nucci Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 Do people really watch that ****? I stopped watching pre game shows years ago. They are a waste of two hours. I was just checking stuff out but I agree...i stopped watching this stuff years ago...I did check in on Sunday countdown.....sad how bad it has become
Deranged Rhino Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 I wonder if there is always a slight drop off during an election year? From what I can see it's usually the opposite. I looked because I thought it was an interesting observation.
ddaryl Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 I said this a decade ago that football would see a slide in the amount of fans..The increased awareness to the brutality of football and concussions, coupled with the fact that more and more and more kids play soccer at an early age over football. Kids today grow up with soccer it will be the game they love going into adulthood.. My only problem with soccer is that there is an identical sport already being played that is much faster more scoring and more physical and way more fun to watch.. Its called Hockey then you can add in the lack of quality QB's and the plethora of unnecessary rule changes in the NFL and I am not surprised at all..Over the next decade I think we will see a significant decline in the popularity of football.. Many of the games best future athletes will choose other sports
PatsFanNH Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 I said this a decade ago that football would see a slide in the amount of fans..The increased awareness to the brutality of football and concussions, coupled with the fact that more and more and more kids play soccer at an early age over football. Kids today grow up with soccer it will be the game they love going into adulthood.. My only problem with soccer is that there is an identical sport already being played that is much faster more scoring and more physical and way more fun to watch.. Its called Hockey then you can add in the lack of quality QB's and the plethora of unnecessary rule changes in the NFL and I am not surprised at all..Over the next decade I think we will see a significant decline in the popularity of football.. Many of the games best future athletes will choose other sports You are right more kids are playing soccer young, but they are not staying with it into HS and College.. The normal sports take over by the Baseball,Basketball, and Football. As for the brutality of the sport, I don't think that's new. What's new is what happens to your brain after so many concussions.
GunnerBill Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 Football is so big over there that I don't ever see soccer taking that mantle. Your other main sports however.... soccer is coming for them.
DriveFor1Outta5 Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) You are right more kids are playing soccer young, but they are not staying with it into HS and College.. The normal sports take over by the Baseball,Basketball, and Football. As for the brutality of the sport, I don't think that's new. What's new is what happens to your brain after so many concussions. I agree, more kids may be playing soccer than ever before, but I think that's the last thing having a negative impact on the NFL. Millions of people play soccer, but it's never translated over to good television ratings in the US. Aside from small pockets of hipsters and immigrants, very few Americans actually watch/follow soccer. It's the equivalent of playing in marching band while you're in school. You might have enjoyed you're time doing it, but do you actually listen to marching band music as an adult in your spare time? The answer is no, and it's a similar situation when it comes to people watching soccer. Despite all the hysteria high school football is popular, and very alive and well. Football is not becoming second class to soccer any time soon. College football is as big as it's ever been as well. The NFL has just really oversaturated the market. People are becoming tired of the product. Edited September 28, 2016 by DriveFor1Outta5
NorthBuffaloKid Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 the article's insinuation that it's linked to players kneeling is hilarious. Not true. I have at least 2 friends who have stopped watching because of that and the anti-police thing.
PromoTheRobot Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 I agree, more kids may be playing soccer than ever before, but I think that's the last thing having a negative impact on the NFL. Millions of people play soccer, but it's never translated over to good television ratings in the US. Aside from small pockets of hipsters and immigrants, very few Americans actually watch/follow soccer. It's the equivalent of playing in marching band while you're in school. You might have enjoyed you're time doing it, but do you actually listen to marching band music as an adult in your spare time? The answer is no, and it's a similar situation when it comes to people watching soccer. Despite all the hysteria high school football is popular, and very alive and well. Football is not becoming second class to soccer any time soon. College football is as big as it's ever been as well. The NFL has just really oversaturated the market. People are becoming tired of the product. One big reason for that, I think, is that pro soccer in the USA is a minor league compared to leagues around the world. Americans don't like being minor anything. Our football, baseball, basketball and hockey leagues are the best in the world. Soccer needs to be for us to care.
MAJBobby Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 I know many are blaming the ratings drops on the Protests of the Anthem that is going on. I just think the product has gotten bad with poor officials the constant commercials ETC
saundena Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) I agree with a lot of what is said above. I have been an enormous fan of NFL football for many years, but this season, I see my interest waning a bit. Reasons for me: 3. Officiating. It seems like every game involves phantom pass interference or personal foul penalties on third and fourth downs that keep drives alive and hand games over to teams that don't deserve it. It is beyond frustrating and takes a lot of the enjoyment and satisfaction out of the game for me. For example, the phantom Pass Interference call against the Bills in London against JAX last year that extended the JAX drive and cost the Bills the game. A post above made me think of this one. 7. Saturation. Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night, etc. It's getting to be too much. Look, I love the Bills and always ensure that my business travels do not interfere with a game, but there are just so many other things competing for our attention these days. I've come to realize that I'm simply a die hard fan of the Buffalo Bills, and only have mild interest in the NFL after that. If the Bills were ever leave Buffalo, I would probably only maintain only minimal interest in the NFL. You make a very good point too, with saturation. It's getting to be too much is right- especially for those of us who's wives don't care so much for football. It's hard to find time to do all the things I need to do, all the things I enjoy doing and still dedicate 6-7 hours to the NFL during the week. TV has gotten so much better as well. I think the NFL is seeing VERY STRONG competition from great original programming from HBO, FX, Netflix, etc. Why do I want to watch a dumpster fire of a game when I can catch up on Stranger things, or GoT? And with the proliferation of great fantasy apps and stats tracking, I don't need to watch the game to get near instantaneous stats updates. I don't even enjoy fantasy as much as I used to. With so many different options and leagues, I find that my enthusiasm is waning. The banter back and forth in my league isn't what it used to be, either. Officiating is becoming a bad issue too. To may judgement calls and too much sterilization of fun. NFL = No Fun League. I remember back when people could do clever (non offensive) celebrations and not see their team penalized. Ahhh well. Perhaps I'm just becoming old. Edited September 28, 2016 by saundena
Boatdrinks Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 I know many are blaming the ratings drops on the Protests of the Anthem that is going on. I just think the product has gotten bad with poor officials the constant commercials ETC It's been bad in that regard for quite some time now. Most obvious thing is to look at anything that is different from previous years. The anthem protests really stand out. Likely a big turn off to older folks who may have served in the military as well. They have more free time on their hands to watch football and could be tuning out. It would be interesting to see how the demographic skews on these viewership numbers.
