NFL viewership is down

[Big Blocker]

I still have about the same interest as always.  Sure the Jets have been painful, but  the Vikes are a great story.  Atlanta coming together is another.  Nice run by Matt Ryan, and their CS is impressive.  I hated losing to Seattle but it is interesting watching them deal with no Lynch, with Wilson impressing.  And Carson Wentz is a great story.

But it's not just the winners.  Interesting also are teams trying to figure it out and why they are having problems, like last night's two teams.  Or how the Chiefs, Steelers and Lions can seem up and down week to week. 

It's early in the season, and the league generally is not following the pre-season predictions many had. That makes for a bit of cognitive dissonance, which may be a factor in the disfavor some feel.  As the winter comes on and playoff teams emerge, as the night games get changed to take out has beens like the Niners, fan interest will probably go back up.

[Butterfield]

The younger generation just isnt into football as much as the rest of us.  

[HessStation]

Wait until the millennial's kids are adults. It will be non-existent.

[Gastineau Lives]

2 hours ago, NYPaperAirplanes said:

Well, that sounds like a personal problem. These athletes are role models for kids. If kids see these athletes being brave enough to stand up for what they believe, hopefully they can do the same. Because you want to ignore that doesn't make it wrong. This is bigger than sports.

So, at which point does a player's beliefs become SO far detached from reality that it is no longer an act of bravery?

 

[munchmemory]

Go back to all games being on Sunday when most people, especially kids, can enjoy them.  No more Monday and Thursday.

[Beerfish]

Games are boring, the cycle of perpetual good teams vs bad teams has been longer than normal, reffing and rules STINK.

If I could punch one guy in da face fro, the league it wouldn't be Goodell it would be that Blandino chap.

 

[rex-n-effect]

52 minutes ago, gEYno said:

This math seems fuzzy.

Not if he only knows fourteen people.

[drdetroit]

5 minutes ago, munchmemory said:

Go back to all games being on Sunday when most people, especially kids, can enjoy them.  No more Monday and Thursday.

The Thursday games over saturated the market as did having a 0930 game if ur team plays in London

[rillo]

30 minutes ago, Butterfield said:

The younger generation just isnt into football as much as the rest of us.  

Not apart of the younger generation, but the product stinks. Not just the Jets, but overall. NFL is killing their own brand IMO.

[drdetroit]

2 minutes ago, rillo said:

Not apart of the younger generation, but the product stinks. Not just the Jets, but overall. NFL is killing their own brand IMO.

Goodell is doing his best to run the NFL into the ground.

 

Fantasy sports helped ratings skyrocket for a few years.  Now that that's over Goodell is being exposed

[drsamuel84]

It's simply overexposure.  The NFL got too cocky and basically pushed the fan too far.  They stopped worrying about the product on the field and basically looked for more days of the week to put games on.  The Thursday night game was a great novelty for a while but that's since worn off and the truth is the games are just bad.  Unless the Jets are playing I find myself checking in on that game but not making a point to watch it.  I also think one of the biggest mistakes the NFL made was making the Sunday night game the premier game it's too much football I burnt out on it by Sunday night and the Monday game is like Thursday, an excuse for another day of the week of football but usually a crappy game.

[munchmemory]

8 minutes ago, drdetroit said:

The Thursday games over saturated the market as did having a 0930 game if ur team plays in London

Exactly right. It all comes down to greed.  Just as Saturday is "must see TV" for college football, Sunday should be the only day to catch all NFL games.  In my heart, I want all games to be at 1PM and 4:30.  But I'll give the NFL a Sunday night game.  It's fun to cool out with a late game on Sunday.

[JiFtheOracle]

Over saturation. Piss poor product. Terrible rules changes. Zero parity. QB driven league. Arena league style of play. Allowed institutionalized Cheating.

The NFL is just shoved down your throat and when the star of your league is entitled ass hat like Tom Brady and Odell Beckham Jr., how the **** can you care?

 

[Villain The Foe]

9 hours ago, jetsons said:

I disagree, those protesting should look into their own neighborhoods and castigate those who continue this cycle of decay before condemning those who have ZERO to do with it. 

I have no problem with your opinion given that you didn't flip it into people disrespecting the flag or vets. That's just being stupid. 

How do you castigate law enforcement? By taking a knee in order to spread awareness. I mean, spreading awareness shouldn't only work for cancer right?

It is unfortunate that Americans are now split up by neighborhoods though. This is largely why the issues continue. If one isn't from a particular neighborhood or isn't considered to be  part of a class then it shouldn't matter to them?

