Ominous Sign as NFL TV Ratings Already Down for Season Opener
Last night in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the New England Patriots celebrated their Super Bowl title with all of the fanfare of conquering emperors driving their beaten enemies before them.
It was the season opener for the 2017 National Football League and normally, such a game would have drawn killer ratings but due to the ongoing corrosive effects of the Colin Kaepernick fiasco and dueling boycotts, the game drew lackluster ratings in what could be an ominous sign of things to come for the rest of the season.
Ratings were down for the NFL's opening game, is it a reason for concern? https://t.co/kbLzmpqNCQ
— Yahoo Sports NFL (@YahooSportsNFL) September 8, 2017
According to Yahoo Sports “NFL opening-game ratings take a significant hit from last season”:
If the NFL figured that all the offseason drama would vanish once there were games to watch, it can’t be pleased with its opening-night ratings.
The Nielsen rating for the Kansas City Chiefs’ upset win over the New England Patriots was a 14.6 according to Variety and other outlets. In a vacuum that’s a great rating, but it’s far down from last year’s 16.5 for the Denver Broncos-Carolina Panthers opener. The year before that, the opening game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Patriots drew a 17.7.
A 14.6 rating is still a monster number. To put it in perspective, Game 5 of the NBA Finals last season got a 16 rating, and that was the biggest rating for an NBA Finals game since 1998. For the NFL to have a regular-season game not be too far off the largest rating for an NBA game in 19 years isn’t a cause for panic. But the NFL doesn’t want to give back viewers, and having its worst opening game ratings since 2009 isn’t good news.
What are the reasons? Many will point to the NFL protests, but that could go both ways. Perhaps some turned off the NFL because of national anthem protests, but it’s just as logical to believe some turned off the NFL because they believe unsigned Colin Kaepernick is getting a raw deal. Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey affecting two well-populated areas in the past week or so probably didn’t help. A lot of people tuned into news coverage of Hurricane Irma as well. And perhaps people just figured the Patriots would win in a landslide (and that was surely wrong).
A lot of people did watch on Thursday night, and those who turned on saw a fascinating performance by the Chiefs. It just wasn’t as big of an audience as usual, which means another season of examining NFL ratings under a harsh light.
Just like how declining rating were explained away last season as a result of people watching the steel cage match between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for the presidency, the apologists are blaming the coverage of Hurricane Irma as a result of the ratings.
Don’t buy it!
This humble author has watched in horror for the last day and a half as the monster Hurricane Irma shifted to put me at ground zero and despite my despair and dread, I admit that I watched the entire thing down until the final gun. I had originally planned to boycott it myself but needed something to take my mind off the swirling ball of doom what will land on my very doorstep come Sunday morning.
The game was jaw-dropping upset win for the Kansas City Chiefs who not only won, but they throttled the Super Bowl champs and did so with relative ease as the fans at Gillette Stadium who came to roast NFL commish Roger Goodell and watch an easy Pats victory sat in stunned, slack-jawed silence as the Chiefs ripped their defense to shreds and shut down Tom Brady. It was the ugliest defensive showing of coach Bill Belichick’s storied career.
So that is no excuse.
There is really no way to spin this other than the continuing politicization of the game by meatheads like Kaepernick, Michael Bennett and other mealy-mouthed millionaires who fancy themselves civil rights heroes.
It’s gonna be a long season too and as the Bennett circus drags on, more will be tuning out.
I have always been a fan of NFL football ever since I was a kid. I played football in Highschool.
But what is going on in today’s world with the NFL, has caused me to stop watching anymore games. It is disgusting, anti-American, sickening. What are we teaching our children and our youth about what it means as a player, to sit out the National Anthem? Football is no place for politics. These players earn thousands and even millions each year. The players get paid for performing their jobs as “Professional football players !” Not politicians!!! It’s a disgrace that the opportunity these players have been given by our great Nation, talented or somewhat talented, are better off joining a football team outside of the USA. I will not stand for players like the ones who sit out the National Anthem or pledge of allegiance to our flag. Many thousands of “Real Men”, have given their lives over year’s of war, a good many maimed in the battle field. If these players are adamant about their political stance, than run for a political office instead of using the NFL as a platform which they have no business in doing. The NFL Owners should be ashamed of themselves. Kids growing up under this type of environment as they watch NFL games, will be on your heads if they turn out to be loving Americans.
The last sentence should have been read as: “…….if they do not turn out to be loving Americans!”
We want to watch football, plain and simple. Not interested is over spoiled players who if we dug into their lives might reveal a lot of “football privledge”. So shut up and do your job. Always been a KC fan, but Reece was a disappointment. Trust Hunt will deal with it.
After 2 decades of being an avid NFL fan, I like many have totally tuned out on Sundays. Based on the ratings, clearly I am not the only one. Furthermore, it makes me warm inside knowing that ESPN and their constant promotion/insertion of left wing politics into sports will help sink both ESPN and the NFL even faster than I thought possible.
When “sports analysts” like Jemele Hill come out and call 60 million Americans who voted for Trump “white supremacists” and then turn around and start talking about the NFL in the next segment. I promise, this is not good for the NFL brand.
While the overpaid, spoiled, un-American athletes continue to kneel and disrespect our country on a weekly basis, the current state of the NFL is being amplified by commentators such as Jemele Hill and the rest of the left wing, agenda pushing, ESPN staff.
I firmly believe and look forward to the collapse of both of these entities. And because they are both playing off one another…. I imagine it will happen at a much more rapid rate. Ask Hollywood how the non stop propagating of liberal politics is going for them! Ask Target how preaching their love for transgendered bathrooms worked out for them…
The radical left and their desire to talk down to Americans is destroying damn near every industry in this country! While the barrage and belittling from people whose only decision in life is which vacation home to stay at next month, is frustrating and extremely annoying, the negative consequences that are a direct result of these political hacks and unpatriotic athletes is delicious.
Lastly, I would like to thank ESPN for their tarnishing of the NFL brand, by allowing themselves to be represented by such disgusting people. Give it a week or two and I am sure Jemele Hill will go on another rant and refer to the 60 million voters who voted for Trump as white supremacists, followed up in the next block with NFL news. The beauty of the liberal lefts takeover of ESPN, combined with the NFL Anthem protests, ensures an even faster decline for both brands! Keep up the good work! America is looking forward to the collapse of ESPN, NFL, Mainstream media, and Hollywood. At this rate…. Should be a year or two before the wraith of the people comes upon you!
Sincerely,
Ex-20 year dedicated fan, loyal supporter of President Trump, and even bigger supporter of AMERICA!
PS: The little stunt of players coming out with cops n’ 1st responders, in an attempt to appease both sides….. DIDN’T WORK! As long as this social justice warrior bullshit is in the NFL, I won’t be; nor will, millions of Americans… Looking forward to another 15 weeks of this slow motion train wreck; that is the NFL and it’s #1 cheerleader ESPN!