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NFL tv ratings took a massive hit... what do you do if you are owners to try and increase ratings?

bwifan

bwifan

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Don't want a political shouting match, but was just thinking if I am an NFL owner if those tv ratings numbers hold they are in for a world of hurt. If you were an NFL owner what would you do at some point if these rating numbers hold? Just curious to hear how people would attempt to increase numbers as some ratings numbers were down 15 to almost 30%...
 
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Political shouting match? Who knows why they were down, assuming that info is correct. You really think the numbers went down THAT much because some players chose to do something as simple as kneeling during the National Anthem, which there is no reason to play before games? LOL
 
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rmem said:
Political shouting match? Who knows why they were down, assuming that info is correct. You really think the numbers went down THAT much because some players chose to do something as simple as kneeling during the National Anthem, which there is no reason to play before games? LOL
Click to expand...

Not sure ... I think many on both sides are getting just tired of the political vitriol being spewed daily and sports was an escape for many and now that has turned political. So as the article I just read said America took a knee and bowed out from watch more political hot spots. I know many who did not watch because they are tired of the political hate from both sides, and said they will find other things to do with their time. Add in a the next generation growing up already doesn't watch sports if I am a NFL or any pro sport team owner I am concerned going forward.
Edit: with everyone tired of Covid and being quarantined I thought numbers would have been up actually or hold steady not drop that large amounts.
 
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Seems to me all the leagues missed a golden opportunity where they could have marketed themselves as getting "back to sports" to take folk's minds off the forced shut-downs and business closures for a few hours at a time. Instead they seem to have doubled down.

Hard to understand really.
 
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MtNittany said:
Seems to me all the leagues missed a golden opportunity where they could have marketed themselves as getting "back to sports" to take folk's minds off the forced shut-downs and business closures for a few hours at a time. Instead they seem to have doubled down.

Hard to understand really.
Click to expand...

Good point... I don't want this thread to turn into a political hit job ... just wondering why they have fallen and day dreaming if I am a owner if say at the end of the season and ratings stay down what we do to try and get people back...
 
Sports used to be an escape from life. Now it isn't. That turns some people off

I'd love to see an experiment -- show an NFL game on 2 channels -- one broadcast is purely focused on sport, the other includes all the politics. I bet 70%+ of viewers would pick the 1st one
 
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I am comfortable with my position. I have been one of the only people on the board to discuss the problem of social injustice for at least six years. At the same time, I didn't want politics to permeate over into sports. I watch sports for entertainment. I don't want an entertainer preaching to me. So, having choices, I go elsewhere for my entertainment. Seems a lot of other people did as well.

NASCAR, while suffering anyway, is now getting completely killed.

At the end of the day, sports is a business; and entertainment business. They rely on people spending their money to consume your product. like every other business, if they have a better option, they go to that option.
 
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bwifan said:
Not sure ... I think many on both sides are getting just tired of the political vitriol being spewed daily and sports was an escape for many and now that has turned political. So as the article I just read said America took a knee and bowed out from watch more political hot spots. I know many who did not watch because they are tired of the political hate from both sides, and said they will find other things to do with their time. Add in a the next generation growing up already doesn't watch sports if I am a NFL or any pro sport team owner I am concerned going forward.
Edit: with everyone tired of Covid and being quarantined I thought numbers would have been up actually or hold steady not drop that large amounts.
Click to expand...
Exactly...if you want politics, watch the cable news channel of your choice. Using sports as a vehicle for pushing political agendas undermines the notion of sports as a diversion.
 
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bwifan said:
Don't want a political shouting match, but was just thinking if I am an NFL owner if those tv ratings numbers hold they are in for a world of hurt. If you were an NFL owner what would you do at some point if these rating numbers hold? Just curious to hear how people would attempt to increase numbers as some ratings numbers were down 15 to almost 30%...
Click to expand...
Addition by subtraction.

Monday Night Football used to be a big deal because it was the only football outside of the weekend. Nowadays you have Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football and, during playoffs, Saturday football. Combine that with Saturday college football and the BIG's Friday night games, and it is just too much. I don't have evidence, and I am speaking only anecdotally, but I think people have football fatigue. It is also the reason I feel that spring football (USFL, XFL, AAF) never caught on.

