FOX gets Thursday Night Football

[Alexander]

Not dead, but dying if things don't change. The ratings drop is real. They'd better be glad the Super Bowl draws non-football fans.

The ratings drop is not necessarily organic and across the board.

This generation of younger viewers are streaming, cutting the cord and honestly have a lot more entertainment options they would rather go for.

TV viewing in total is down. Yet the NFL games still top the down market.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

That's funny. This deal is like a 40% increase, $150m AAV, over the previous one. I was told that this could never happen and that the NFL would lose money.

I look to the story time to explain this away similar to the Verizon deal and the cap increase.

 

[blueblood70]

I just hope we never ever have another 3 games in 12 days with two Thursday night games back to back..that and starting off playing late sunday night game before the Thursday thanksgiving day game followe dNOT by the traditional 10days off and play the following Thursday..if that wasn't somehow the wrost scheduling gaff ive ever seen and it came at the worst time Zekes suspension and Tsmith getting hurt and than without Baily and on thanksgiving lost martin for 3 qtrs..you can point back to this as major reason for the 2nd half meltdown..

 

[Point-of-the-Star]

I thought the NFL was dead though? I read it here.

It's kinda like this big ol wild hog I shot yesterday ... he didn't die immediately but had to bleed out. The NFL is like that hog.

 

[adwar]

This is Fox Sports, right? Not the Network

 

[big dog cowboy]

 

[jazzcat22]

Declining? Maybe. Dying? No.

This past Sunday night, the pro bowl had the highest ratings on television scoring better to other sports playoff games. To round out the top 5? NFL Sunday Countdown.

For the pro bowl!

.

Well pro bowl football is better than bowling or water polo I guess. Well maybe not.
Or either that everyone fell asleep while watching something else, then the pro bowl started, and it counted as people watching as they could not change the channel.
That is my story and I am sticking to it.

 

[Risen Star]

When you live in the EST areas...these night games can suck when you have to get up pretty early to go to work...esp if the game runs late for whatever reason.

This is why I hate it. That and NFL Sundays without the Cowboys is like attending a Jackson 5 concert without Michael.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I hear what you are saying but if you were Fox would you have paid significantly MORE than current deal for a product that is receiving lots of negative reviews & the players and many fans want done away with. Seems like you are paying a premium to take a large risk with not much hope of upside. The climate today seems to be one of change so while i agree that sports (in particular the NFL) has lived outside the rules of traditional TV for decades, not sure that continues.

Either that or Fox thinks that they will get a return on their investment and your assumptions are flawed. It's not like they don't have a ton of experience broadcasting NFL games over recent history to draw from. But of course you a random fan would know more than Fox's legion of analysts.

This is an incredibly conservative network who cuts shows at the first sign of danger routinely. They don't throw money away.

 

[robjay04]

I personally would love to watch a good game everyday if it made sense, but it doesn't. In my opinion Thursday night games are killing the league in terms of health.
Secondly and probably the most realistic reason I think it sucks is that the games were majority garbage.
games that were horrible and gave me eye cancer:
Texans vs. Bengals
Patriots vs. Buccs
Dolphins vs. Raiders
Vikings vs. Browns
Seahawks vs. Cards
Broncos vs. Colts
Bears vs. Lions
Chargers vs. Chiefs
Colts vs. Ravens
Steelers vs. Texans.

doo-doo

They aren’t the best matchups but literally every game there featured teams with playoff aspirations going into the season.

I would say out of those teams, the only two teams with no hope were the Browns and the Bears when they were scheduled.

 

[StarBoyz83]

Wonder if the matchups will still all suck?

 

[Alexander]

This is why I hate it. That and NFL Sundays without the Cowboys is like attending a Jackson 5 concert without Michael.

The Sunday night games are not a lot better if you are concerned about getting to bed early.

I would prefer all games at 1PM first and at worst 4PM.

Nothing like staying up late and then being angry and hung over the next morning. Monday, Tuesday or a Friday.

 

[robjay04]

The ratings drop is not necessarily organic and across the board.

This generation of younger viewers are streaming, cutting the cord and honestly have a lot more entertainment options they would rather go for.

TV viewing in total is down. Yet the NFL games still top the down market.

Shhh

That doesn’t fit the narrative that the league is dying.

I know many people that have cut the cord. I have considered it myself...after all, you can always find somewhere to watch the game.

 

[Alexander]

Wonder if the matchups will still all suck?

I don't think they are going to get really aggressive with it.

There is no way they can flex Thursday games. The best they can do is look at adding another bye so teams playing on Thursday don't have the handicap of short rosters with beaten up players on a short week. Or they just need to expand the active rosters.

Either of those moves will improve the quality of the games.

Trying to predict which games will be the best matchups is tough to schedule. There are too many variables.

Every year there is a Jacksonville, Rams etc. that comes out of nowhere to suddenly be involved in meaningful games.

 

[HungryLion]

The Sunday night games are not a lot better if you are concerned about getting to bed early.

I would prefer all games at 1PM first and at worst 4PM. Nothing like staying up late and then being angry and hung over the next morning. Monday, Tuesday or a Friday.

I much prefer the Sunday 4:30 time slot.

Plenty of time to do yard work, or do something fun with the family and spend time outdoors during the day. Then watch the game at 4:30. By the time the game and post game show are over, in bed at a decent time.

Not as much a fan of the 1pm time slots. Splits the day in half.

 

[blueblood70]

definitely rating are NOT at this tie of a decline in the nfl..when owners start tightening their budgets and stop handing out ridiculous over priced contracts especially to QBs and actually pay them what they are worth..contracts keep going up and owners are paying them..when they start offering realistic contracts and when some less fortunate owners start putting teams up for sale, id start worrying..

if football itself was in a true decline why int he world would they even think about bringing back the XFl? someone fr sure would have advised Mcmann that this should not be done..

 

[Nightman]

Cowboyszone.

I don't know what is so difficult to understand

The NFL can still be #1 and declining at the same time

If Apple misses it's earnings and drops 20% on their stock that is significant......they are still huge and #1 but the losses are real

The NFL has probably peaked .......no one here has ever said they are dying, just declining...... they have Jumped the Shark..... they will be here for another 25 years but never the force they used to be

This a 5 year deal for FOX so increases are built in for the longer contract..... FOX just got billions from Disney and they want to promote FoxSports1 and FoxSports2 ...... they are willing to take big losses

Ad revenue declined for the NFL by 1.2% .....that is not a good sign
CBS and NBC pulled their ThursNF offers because they were losing too much money

All these things can be true and the NFL is still #1 in the ratings
But dropping 20% in the ratings over 2 years since the protests started is also real and important..... those people aren't coming back

The NBA is up and WWE is up so it isn't all TV is down across the board

 

[Donut]

I like Thursday Night Football.

Me too. Wish there was a game every night. Wouldn't watch them all but if I wanted to it would be avail...

 

[windward]

Who says the NFL is dying?

A lot of media types are proclaiming the league is doomed. But I recall hearing this for the past 30 years.

 

[Risen Star]

The Sunday night games are not a lot better if you are concerned about getting to bed early.

I would prefer all games at 1PM first and at worst 4PM.

Nothing like staying up late and then being angry and hung over the next morning. Monday, Tuesday or a Friday.

Yeah, that's what I'd prefer but I certainly understand why that isn't the case. If you or I ran the NFL we'd be doing night games as well.