The NFL is in big trouble.
The Kansas City Chiefs shocked the New England Patriots on opening night of the 2017-18 season in an excited game with a distraught Boston crowd.
But despite the stunning upset, loaded with great drama, the NFL’s season ratings declined again for the second straight year.
The San Francisco 49ers must really regret drafting Colin Kaepernick.
Since his protest last year, NFL ratings and protests have pervaded throughout the country.
This has taken money out of everybody’s pockets from the top down.
But other players throughout the league have taken up the mantle from the former 49ers quarterback in protest, which includes star players Michael Bennett, Marshawn Lynch, and Marcus Peters.
#Chiefs CB Marcus Peters sits on trainer’s bench during National Anthem. @SportsDailyKC @KCStar pic.twitter.com/5xnDLi4HqD
— David Eulitt (@davidphotokc) September 8, 2017
And the ratings slide continued into the weekend and on Monday night.
Many “analysts” in the sports media would have you believe that Hurricane’s Irma and Harvey were the biggest reasons why ratings were down.
And although that may have slightly contributed to the slide, a new poll tells an entirely different story.
ESPN Senior Writer Darren Rovell reported:
“National anthem protests were the top reason that NFL fans watched fewer games last season, according to a new survey released by J.D. Power.
The pollster said it asked more than 9,200 people who attended either one football, basketball or hockey game whether they tuned into fewer games and why.
Twenty-six percent of those who watched fewer games last season said that national anthem protests, some of which were led by Colin Kaepernick, were the reason.
After that, 24 percent of those surveyed who said they watched fewer games said they did so either because of the league’s off-the-field image issues with domestic violence or with game delays, including penalties.
One in five (20 percent) listed excessive commercials and advertising as a reason, something the NFL is seeking to address by moving around traditional ad blocks.
Sixteen percent said it was because of their interest being replaced by the 2016 presidential election coverage.
Five percent said they watched fewer games because they got rid of cable.
J.D. Power noted that only 12 percent of the fans it surveyed said they watched fewer NFL games last season, with 27 percent of people saying they watched more and 62 percent saying they watched just as much as they had the season before.
The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
Of course they didn’t respond because they have an enigma on their hands and they don’t know what to do with this new information.
Could the league implement a new rule that will suspend players for sitting out during the National Anthem?
They’re going to have to do something because fans of the NFL are going to become former ones really soon.