Right now it isn't an issue for NFL owners. The extra football is probably providing them increased revenue, even if the ratings fall per game. However, if I was on an owner, I'd be thinking long and hard about the extra preseason games and the expanded playoff.
 
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Yes, you'd think everyone would be busting it up to find a tv and watch sports... ANY sports.

Those I talk with are pretty much all in lock step... lost interest as the covid fiasco escalated. When the league went all political, that pretty much sealed the deal and most of my group could care less. I personally didn't watch a single down last and didn't miss it.

As to CFB... that, too, has issues... the stunted season... the realization that covid regs could decimate teams, where just a positive test result -- no symptoms -- gets ur star player(s) booted for at least 2 games... plus no practice... iow, 3+ games lost or ineffective.

By year's end, the season could be a dumpster fire (a covid resurgence surely shuts everything down)... and the last team standing will likely be the one least affected by covid and deeper than the rest (so they can withstand some loss of key players). Again, hard to get invested in a scenario subject to so much flux.

Perhaps if the B1G gets going and PSU is on the field, I will feel differently. Fngers crossed, because this malaise I'm experiencing sux.

But in general, I don't watch sports aside from old psu games on youtube lol.
 
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I think it's a big jump, a very big jump, to assume ratings decline is politically motivated with exactly zero proof. Anyone can write a freaking article saying so.
 
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Obliviax said:
I am comfortable with my position. I have been one of the only people on the board to discuss the problem of social injustice for at least six years. At the same time, I didn't want politics to permeate over into sports. I watch sports for entertainment. I don't want an entertainer preaching to me. So, having choices, I go elsewhere for my entertainment. Seems a lot of other people did as well.

NASCAR, while suffering anyway, is now getting completely killed.

At the end of the day, sports is a business; and entertainment business. They rely on people spending their money to consume your product. like every other business, if they have a better option, they go to that option.
Click to expand...

Exactly and once they find other uses of their time and money it becomes difficult to get them back.
 
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Obliviax said:
I am comfortable with my position. I have been one of the only people on the board to discuss the problem of social injustice for at least six years. At the same time, I didn't want politics to permeate over into sports. I watch sports for entertainment. I don't want an entertainer preaching to me. So, having choices, I go elsewhere for my entertainment. Seems a lot of other people did as well.

NASCAR, while suffering anyway, is now getting completely killed.

At the end of the day, sports is a business; and entertainment business. They rely on people spending their money to consume your product. like every other business, if they have a better option, they go to that option.
Click to expand...

Nascar isn't exactly in the same situation. They arent making a political statement one way or the other by allowing a traitor flag to be flown EVERYWHERE at their events. That in an of itself is a statement. And if you have to fall on the side of being a patriot or being a traitor loser, you take patriot single time.
 
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ericstratton-rushchairman said:
I think part of the problem is so many of us have learned to move on from centering our off time around TV sports that we are not in a hurry to return. We've learned that life without sports isn't so bad.
Click to expand...
Me, I think it is completely idiotic to stop watching sports because some people kneel at the start of the National Anthem. Totally idiotic and closed-minded. Can't imagine what other things people stop doing for some completely inconsequential reason.
Not saying that is the case with you. There are valid reasons to ratchet-down sports viewing - but kneeling players is not one of them.
 
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rmem said:
Me, I think it is completely idiotic to stop watching sports because some people kneel at the start of the National Anthem. Totally idiotic and closed-minded. Can't imagine what other things people stop doing for some completely inconsequential reason.
Not saying that is the case with you. There are valid reasons to ratchet-down sports viewing - but kneeling players is not one of them.
Click to expand...

Good points but those are your thoughts ... to others it is a valid reason to tune out whether we think it's a crazy notion to do so or not. Been interesting talking/texting people today on who watched and who didn't and why...
 
GreggK said:
Nascar isn't exactly in the same situation. They are making a political statement one way or the other by allowing a traitor flag to be flown EVERYWHERE at their events. That in an of itself is a statement. And if you have to fall on the side of being a patriot or being a traitor loser, you take patriot single time.
Click to expand...
Really!
 
