacks on players and their mothers. The protest was essentially dead and over with until The Donald brought it back to life. point missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted November 28, 2017 Author Share Posted November 28, 2017 1 hour ago, SaviorPeterman said: Trump right again, is this guy seriously ever wrong despite the critics and incessant fake news coverage? NFL better get it's act together fast. Stadiums are half empty every week and fans are tired of the political crap spilling over into sports. </sarcasm> ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bomb Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 1 hour ago, SaviorPeterman said: Trump right again, is this guy seriously ever wrong despite the critics and incessant fake news coverage? NFL better get it's act together fast. Stadiums are half empty every week and fans are tired of the political crap spilling over into sports. Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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