 

[LWC611]

24 minutes ago, munchmemory said:

Exactly right. It all comes down to greed.  Just as Saturday is "must see TV" for the college football, Sunday should be the only day to catch all NFL games.  In my heart, I want all games to be at 1PM and 4:30.  But I'll give the NFL a Sunday night game.  It's fun to cool out with a late game on Sunday.

I think the oversaturation is due to both Sunday night and Thursday night games.  Monday night games have been around for decades and are in essence an institution.  However, because of catering to the west coast the games start too late.  Unless the Jets are playing I may watch a half of MNF.  The only time the NFL gets it right is for the first game of the year.  The double header allows the east coast to get a game that ends at a decent hour and the west coast gest their game which ends at decent hour.  I think the double header should done all year and, the games should start at 7:00 PM no later 7:30. for both coasts. Eliminate Sunday night and Thursday night.

[Villain The Foe]

5 hours ago, sirlancemehlot said:

People turn to sports for diversion.  For entertainment.  If I had to swallow someone's political agenda every time I went to the movies...I'd stop going to the movies.  There's enough preaching and pandering posturing in the 24 hour news cycle.  It has nothing to do with the message or whether or not a person agrees with it.  It's about being forced to listen to unsolicited advice.  And its distracting at best, insulting at worst.  As for changing the topic, I thought the topic was football.  I'm not interested in anything but watching football when I'm watching football.  The other issues have their time and place.

So spreading awareness of the serious issues happening in communities of many of these players shouldn't interrupt your entertainment, but cancer awareness and pink gloves every October is cool though? Not everyone or everything is political. That's another way to dismiss the problem. 

 

I guess Keep understands that he must interrupt people's entertainment given that they never truly make time for this issue if it's not directly effecting them. 

Kaep needs to be willing to take the criticism for the greater good. Being quiet about this simply because people don't want to see a knee during their entertainment isn't a good enough reason given the importance of the issue.

[munchmemory]

4 minutes ago, LWC611 said:

I think the oversaturation is due to both Sunday night and Thursday night games.  Monday night games have been around for decades and are in essence an institution.  However, because of catering to the west coast the games start too late.  Unless the Jets are playing I may watch a half of MNF.  The only time the get it right is for the first game of the year.  The double header allows the east coast to get a game that ends at a decent hour and the west coast gest their game which ends at decent hour.  I think the double header should done all year and, the games should start at 7:00 PM no later 7:30. for both coasts. Eliminate Sunday night and Thursday night.

I can live with this.   Still remember what a big deal it was when MNF started.  We'd all tune in just to hear what Cosell would say.

[Villain The Foe]

2 hours ago, LionelRichie said:

I have a  couple of friends who are die-hard jets fans and police officers.   They both completely gave up the NFL this year.    Extrapolate that across the country and you have your 15% viewership decline.   

Why did they give up on the NFL?

[drdetroit]

59 minutes ago, munchmemory said:

Exactly right. It all comes down to greed.  Just as Saturday is "must see TV" for college football, Sunday should be the only day to catch all NFL games.  In my heart, I want all games to be at 1PM and 4:30.  But I'll give the NFL a Sunday night game.  It's fun to cool out with a late game on Sunday.

College has lots of night games but it's usually for a niche audience

 

Goodell is a moron.  He changed the rules to totally favor passing and made way too many night games

 

[drdetroit]

41 minutes ago, munchmemory said:

I can live with this.   Still remember what a big deal it was when MNF started.  We'd all tune in just to hear what Cosell would say.

The flex schedule should go to MNF

 

And Thursday games should only be second half of the season

[Jetsfan80]

13 hours ago, Joe W. Namath said:

If not for fantasy football, football would be baseball.  Its an awful product.

And I can follow my fantasy football teams without watching actual games.  All I care about is the points, doesn't really matter much to me how I get them.  When I'm watching football I want to be entertained by the actual games, not just watch for the players I have in my lineup.  I compartmentalize the 2.

[BigRy56]

When your biggest star is a wide receiver who freaks out weekly and gets smashed by kicking nets + a quarterback who has been suspended for cheating... There is an issue.

The league is lacking likable stars. Plus Thursday Night Football is a waste of time and it gets worse when they add games on Saturdays later in the year. It's too spread out and it makes for some completely uninteresting and borderline unwatchable games like Houston vs. Indianapolis or Carolina vs. Tampa Bay. The league and fans called for more football but now that they have it, nobody is watching it as much. It's a little overkill.

With that said, even though viewership is down.. There is no competitor or riser in the way of other sports. Basketball and hockey have their niche fanbases and baseball will be irrelevant in a decade or two (even more than now). 