GreggK said:
Nascar isn't exactly in the same situation. They are making a political statement one way or the other by allowing a traitor flag to be flown EVERYWHERE at their events. That in an of itself is a statement. And if you have to fall on the side of being a patriot or being a traitor loser, you take patriot single time.
Click to expand...
Traitor flag flown everywhere?
 
bwifan said:
Don't want a political shouting match, but was just thinking if I am an NFL owner if those tv ratings numbers hold they are in for a world of hurt. If you were an NFL owner what would you do at some point if these rating numbers hold? Just curious to hear how people would attempt to increase numbers as some ratings numbers were down 15 to almost 30%...
Click to expand...
I not only won't watch, but I gave up my season tickets to the Steelers.
 
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bwifan said:
Rasmussen Survey of NFL Ratings Decline
Click to expand...
wow...the difference between men and women is shocking
Twenty-nine percent (29%) of men say they are less likely to watch an NFL game because of the growing protests, while 18% say they’re more likely to watch. Among women, 35% are less likely to watch, and only eight percent (8%) are more likely to tune in. ​
 
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ericstratton-rushchairman said:
I think part of the problem is so many of us have learned to move on from centering our off time around TV sports that we are not in a hurry to return. We've learned that life without sports isn't so bad.
Click to expand...

This is 90% of the reason. You live without something for long enough you find out you didn't really need it to begin with. Lot of people found out that watching sports as a pastime might not have been the best use of time. Some of these people will come back over time, some will not.

I will also note that people just are not watching anywhere near as much live TV anymore as there is nothing on live TV to watch. So in that sense, I think a lot of people didn't actually know that the NFL started this weekend. Typically between pre-season games and the start of college football, the NFL had huge amounts of advertising going on and everybody was ready. But the amount of chatter about the NFL was next to nothing with closed pre season camps and practices and zero pre-season games plus no real Labor day weekend college games of note to advertise and get people back in the mood for football.
 
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Cletus11 said:
This is 90% of the reason. You live without something for long enough you find out you didn't really need it to begin with. Lot of people found out that watching sports as a pastime might not have been the best use of time. Some of these people will come back over time, some will not.

I will also note that people just are not watching anywhere near as much live TV anymore as there is nothing on live TV to watch. So in that sense, I think a lot of people didn't actually know that the NFL started this weekend. Typically between pre-season games and the start of college football, the NFL had huge amounts of advertising going on and everybody was ready. But the amount of chatter about the NFL was next to nothing with closed pre season camps and practices and zero pre-season games plus no real Labor day weekend college games of note to advertise and get people back in the mood for football.
Click to expand...

A big part of the NFL watching experience is social - having people over for games, fantasy team drafts, going to bars to watch games, office pools, etc. - and it's just not possible this year. I do think there are a ton of people who are tuning out because of BLM support but if I'm the NFL you take the hit in the short term and plow forward. Bis Supporting BLM may be less profitable, but IMO it's the right thing to do (though not sure they're doing it the right way) but you shift your focus away from the offended and look to create new fans - have to find ways to get them interested which will be difficult, given their distractions (TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, video games, etc.) are constant and unrelenting. NFL (and live sports in general) was due for a decline in viewership/popularity simply because of the shift in viewing demographics, but dismay over BLM expedited things. I'm sure we'll all live one way or the other.
 
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rmem said:
Political shouting match? Who knows why they were down, assuming that info is correct. You really think the numbers went down THAT much because some players chose to do something as simple as kneeling during the National Anthem, which there is no reason to play before games? LOL
Click to expand...

Chicken in every pot?

Seriously, what happens if teams just stay in the locker room till right before kickoff? Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I remember coaches at lower levels holding their team back right before big games. Especially if the team was loaded with underclassmen. Just a random thought.

https://www.history.com/news/why-the-star-spangled-banner-is-played-at-sporting-events
 
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Cletus11 said:
This is 90% of the reason. You live without something for long enough you find out you didn't really need it to begin with. Lot of people found out that watching sports as a pastime might not have been the best use of time. Some of these people will come back over time, some will not.

