Is the NFL declining?

[Sabres 2025]

The terrible officiating and constant flags are hurting the NFL. I think there is also a perception that Roger Goodell is using the refs to get desired outcomes.  I have to admit that it sure looks like the league is using refs to keep games close in order to keep viewers watching. So many options out there for entertainment now.

[Back2Buff]

I said this many times on this board, and constantly got ridiculed with my opinion.  Greed eventually kills, it always will.

 

If you want more old school football, College FB is where it's at.  There are so many games, you are guaranteed to get 2-4 good ones a week.  The crowds add SO much to the game.  The NFL has a massive crowd issue, and the broadcasts continue to mute them as much as possible.  I don't watch TNF.  The amazon broadcast has so little crowd noise and the announcers are terrible.  Its a snoozefest.

 

The NFL has reached its peak.  Younger generations just don't care, and the NFL is losing lots of millennials with the nonsense this game has become.

 

Also, one of my biggest pet peeves are TV ratings.  The way to measure viewership has never been better and more accurate.  You can't even compare the old ratings to the new ones.  It's apples to oranges.

[LABILLBACKER]

9 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I think it's two things:

 

1 - There are some really terrible teams playing on prime time.  It's hard to watch football at times

 

2 - I think people are over the dynasty in the AFC.  For 20 years, it was always Brady.  Now, it feels like it's the Mahomes show.  It just gets old.

 

For me, with how the Bills have been, the regular season almost feels like the preseason and somewhat pointless.  No matter how good the Bills, Bengals, Texans, or Ravens get, they get bounced in the playoffs by the Chiefs.  It's just boring.

 

The NFL loves to ride a supreme qb as their marketing champion. It was Brady for 2 decades and now it's Mahomes. And as an added bonus you have the Swiftie narrative. If other teams don't stand a fair chance,  what's the point of watching?

[dpberr]

Declining? Not yet.

 

Peaking? Yes, primarily due to the oversaturation of an increasingly mediocre product that desperately needs innovation.

[nedboy7]

Adding a game, short weeks, London games, borderline corrupt officiating, streaming on 5 sites,  Aaron Rodgers  all make the product worse.  But good news is we’re all getting dumber so it evens out. 
 

Edited 2 hours ago by nedboy7

[wppete]

Yeah it’s definitely declining. I pretty only watch Bills games now and mute commercials. No pregame or post game stuff anymore. 

[Dick_Cheney]

Sounds like somebody needs to eat more microplastics.

[Einstein's Dog]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

You misunderstood my point. I was only using the Bills as an example of how teams aren't really put together until October. Up until then, everyone is still assembling their teams. As a result, these early season games feel like preseason games.  That's all. 

 

I think Beane is great. He says all the time that he is prepared to do anything and everything at any time to make the team better. I think the Cooper move is excellent. Right kind of player to add to the team, both on and off the field. He'll know his role and fit in. He'll be a senior voice on the offense who will back up Allen. support him. Great move to get him without any significant cap hit. Excellent management of draft choices - the second he got for Diggs covers the third he gave up for Cooper. The whole thing strikes me as a solid move by Beane. He's doing his job. 

 

The amount of impact Cooper will have is yet to be determined. It's the kind of move Beane should be making, even though not every move works out. 

 

If we're talking Beane, I'll admit to being a little concerned that Bishop hasn't flashed much yet. It's early, I know, but not that early. I'll be happy if I see him starting to get more snaps.  

For that point (team assembly) I think there are a couple of things at play.  One is the longer season and more injuries.  A move based on an injury makes a lot of sense for any contending team - this was our R Douglas move last year.  Kind of hoping KC is left out of it, but they would be in this category.

 

A second thing I think is starting to happen is the culture of playing hurt, coming back as soon as possible, is going away.  This year players with hanmy's are going on the IR - Nico Collins for example.  E Engram took 4 games from a pre-game hamstring.  C Kupp extended his time off and SF seems to be  load managing McCaffrey for the playoffs.  Even for the Bills, J Cook out with a toe injury.

 

And yes, I think Beane will keep looking at the possibility for another adjustment at S or LB if he can find one that fits.  I'm just glad he found the WR piece - because it makes me think this squad is a contender.

 

As to your overall thought in the OP, it's not declining for me.  Fantasy Football and betting aspects can make routine games interesting.

[Augie]

Two Words:

 

Taylor Swift

 

I’m not signing up for any services of any kind to watch Taylor Swift TV. Haven’t they milked that enough? I’d prefer we watch and talk about football when I’m, ya know, watching a football game. 

