NFL: Combination of Factors to Blame for Decline in Ratings This Season
As you may have heard, TV ratings for National Football League games this season are down���and are down far enough that the NFL has sent a memo to team owners in an effort to relieve any concerns that there might be real significance to the drop.
As reported in Nasdaq.com, audience numbers for NFL games have fallen 11 percent through the first four weeks of the regular season, and, in the age 18-49 demographic so prized by advertisers, ratings are down 12 percent.
The memo sent by league executives to owners was dismissive of the idea that anything of substance was at play in the loss of viewers during the first part of this season, saying, in part, ���While our partners, like us, would have liked to see higher ratings, they remain confident in the NFL and unconcerned about a long-term issue.��� The memo went on to declare that football ���continues to be far and away the most powerful programming on television and the best place for brands and advertisers.���
League honchos have cited a variety of factors as being responsible for the lower numbers, including ���unprecedented interest in the presidential election.��� A lack of star players, due to injury and retirement, appearing on the field this year has also been blamed by the league for the lower interest among viewers.
As for the influence of the high-profile player protests that have typically occurred during the playing of the national anthem before games, the league largely cast the significance of that aside, saying in its memo that ���our own data shows that the perception of the NFL and its players is actually up in 2016.���
Obviously, ratings are down, and in this politically-correct world, it would be unfashionable to say that social justice protests by players are the reason for the drop, but the league���s exampled reasons don���t pass the smell test. While it may be the case that there is greater interest in the presidential election this year, it just seems unlikely that cable news channels are pulling viewers from games, and as far as a lack of star players goes, I can tell you that Patriots fans���and I���m speaking as one here���had a great deal of interest in seeing how their team would fare while star quarterback Tom Brady was serving his four-game suspension in association with so-called ���Deflategate.���
I���m not going to say that the folks at the NFL are entirely wrong about their idea that other factors may be partly to blame for the backslide in TV viewership, but it just doesn���t seem reasonable, given the decibel level of the public outcry over the anthem protests, as well as the dearth of any real evidence supporting the league���s other, conjectured reasons for the drop, that the role of said protests in hurting ratings this season is anything less than compelling.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