I will also note that people just are not watching anywhere near as much live TV anymore as there is nothing on live TV to watch. So in that sense, I think a lot of people didn't actually know that the NFL started this weekend. Typically between pre-season games and the start of college football, the NFL had huge amounts of advertising going on and everybody was ready. But the amount of chatter about the NFL was next to nothing with closed pre season camps and practices and zero pre-season games plus no real Labor day weekend college games of note to advertise and get people back in the mood for football.
Click to expand...
This is a big reason for me. Prior to 2011, I was PSU/CFB every weekend. Essentially stopped both at that time and I don't really miss it. I watch if I have time. I don't attend and don't schedule around it anymore. I know many people that walked away from the NFL back when the protests started a few years ago ad they haven't come back.

I also think that Fantasy Football has had the opposite effect than was expected. I think it keeps younger people from becoming fans. They just want to know how their players did.
 
I don't really care for politics either when I watch sports. It is an escape.
There are certain people who don't want it because they don't want to hear opinions they don't agree with.
But so far as there are NO politics at all either way, I am all for it.

As for the NFL, there is lots of reasons other than that I don't watch.

1.
Announcers always trying to be funny. There is nothing more annoying than Chris Berman or the cheesy graphics that are trying to be funny. This isn't a fricken comedy show. It is a breath of fresh air to watch English football shows because there are analysts just speaking in a no BS way about the game and tactics. it is always a clown show, no thanks.

2.
Just the whole over-the-topness about it. College generally has that but there is heart and tradition there. It is as if Fox doesn't really believe people want to watch the game so they need dancing robots and people yelling all the damn time.

3.
Way too many commercials.

4.
too many odd calls that I just can't understand anymore.

5.
All of the personal stories that I don't give a damn about. Its like when you watch the cooking shows and everyone had cancer or was out of a car accident. I am like, fine, but i came here for the cooking.

6.
Honestly, I grew up as a Steelers fan, but I have a hard time getting behind Ben Rothlesberger. He is a scumbag.
I always hold my enthusiasm for the Steelers because of him, but damnit he wont fricken retire.
 
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GreggK said:
I don't really care for politics either when I watch sports. It is an escape.
There are certain people who don't want it because they don't want to hear opinions they don't agree with.
But so far as there are NO politics at all either way, I am all for it.

As for the NFL, there is lots of reasons other than that I don't watch.

1.
Announcers always trying to be funny. There is nothing more annoying than Chris Berman or the cheesy graphics that are trying to be funny. This isn't a fricken comedy show. It is a breath of fresh air to watch English football shows because there are analysts just speaking in a no BS way about the game and tactics. it is always a clown show, no thanks.

2.
Just the whole over-the-topness about it. College generally has that but there is heart and tradition there. It is as if Fox doesn't really believe people want to watch the game so they need dancing robots and people yelling all the damn time.

3.
Way too many commercials.

4.
too many odd calls that I just can't understand anymore.

5.
All of the personal stories that I don't give a damn about. Its like when you watch the cooking shows and everyone had cancer or was out of a car accident. I am like, fine, but i came here for the cooking.

6.
Honestly, I grew up as a Steelers fan, but I have a hard time getting behind Ben Rothlesberger. He is a scumbag.
I always hold my enthusiasm for the Steelers because of him, but damnit he wont fricken retire.
Click to expand...

Same wrt Ben. He seems to have turned a corner but he’s still tough to root for.
 
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Obliviax said:
I am comfortable with my position. I have been one of the only people on the board to discuss the problem of social injustice for at least six years. At the same time, I didn't want politics to permeate over into sports. I watch sports for entertainment. I don't want an entertainer preaching to me. So, having choices, I go elsewhere for my entertainment. Seems a lot of other people did as well.

NASCAR, while suffering anyway, is now getting completely killed.

At the end of the day, sports is a business; and entertainment business. They rely on people spending their money to consume your product. like every other business, if they have a better option, they go to that option.
Click to expand...
If players came out preaching against objectifying women and sex trafficking, would you still be turned off?
 
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