The NFL is suffering mightily in 2020.
Several problems have cropped in a very taxing year.
And the NFL is in deep trouble after the public reaction to their anti-Trump protest.
NFL ratings are down across the board.
The league was hoping to garner enthusiasm considering Americans are starved for content in the middle of a pandemic where draconian lockdowns have kept them inside.
But that wasn’t really materialized.
According to Front Office Sports, the NFL is averaging 15 million viewers per week, which is down 6% from last year.
Some have theorized that interest in the monumental 2020 election led to a decline in viewership, but the election is over and the numbers haven’t rebounded.
The recent Sunday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos was down 20% from last week’s contest.
The Chiefs featured reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes in a rivalry game against the Broncos, but people didn’t tune in to watch the competitive game.
Despite being heavy favorites, the Chiefs had to hang on to win 22-16.
The NFL saw modest 5% gains in viewership in 2018 and 2019, but the trend has reversed this season.
One of the main reasons why is that the league has adopted “woke” politics, which is bad for business.
Sports fans, particularly NFL fans, tend to lean more conservative, so they don’t want left-wing politics shoved down their throats every time they turn on a football game.
The reason the NFL saw a drop in viewership in 2017 was because of Colin Kaepernick’s anti-American anthem protest that spread around the league.
Many fans canceled their season tickets as a result, and teams like the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens issued apologies to their fans for the radical political displays.
But the league embraced social justice activism this year, and it did not catch on with fans or players.
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis triggered a cascade of violent protests and activism from corporations like the NFL.
The league foolishly thought it was a good idea to play the unofficial black national anthem before games in series with “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
It did not go over well.
Members of the Miami Dolphins said they were staying in the locker room for both anthems because they were turned off by the political pandering.
The league has tried to steer away from controversy by not broadcasting the national anthem before games, but the fire was stoked on Thanksgiving day when both starting quarterbacks for the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions kneeled for the anthem.
The NBA absolutely destroyed its business with its full embrace of wokeness.
The ratings for the NBA finals were lower than an average weekly NFL game.
The NFL cannot afford to make a similar mistake.
