Anyone here boycotting the NFL? Ratings seem to keep going down. (leagues, ball)

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by Bill the Butcher

Then watch the game! Why on earth anyone would watch the National Anthem I have no idea. The protests which are hardly noticeable anyway are during the anthem and not the actual game.

It is kind of hard not to, when they keep showing the morons on their knees over and over and talking about it throughout the game and then later in every freaking highlight clip for the next week until it happened again. However, I like listening to and watching the live performances of the National Anthem but instead of focusing on the singer's performance, they kept showing the pot stirring dipsh!ts on their knee.

I guess it doesn't really matter at this point. He ruined his career over it and will most likely never be on another NFL team so that nonsense is behind us. The problem is, they just moved on to other political nonsense that we don't care nor want to hear about while we are trying to watch sports.

[CrazyDonkey]

After-effect of people dumping cable? I used to get the local and national stations (NBC, Fox, and ESPN) though cable, but after cutting the cord and dumping cable, I had to rely on iffy reception for local over-the-air channels and didn't have ESPN at all. ESPN is also hemorrhaging subscribers/viewers.

I did end up getting Sling TV, but primarily to get access to Pac-12 Networks, to follow NCAA volleyball and softball, rather than football (NCAA or NFL). I am not boycotting the NFL, but have boycotted the NBA since they stole the Sonics.

[blisterpeanuts]

Originally Posted by Bill the Butcher

Then watch the game! Why on earth anyone would watch the National Anthem I have no idea. The protests which are hardly noticeable anyway are during the anthem and not the actual game.

If you're in the stadium you don't have much choice. Would you pay $100 or whatever to sit there and watch the Anthem disrespected by some lout on the playing field? I wouldn't.

[Ron61]

No boycott here, but I definitely don't find it as entertaining as I used to. Maybe watching over 50 years of games has caused me to just grow tired of it.

[take57]

Looking at a few photos of the stands in some stadiums this weekend it appears folks are staying away from some games in person as well.

Yeah, I know, there's a sizable number of people who question the legitimacy of crowd size based on photos but it's not like you're likely to get a straight answer from the official attendance figures either.

Roger "The Ginger Hammer" Goodell's contract is up for renewal this year. I'll bet my lunch money he doesn't get a raise from his current $42M/yr. (which by the way ain't bad working for a company that in the eyes of the IRS is considered a "not-for-profit")

[evilcart]

I think some folk want to BLAME boycotts but frankly the real problem is twofold. one people dont care as much as they used too. and two in the last few years there are many newlegal and illegal ways to watch games that don't show up in the viewer figures.

We dropped our cable in part because we don't watch sports and were forced to pay for them.

[Crashj007]

Originally Posted by eddiehaskell

I've read that ratings for the season opener were down for the 4th straight year. I also saw pictures of several stadiums that looked to be 50% full. Last year the NFL blamed their ratings dip on the election so will Irma now get the blame for at least week 1?
Has the NFL finally reached peak saturation?

NFL stadiums this Sunday looked like NASCAR stadiums this Sunday.

[MaverickDD]

Have you ever heard that the NFL and the television networks invented copper tubing? I couldn't believe it at first either! As the story goes, neither would let go of the next penny they'd squeezed out of the fans, so voila, copper tubing was created as the pennies stretched between their hands!

But they could only stretch them so thin until pinholes developed in the tubing and the fans started escaping through the holes. Then the pinholes became bigger and the exodus accelerated.

What are they going to do now with fewer and fewer Lincolns to stretch? I dunno, but PEX works just as well. Who needs copper tubing anymore?

[46H]

Originally Posted by take57

Looking at a few photos of the stands in some stadiums this weekend it appears folks are staying away from some games in person as well.

Yeah, I know, there's a sizable number of people who question the legitimacy of crowd size based on photos but it's not like you're likely to get a straight answer from the official attendance figures either.

The LA Rams claimed 56,612 vs Washington. That will always look small in the 94,000 seat LA Coliseum. You could have bought tickets for the Rams 1st home game against the Colts for $6 and yet they still had a 1/2 empty LA Coliseum.The Chargers could not sell out the 27,000 seat soccer stadium where they played this past Sunday. The NFL has short memories and forgot why they left LA - poor attendance. Dopes.

Originally Posted by take57

Roger "The Ginger Hammer" Goodell's contract is up for renewal this year. I'll bet my lunch money he doesn't get a raise from his current $42M/yr. (which by the way ain't bad working for a company that in the eyes of the IRS is considered a "not-for-profit")

The NFL dropped the non-profit status in 2015. They no longer have to publish Goodell's salary.

A big issue for NFL attendance is related to the price to see a live game. Parking, seat licenses, tickets and food, when added up, are out of reach for many fans. Add in that you can watch many of the games on 60" HD tvs on your own couch and on your computer, or multiple games at your local bar for way cheaper and fans choose not to go to the games.

[BucFan]

Get this. Went to see the Bucs Bears game and left at halftime Bucs up 26-0 or something. Not a true fan anymore. Was happy to see them blowing out a Chicago team, though. I'm actually getting to the point where livingroom is better than stadium experience.