[HessStation]

Yeah, as some have brought up and it's a good point, there was a significant culture change throughout the 00's between fans and the players imp. Cynicism slowly creeped its way into the fan psyche where people don't give a **** about the players anymore. And rightfully so. I mean am I suppose to give a dick about Darrelle Revis? I mean seriously, **** Darrelle Revis. But just one example. I mean, They almost ALL play for their money and that's that. And I don't really blame them I guess. It's more systematic which I guess started with FA and sports agents. I suppose some irony in what helped the players achieve more short term financial success is partially to blame for the erosion of product and league overall. Not the only issue but part of it. 

[HessStation]

Double post 

[HessStation]

Triple post jeez

[Bugg]

2 hours ago, gEYno said:

I'd offer that the decline in viewership is a generational issue fueled by the rising costs of attending games.  Younger fans are less invested because they don't have the access to go to games regularly because it's simply unaffordable.  In general, I think most of our memories of when we became Jets fans, or got invested, had something to do with going to the games.  That's not really a regular option for a lot of folks now, and so younger generations are finding other means of entertainment.

There are also a lot of other distractions in the world right now that supersede ones time for entertainment.

Lastly, the product sucks right now.  Very few good teams and very little competition.

But sure, blame it on a guy not standing for a paid advertisement at the beginning of the game.

Know that technically attendance of major pro sports is not down. But when this old f__ was growing up you could go to an MLB, NBA, NHL or NFL game for well short of a king's ransom. And that's how you build up fan bases and get them invested in your product. But when you have video games, the internet and all kinds of other entertainment options, nobody under 30 is going to a bunch of games. They cannot afford it.Now the leagues will argue they get the revenue anyway, so no big deal. But you're conditioning many young people to not really care about going to the game. Long term that looks like a bad business decision. 

[joewilly12]

Is porn viewing up in the tri-state area because Jets and Giants fans need some entertainment that is satisfying. 

[hawk]

Hockey will replace football in 5 years or less.  60 minutes of actual game play, not 8 to 11 minutes, and it's still less than three hours.  They play many more games, and the players play for the love of the game, not a paycheck.  

Can't wait till tomorrow night.

[Bugg]

5 minutes ago, joewilly12 said:

Is porn viewing up in the tri-state area because Jets and Giants fans need some entertainment that is satisfying. 

Uh...

http://nypost.com/2016/10/08/man-found-fatally-stabbed-while-watching-porn-cops/

[ZachEY]

18 minutes ago, Bugg said:

Know that technically attendance of major pro sports is not down. But when this old f__ was growing up you could go to an MLB, NBA, NHL or NFL game for well short of a king's ransom. And that's how you build up fan bases and get them invested in your product. But when you have video games, the internet and all kinds of other entertainment options, nobody under 30 is going to a bunch of games. They cannot afford it.Now the leagues will argue they get the revenue anyway, so no big deal. But you're conditioning many young people to not really care about going to the game. Long term that looks like a bad business decision. 

We agree.

But, I think attendance numbers might be misleading.  I was in Pittsburgh last weekend, and they're known for having some of the most devoted fans around.  There were lots... I mean, lots... of empty seats in that stadium.  Maybe not MetLife empty, but I'd say, and this is a total guess, but probably around 10% of the seats were open.

[peebag]

1 hour ago, munchmemory said:

I can live with this.   Still remember what a big deal it was when MNF started.  We'd all tune in just to hear what Cosell would say.

yep .... it was an event, a NATIONAL event.  Not just a football game.  Also now that ESPN covers the game, quite a few people can't see it....I just got Directv this year after going w/o cable or satellite for 7 years....I still haven't watched a Monday night game this year.

[ZachEY]

16 minutes ago, hawk said:

Hockey will replace football in 5 years or less.  60 minutes of actual game play, not 8 to 11 minutes, and it's still less than three hours.  They play many more games, and the players play for the love of the game, not a paycheck.  

Can't wait till tomorrow night.

Love hockey... But no chance of that happening.

[PatsFanTX]

Is porn viewing up in the tri-state area because Jets and Giants fans need some entertainment that is satisfying. 

Gay porn is up 17%.

[hawk]

2 minutes ago, gEYno said:

Love hockey... But no chance of that happening.

I guess we'll see.  I know the circle of friends I have are already transitioning to hockey and the local hockey arenas.  Football is a dying sport.  

[rillo]

2 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

So spreading awareness of the serious issues happening in communities of many of these players shouldn't interrupt your entertainment, but cancer awareness and pink gloves every October is cool though? Not everyone or everything is political. That's another way to dismiss the problem. 

 

I guess Keep understands that he must interrupt people's entertainment given that they never truly make time for this issue if it's not directly effecting them. 

Kaep needs to be willing to take the criticism for the greater good. Being quiet about this simply because people don't want to see a knee during their entertainment isn't a good enough reason given the importance of the issue.

its called "we gave you money, now STFU" sad, but true.