CodeMonkey Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) One big reason for that, I think, is that pro soccer in the USA is a minor league compared to leagues around the world. Americans don't like being minor anything. Our football, baseball, basketball and hockey leagues are the best in the world. Soccer needs to be for us to care. I agree. Lowest level minor league actually. Teams in the european B leagues would have no trouble with MLS teams. Right now the only name players in the MLS are players who got old and could no longer compete in their previous league, generally in europe. They come to the MLS for that last payday. What is helping soccers popularity is the amount of quality european soccer you can see on TV here now, much of it live on weekends. But it has been and will continuie to be slow growth in it's popularity until teams in the US can compete at a world level. Edited September 28, 2016 by CodeMonkey
dpberr Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 Two theories for discussion: #1. Is it because the NFL employs more and more men that aren't "likeable"? Professional wrestling had it right in the 1980s. They understood you needed the heroes and the heels. NFL today, it seems like coaches and players alike enjoy being the heel via on field actions or off it. Outside of wins and loses, is there enough players and coaches that are generally likeable human beings playing the game today? #2 Peyton Manning retired and a lot of people were simply interested in watching him and he was very popular with a swath of football audience that didn't care about the game, but did enjoy watching him and his career.
jletha Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 They (ratings)seem to be slipping early on here in the 2016-17 season. I'm guessing most here are not in this population of folks tuning out. They are saying its the Kaepernick thing and the NFL encouraging the Anthem antics. Who knows? Games have been one-sided too...doesn't help. A lot of cord cutters (of cable and satellite ) may be a contributor as well. At some point this may come to a head from those paying 700K for a 30 second spot. Myself..I've tuned out for none-of-the-above but instead due to the lack of flow to the games and an anemic pace due to excessive commercials. Just an observation on my part, thats all. “The league has now seen an apple-to-apples ratings drop in each of the seven prime-time games this year,” http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/21/nfl-tv-ratings-down-again/ GO BILLS ! What the heck site is that? The comments are horrible. Maybe Mondays ratings were down because of the freakin debate, not because players are taking a knee
re enlightener Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 Good call on the officiating - huge factor. Too many games in recent years decided on horrible calls. Yes, especially the obvious help refs give big market teams. I know this is real I also notice on any big play I dont ever react in real time like the old days...I have a built in delay on every good play where I wait for the stupid flag from the stupid ref who will take away a 30 yard 3rd down play from us for a ghost penalty. Later they may "even" it out with a holding call on 1st and 10 for the other team when they throw an incomplete pass anyway. the flags and the stupidity of what a catch is have just changed the game for me,
Southern Bills Fan Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 What the heck site is that? The comments are horrible. Maybe Mondays ratings were down because of the freakin debate, not because players are taking a knee I don't know. I used to watch every NFL game I could. I still watch all the Bills games but not much else. It is because of the lack of respect for the nation, the police and the opportunity that the players have been given. Just my opinion.
Boatdrinks Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 What the heck site is that? The comments are horrible. Maybe Mondays ratings were down because of the freakin debate, not because players are taking a knee Monday was the seventh consecutive prime time game to show a ratings decline. The debate doesn't explain the other 6. Clearly a pattern there and it's likely got something to do with the anthem protests. The battle lines have been drawn by the BLM folks and they are still a minority in this country. I think a lot of military vets and such are turned off in a big way and protesting in their own way. The election is really just adding fuel to the fire with HC supporting BLM and DT stressing law and order after the riots in Charlotte. It's having an impact on ratings , foolish to think otherwise.
TheFunPolice Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 What we need is some more Bears games. Falcons games are great too.
DrDawkinstein Posted September 28, 2016 Posted September 28, 2016 Yes, especially the obvious help refs give big market teams. I know this is real I also notice on any big play I dont ever react in real time like the old days...I have a built in delay on every good play where I wait for the stupid flag from the stupid ref who will take away a 30 yard 3rd down play from us for a ghost penalty. Later they may "even" it out with a holding call on 1st and 10 for the other team when they throw an incomplete pass anyway. the flags and the stupidity of what a catch is have just changed the game for me, A very comprehensive breakdown showing how the refs let Green Bay get away with holding on almost every play vs the Lions: http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2016/9/28/13052206/film-breakdown-fair-officiating-holding-lions-packers
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