Quote:The steady decline in NFL television ratings has been the biggest story of the football season, and arguably the biggest sports-business story of 2016. It’s clear that interest in watching primetime NFL games has waned, but what remains unclear are the exact causes, and which causes have had the largest impact.

New reports suggest that one factor dismissed by many has in fact had a definite impact: player protests during the national anthem, led by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

The election wasn’t the only problem

Four weeks into the season, the NFL blamed the ratings dip on the “attention around our presidential election, which is unprecedented.” That explanation looked sound after Week 10, when ratings for the first Sunday Night Football game after the election finally rose 13% compared to the year before. The matchup of the New England Patriots vs Seattle Seahawks got the best rating for a Week 10 Sunday night game since 2011.

Quote:Prior to the election, the average number of games watched was down 9.6% compared to 2015, as Fox Sports programming SVP Michael Mulvihill points out. Since the election, that drop is smaller, but still significant, at 4.9%. In addition to watching fewer games, people are tuning out earlier from the games they do watch. Average minutes watched per game was down 4.5% before the election, and still down 3.1% since. (These numbers apply through Week 12.)

In other words, it wasn’t just the election.

Quote:Every time Yahoo Finance has written about the NFL ratings decline, Yahoo readers have shouted in our comments and on Twitter that the biggest reason for the decline is Kaepernick’s anthem protests. “I can tell you why, it is because diehard fans like me have been insulted by the owners and the NFL allowing these players to kneel or sit during the national anthem,” one reader wrote. “TOTAL DISRESPECT to America. WE are protesting. I have not watched a game this year yet.” Another reader wrote, “When the players stop disrespecting this nation and our Flag then I might start watching games again.”

Many readers flooded me personally on Twitter with direct messages to hammer home the point. “You can try and hide what happened,” said one. “We have reduced watching the NFL as long as they support the disrespect to our flag. Just tell NFL America is taking a knee.” Another wrote “There’s only one reason the ratings are in the trash. Colin Kaepernick 7.”

Quote:At first blush it may be hard to believe a small personal act that takes place before games even begin is causing people to boycott the league. As many outlets wrote early on, there was no hard evidence that any significant number of people were boycotting their watching of the NFL because of their outrage at the protests.



“No analysis exists to support claims of a boycott,” Variety wrote. And the NFL, in a memo to its media committee, wrote: “We see no evidence that concern over player protests during the National Anthem is having any material impact on our ratings.”

But the Seton Hall Sports Poll begs to differ.

In late October, a poll of 841 adults by phone (conducted by the Sharkey Institute at Seton Hall University) found that when asked to weigh in on seven possible contributing factors to the NFL ratings decline, 56% of respondents said “yes” to the anthem protests as a factor. The respondents were asked to respond yes or no to each factor separately, rather than rank the importance of each factor. More people said yes to the protests than any other factor; the second-highest was the distraction of the presidential election.

Seton Hall conducted another poll the next month, and asked the question a little differently. The new findings again point to player protests as “a turnoff” for NFL fans. Of 913 people surveyed by phone, 23% said they are watching fewer NFL games. Those people were asked what the biggest reason was, and 25% said it’s the national anthem protests.

The other options were too many commercials (10%), weaker matchups (10%), too many games overall (8%) and interest in the election (3%). “The anthem protest still seems to resonate most loudly,” said Rick Gentile, director of the poll.

Quote:Elizabeth Lindsey, who works on NFL sponsorship deals at Wasserman, believes the protests have been a ratings factor. “I do think some of the player protests probably offended some people,” she tells Yahoo Finance. “I can’t go as far as to say that it’s the definitive reason, but I think it would be short-sighted and dismissive to say it’s having no impact. I think it’s something people should pay attention to. It’s worthy of considering as an issue.”

To be sure, the factors for declining ratings are numerous: the election (up until Nov. 8); the rise of cord-cutting; the proliferation of clips and highlight videos on social media as an alternative to watching a whole game; an increase in penalties during the game; disgust over the league’s ongoing head injury crisis, which was the subject of a big-budget Will Smith film, “Concussion,” last year; potential fatigue from NFL games happening three nights a week.

The player protests are just one of these many factors, and it’s impossible to say just how big a factor. It’s possible that the protests are the very smallest factor. But there is enough evidence now to at least say that the effect of the protests is not zero. They are contributing to the ratings decline.

(12-13-2016 04:27 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  The cheerleaders should not be an issue.

(12-13-2016 04:33 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:27 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  The cheerleaders should not be an issue.

I agree but when you are paying them literally nothing and get sued in court over it then that becomes a problem. especially when it is all these little things that make the NFL come off as an excessively greedy organization that people get tired of. **** adds up.

(12-13-2016 05:18 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:33 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:27 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  The cheerleaders should not be an issue.

I agree but when you are paying them literally nothing and get sued in court over it then that becomes a problem. especially when it is all these little things that make the NFL come off as an excessively greedy organization that people get tired of. **** adds up.

The NFL has no obligation to pay them more unless it is breaking a law.

(12-13-2016 05:26 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 05:18 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:33 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:27 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  The cheerleaders should not be an issue.

I agree but when you are paying them literally nothing and get sued in court over it then that becomes a problem. especially when it is all these little things that make the NFL come off as an excessively greedy organization that people get tired of. **** adds up.

The NFL has no obligation to pay them more unless it is breaking a law.

they literally were breaking the law, got sued and had to provide back pay.

(12-13-2016 05:27 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 05:26 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 05:18 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:33 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:27 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  The cheerleaders should not be an issue.

I agree but when you are paying them literally nothing and get sued in court over it then that becomes a problem. especially when it is all these little things that make the NFL come off as an excessively greedy organization that people get tired of. **** adds up.

The NFL has no obligation to pay them more unless it is breaking a law.

they literally were breaking the law, got sued and had to provide back pay.

The system worked. Glad to hear it. The NFL messed up royally on that.

(12-13-2016 05:31 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 05:27 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 05:26 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 05:18 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 04:33 PM)john01992 Wrote:  I agree but when you are paying them literally nothing and get sued in court over it then that becomes a problem. especially when it is all these little things that make the NFL come off as an excessively greedy organization that people get tired of. **** adds up.

The NFL has no obligation to pay them more unless it is breaking a law.

they literally were breaking the law, got sued and had to provide back pay.

The system worked. Glad to hear it. The NFL messed up royally on that.

except not really. the lawsuits are going on one suit at a time per team and last year legislators in a select number of states started regulating it. and they basically went from below minimum wage to minimum wage. the NFL has yet to make a uniformed policy for the whole league to tell them to knock it off and the issue which closely mirrors their problems with the refs isn't fully resolved either. the NFL needs to stop shafting their employees in the name of saving a trivial amount of profits.

and don't even get me started on the taxpayers and NFL stadiums crap.