NFL ratings down 7.5 percent for the season

as far as the official are concerned I often wonder if this is the nfl or the wwe

diefree666 said:

I am probably older and crustier and I agree down the line.

Once the wagon starts going downhill all the extra weight makes it go faster. All the previous problems with quality of play an officiating and needless commercials and so on; then add on Goodell and all his crap and now the protests and everything starts accelerating.

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Ok I'll relent....I'll let you have the "older and crustier" title...kidding

Biggems said:

The owners have done this to themselves. They should have stopped this after the first game he took a knee. Take a league-wide stance against that nonsense, and it is over.

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eh the only people that cry a river over that are largely Cowboys fans and our ratings are still high.

Many games are being played in front of half empty stadiums, though the broadcast cameras try not to focus on that too much.

For the Colts/Jaguars game today the stadium had half it's seats empty:



The networks do some funky camera work for the most part to hide how half empty some of these stadiums are. But sometimes there's nothing they can do:



That screenshot is from about 3 minutes before kickoff of the Cowboys game today with the 49ers.

cowboyblue22 said:

as far as the official are concerned I often wonder if this is the nfl or the wwe

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The WWE is much better run

drawandstrike said:

Many games are being played in front of half empty stadiums, though the broadcast cameras try not to focus on that too much.

For the Colts/Jaguars game today the stadium had half it's seats empty:

The networks do some funky camera work for the most part to hide how half empty some of these stadiums are. But sometimes there's nothing they can do:

That screenshot is from about 3 minutes before kickoff of the Cowboys game today with the 49ers.

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And yet if you paid attention during the game, place is full:

What broadcast did you watch? Every kickoff/punt scanned empty seats. Here's one kickoff causing the camera to pan all the empty seats visible at 10:58 of the 3rd quarter.



How many empty seats do you see there?

Every stadium is not like AT&T in Dallas. There are plenty of stadiums that don't come close to a full house. Even when the Cowboys come to town.

drawandstrike said:

What broadcast did you watch? Every kickoff/punt scanned empty seats. Here's one kickoff causing the camera to pan all the empty seats visible at 10:58 of the 3rd quarter.

How many empty seats do you see there?

Every stadium is not like AT&T in Dallas. There are plenty of stadiums that don't come close to a full house. Even when the Cowboys come to town.

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Yup.

The Anthem protest supporters have tried to come up with spins as to why attendance and ratings are down. Like all of the sudden people just happened to resort to online streaming right when the league wide Anthem protests occurred.







YR

drawandstrike said:

What broadcast did you watch? Every kickoff/punt scanned empty seats. Here's one kickoff causing the camera to pan all the empty seats visible at 10:58 of the 3rd quarter.

How many empty seats do you see there?

Every stadium is not like AT&T in Dallas. There are plenty of stadiums that don't come close to a full house. Even when the Cowboys come to town.

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Tons of people are in food and restroom lines and don't make it in time for kickoffs...standard. I've done it myself at countless games.

Fizziksman said:

eh the only people that cry a river over that are largely Cowboys fans and our ratings are still high.

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i am not sure which side your response is to, but the fact is, a lot of fans are upset and turned off by the antics of the players.....

We all agree there are lits of social injustices out there. I think the majority of the fans flock to sports to escape that reality and the political realm.....unfortunately that realm has become a big topic in the NFL and the fans are not for it. Also, there is the argument that pampered, millionaire athletes, who basically got free rides to get a college education, are now complaining about social injustice. It all started with a very pampered Kap. I still don't see what kneeling for the flag has to do with the protest.

Why not make a tv ad, start a foundation, boycott those who seem to be causing the injustice.

The game is their workplace, and while we have a right to protest and fight for our beliefs, we do not have the right to ignore the rules of the workplace, and still expect to be employed.

So, had the owners taken control of the situation, the way Jerry did, this issue would have passed. Oh, and if the ayers are upset cause they have to stand, then they have every right to pay a fine, enjoy their suspension, or simply quit and have all the free time in the world to protest.

Yakuza Rich said:

Yup.

The Anthem protest supporters have tried to come up with spins as to why attendance and ratings are down. Like all of the sudden people just happened to resort to online streaming right when the league wide Anthem protests occurred.

YR

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you're using a pic from san francisco of all places to make your argument? that place has had issues getting and keeping people in their seats since they opened. they screwed up with the location of that stadium and I heard the concessions are not very accessible.

jterrell said:

lol at people posting on a cowboys board buying any nonsense that NFL viewership is really down.
it's not by any real margin. it's simply shifted in many cases to Kodi and Firestick.
streaming is real and sports has been the last bastion of a dead cable era.

i dont know a single person under 30 with cable. but they pretty much all use some form of streaming service.

and the NFL is not unaware of this. they have streaming deals going now and more coming.

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Ticket sales are down too. It's a legitimate issue.

Sarge said:

Ticket sales are down too. It's a legitimate issue.

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Remember how the NFL used to boast alot about sold out stadiums, record attendance?

You don't hear about that any more, do you?

I won't say that politics haven't played a role, but to be honest the product sucks for the most part. A half dozen teams scored 0 points this weekend. This isn't the 1950s, nobody wants to see that crap.

