http://finance.yahoo.com/news/yes-colin-...soc_trk=tw

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.

Wow. He is much more powerful than I thought.

The bad news: The NFL has screwed up on so many fronts that it's hard to pinpoint the problem.

the good news: The NFL is extremely proactive and is on a massive reform spree trying to reverse all their dumb decisions from the last three years

The NFL is chasing its tail in circles.

the nfl is boring ...

ROGER (THAT) GOODELL

Issues

Kap protests: They can fix this by reverting to their old policy from a couple of years ago by not having the players line up for the anthem. some idiot at the NFL decided to make a dollar stupid decision for a couple of pennies with this pay for patriotism crap. they need to back away from pay for patriotism.

Pink October: The NFL is changing this policy to cancer week where the teams can choose their own charity and this will avoid any controversy regarding this issue.

CTE: They are pretty screwed on this one.

TNF: They are already reverting back to their original policy.

Refs/cheerleaders: They are going all out on solving the refs issue. now they have to extend that to cheerleaders. in the name of saving pennies the NFL is coming off looking terrible on both of these issues.

quality of play: They are already improving this by bringing back NFL Europe. now all they need to do is reverse the draft trends with underclassmen.

Out of their 9 major issues:

4 of them they have already addressed

2 of them they basically lost a court battle and/or PR disaster over over and are slowing coming around on.

1 of them they are f***ed either way.

so basically the Kap issue and the underclassmen is the last thing they need to resolve.

The cheerleaders should not be an issue.

(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.

I have zero interest in the NFL any longer.

Now Goodell's wife , Jane Skinner, Infind very interesting!

I watch every Sunday and zip through MNF and TNF after dvring them. I watched with even increased interest before my beloved and long suffering Vikings decided to **** the bed.

Thing is, I have YET to actually watch a game on Sunday, and I wonder how they figure this into the ratings- The "Red Zone". I generally tune that in and have the actual games put in the remote for a one click switch when I want to check in, or if it's a game that actually does interest me.

Red Zone is an NFL product, so maybe it's included in the ratings, but for a variety of reasons, foremost the insufferable amount of commercials, I haven't actually "watched" an entire game in a looong time.

To the topic of the thread, if that dumpster fire known as San Fransicko is one of the teams on that night I don't even bother to DVR it. Not watching that POS.

I don't believe it. All my friends still watch. This is more fake news.

I hardly watch. It is indeed very boring. Even fantasy football doesn't really keep me intrigued anymore, even though I'm on track to win both of my money leagues.

(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.

We always have the Red Zone running in the background.

(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 05:26 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 05:27 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.

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.

the point is these things look small on paper, but at any moment can blow up in their face which is exactly what happened with kap and the anthem.

The NFL excels on female viewership so the refs and cheerleaders are the only two professions they shouldn't mess with.

(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.

Sounds like you follow this stuff closely. I am impressed.

Well, minimum wage is good enough according to law, right?

The referees have independent jobs as it is. I wonder if they will go full time.

If taxpayers vote for NFL stadiums, I am fine with it. But if they do not receive a voice in it, then I am against tax funded stadiums.