[TFBillsfan]

I’m not a fan of Thursday night football, dual MNF games or international games. The quality of announcers has significantly declined across all networks. The officiating has become a major issue and replay hasn’t really helped. If the review is not obvious and a decision can’t be made after a few minutes, move on with what is called on the field. Unfortunately, replays have become a commercial money grab and it’s become a coin flip on what the call will be.

 

IMO, part of the officiating issues, are a direct outcome of the newer rules that leave way too much room for interpretation by the officials.  What is PI, roughing the passer, unnecessary roughness, taunting, illegal contact, etc. Once we think we know, it changes the very next game.

 

They’ve tried to remove the physicality out of the game which feels like the game is more like flag football/two hand touch. 
 

While I still enjoy the NFL, this version of the game needs to be changed. 
 

Also the new kickoff is ridiculous.

[TheFunPolice]

35 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I think it's two things:

 

1 - There are some really terrible teams playing on prime time.  It's hard to watch football at times

 

2 - I think people are over the dynasty in the AFC.  For 20 years, it was always Brady.  Now, it feels like it's the Mahomes show.  It just gets old.

 

For me, with how the Bills have been, the regular season almost feels like the preseason and somewhat pointless.  No matter how good the Bills, Bengals, Texans, or Ravens get, they get bounced in the playoffs by the Chiefs.  It's just boring.

 

 

I sometimes feel like this too...

 

I imagine it's how fans of any top team feel eventually. Regular season= let's get to January in 1 piece, then the fun begins!

 

It does somehow feel less important/exciting until at least late in the season. 

 

[Buffalo ill]

Older fans, like me, miss how things used to be.  Unfortunately the owners will find some way to make even more money by turning it into the international flag football league.

[WotAGuy]

NFL guaranteed viewership when they went all in on betting. 

[coloradobillsfan]

4 hours ago, GETTOTHE50 said:

also, I wish I could just hear the sounds and mute the analysts. I can’t stand any of them. 

 

4 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

Pro tip:  if you don't like what your hear, turn the TV volume off.  Maybe pick a radio broadcast.

 

2 hours ago, lookylookyherecomescookie said:

Try muting the sound while watching. For me, improves the viewing experience greatly.
The muting experience may take you a game or two to get used to and appreciate, but it's worth a try.    

If your audio setup includes a center channel, try muting just that speaker.  It should eliminate the announcer voices, leaving the sounds of the game intact.  It's not a perfect solution (I also turn down my subwoofer to mute the low end of their voices) but it's well worth a shot.  

[Kaenon]

This is the Taylor Swift effect.

[GunnerBill]

I think the complete irrelvance of pre-season means that these days the first 4 or 5 weeks are full of sloppy play and random outcomes. But last weekend I felt like the quality of games had started to tick up. I know the flag fest on MNF was ugly but otherwise I thought it was a better week of games. 

 

Overall, no, I don't think the league is declining.

[Chaos]

The quality of the product has declined and is declining. However popularity is not declining. From a business perspective that is all that matters.  If the league loses an old man die hard fan, and adds 2 young taylor swift fans to its viewing ranks, the NFL sees that as a win. 

Saturation is not an issue either. 40 years ago, I could watch two games on Sunday and one on Monday.  I rarely watched more than two.  Now I watch four or five games almost every week.  I suspect I am not alone. 

[Nitro]

5 hours ago, Augie said:

They lost me to some degree by adding all the streaming services. If you want to make it harder to watch, I just might skip it. That is the calculated decision they made to make more money. Also, being the “home team” in London against the Jags who arrived a week earlier and have been cultivating a fan base there for more than a decade doesn’t pass the smell test. 

 

I’ll always be a Bills fan, but my interest in the rest of the NFL is waning. 

I also think it is us....the aging fan.  Things were used to be passionate about now wane.  Streaming stinks because I am not paying for those services for one or two games.   Now I am going outside to yell at the neigh kids to get off my lawn. 

[DrDawkinstein]

No, it's not declining. We're all just getting old.

 

There are more young, potential-star QBs in the league right now than I ever remember. That is huge for the league right there.

 

The refs suck. But they've always sucked. We just have replay and better cameras to show us how much they suck. We'll see if the NFL ever does anything about it, but they havent in the last 50 years so...

 

Folks upset about more games on streaming services are the same as the folks that complained when the NFL went to cable. MNF moving to ESPN was a big deal to a lot of people. They still watched. The ratings are still there. Same will be for the streaming services.

[OJ Dingo]

I've found myself following the league less and less over the years. I'm 45 now, and the game today is just too different from the sport I fell in love with as a kid. It's kind of like if you change enough ingredients, you eventually have a whole new recipe.