Who are the star QBs to get excited about? Brady is on his victory lap, that's one. But uh...let's run this down:

Aaron Rodgers had his collar bone snap, and we know how well that worked out for Romo. Andrew Luck is one step away from being legally dead. Matt Ryan went from MVP to scrub in the time it takes to bake a pie. Same for Cam Newton. Several old guard guys like Eli Manning and Ben Roethelisberger, look like they're legally dead at this point. Philip Rivers is playing in an empty soccer stadium. Drew Brees is chucking up empty volume stats every year in New Orleans while they go nowhere. Dalton and Flacco looked like up-and-comers just a year or two ago and are trash now.

Dak has been fine on a Cowboys team that's going nowhere for the same reasons it was going nowhere under Romo.

Wentz looks good now but is too new to have any appeal outside Philly. Same for Goff. Alex Smith has an elite stat line, but an entire career of being lame and boring so nobody outside KC cares.

I'm sure I forgot somebody (ooh, Russell Wilson!) but that's a dire situation compared to how things looked even a few years ago.

sean10mm said:

I won't say that politics haven't played a role, but to be honest the product sucks for the most part. A half dozen teams scored 0 points this weekend. This isn't the 1950s, nobody wants to see that crap.

Who are the star QBs to get excited about? Brady is on his victory lap, that's one. But uh...let's run this down:

Aaron Rodgers had his collar bone snap, and we know how well that worked out for Romo. Andrew Luck is one step away from being legally dead. Matt Ryan went from MVP to scrub in the time it takes to bake a pie. Same for Cam Newton. Several old guard guys like Eli Manning and Ben Roethelisberger, look like they're legally dead at this point. Philip Rivers is playing in an empty soccer stadium. Drew Brees is chucking up empty volume stats every year in New Orleans while they go nowhere. Dalton and Flacco looked like up-and-comers just a year or two ago and are trash now.

Dak has been fine on a Cowboys team that's going nowhere for the same reasons it was going nowhere under Romo.

Wentz looks good now but is too new to have any appeal outside Philly. Same for Goff. Alex Smith has an elite stat line, but an entire career of being lame and boring so nobody outside KC cares.

I'm sure I forgot somebody (ooh, Russell Wilson!) but that's a dire situation compared to how things looked even a few years ago.

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I hear you but how is this different from any other year? I've watch Clint Stoerner, Hutchinson, Pelleur, QC, Testaverde, Ryan Leaf and others for this team in between the HOF'ers. We've watched Bubby Brister, Wade Wilson, Ricker Mirer (who was supposed to be the next Montana), Tim Couch, Cade McNown, Charlie Batch, Danny Kannell, Bobby Hoying, Kyle Boller. Tim Ratay, Patrick Ramsey, Dave Klingler, JP Loseman, Heath Schueller, Dave Brown, Matt Leinart, Joey Harrington, Chris Weinke, Akili Smith, Jamarcus Russell, David Carr........

Holy smokes, once you get on a roll, it doesn't stop. In other words, the NFL has always been about a few star QB's and the rest of the NFL trying to land one. About the only thing I notice that's completely different in terms of distractions we see now more so than in years past is officiating. It's just horrible.

Let's face it. People are struggling now more than ever and to see these people act the way they do just turns people off. I know it may not to some people here but I'd bet it does to a whole heck of a lot more. These excuses about the quality of the game doesn't hold a lot of water, IMO, considering the NFL was traditionally a league of dynasties in years past where a few teams had prolonged success. But when you add these political distractions to the game, it's the proverbial straw that broke the cammel's back.

http://jacksonville.com/sports/jaguars/2017-10-15/smallest-home-crowd-2009-sees-jaguars-lose-rams

About 5,000 fewer fans were in attendance for the Jaguars’ 27-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday than for their home opener at EverBank Field, a decrease that comes after the decision by some players to protest during the national anthem last month in London.




A crowd of 56,232 was announced for the first game played in Jacksonville since controversial remarks made by President Donald Trump spurred 15 Jaguars to kneel before a 44-7 victory over Baltimore on Sept. 24.

Dodger12 said:

I hear you but how is this different from any other year?

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Look at 2015. A ton of older big-name QBs were still playing well, and there were a bunch of new guys having very good seasons that looked like future stars (but mostly haven't been.)

Meanwhile In Cleveland

This is pretty much what said in another thread along with NFL streaming .........


FOX CEO blames ratings drop on oversaturation
Posted by Mike Florio on October 25, 2017, 3:49 PM EDT

Getty Images

If the NFL spent as much time addressing the problem of decreased ratings as it does coming up with explanations for why things aren’t as bad as they seem (are), the problem may be fixed by now.

But the problem lingers, and FOX CEO James Murdoch has offered a theory regarding its cause.

“There’s a question mark for the NFL, which is just to think hard about how they’re licensing,” Murdoch said at the Paley International Council Summit in New York, via Jason Lynch of AdWeek.com. “So I do think the proliferation of Thursday availability — and the proliferation of football generally — does mean that you’re asking a lot from customers to watch Thursday. And then they watch a lot more college football game on Saturdays, and then on Sundays, and then on Monday Night Football, etc. It’s a lot. So I do think that preserving the scarcity value of those events and that audience is something that is worth thinking about.”

Well we all agree the ratings are down. The evidence is in.

I get copies of ALL THE NFL games every week and watch most of them.

And I've noticed 2 things for some time: the empty seats visible at a lot of these stadiums & how the broadcasters try to do their best to keep the cameras from focusing on them and how the NFL has stopped boasting about sold out stadiums and record attendance.

Except for Dallas & a handful of teams, attendance is dropping at a lot of these stadiums.