The NFL is taking a huge hit to its ratings.
Of course, the sharp decline in ratings stems from the Colin Kaepernick National Anthem protest and its continuation by current players in the league.
And the second week’s ratings indicate that the NFL is in enormous trouble.
There are many theories as to why NFL ratings are in sharp decline.
One being that widespread blowouts have become the new norm and mediocre quarterbacks make up two-thirds of the league.
It’s also possibly due to the Red Zone channel, which only focuses on scoring plays during the 1pm and 4pm EST games. But that doesn’t explain the Sunday night and Monday night games.
Another plausible theory was the widespread power outages across Texas and Florida that prevented people from watching the games in the NFL’s first two weeks.
But if that’s the case, then how do you explain this?
The attendance for the USC game was more than the Chargers and Rams’ attendances combined. pic.twitter.com/Pt96Vec5n4
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 18, 2017
If anything, this proves the point that people have avoided the NFL because of its players’ anti-American stance.
Breitbart reports:
“The NFL has suffered new lows for its Week 2 action on CBS, with a double-digit fall from last year’s numbers.
A report from Sports Media Watch says that the NFL’s Week Two game fell an incredible 24 percent over last year’s Week Two and 15 percent over the ratings seen in 2015.
CBS earned an 8.4 rating with 14.5 million viewers last Sunday.
However, last year’s Week Two game earned Fox an 11 share and 19.2 million viewers. For 2015, CBS saw a 9.8 rating and 16.7 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch.
In fact, this season’s Week Two is the network’s lowest mark since 1998, and the first two games of the season are down double-digits at a multi-year low.
Week One’s season opener between the Chiefs and the Patriots was also a disappointment, drawing only a 14.6 rating for NBC. Last year’s season opener earned a 16.5 rating for the Panthers and Broncos.
The falling ratings reflect several recent polls that showed fans drifting away from football, with the on-field protests by players constituting a major reason why.
In a poll last year, 44% of fans said they would stop watching the NFL if protests against the national anthem continued.
In addition, a J.D. Power survey showed fans citing the anthem protests as the main reason they stopped watching NFL games.
And now players have sent a memo to the NFL to dedicate a month to “social activism.”
The NFL is getting worse, and it doesn’t look like they have a plan to dig out of this hole they’re in.