DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Why Are NFL Ratings Down?

After a play is blown dead, coach gets 10 seconds to throw the challenge flag, if he doesn't throw it in time, sorry. The average review took 2:16.. so if you consider most coaches wait the full 35 before throwing the flag, that means the time between plays is almost 3 minutes.... which is ridiculous considering most of us know the answer within 20 seconds of the play being over and having seen it again from 2 or 3 quick angles.

On the NFL operations website, these are the steps of a replay..
1. The play
2. The challenge
3. Techs at game day central begin isolating potential replays (using the same feeds we get at home). They use NFL Vision, which is a proprietary software
4. While the refs meet with each coach, an official in game day central (President or Senior Director of Officiating) examines the plays and views the ones that were chosen and consults with the stadium booth and referee.
5. NOW the on-field official goes under the hood where they get 60 MORE seconds to watch the compilation of angles.
6. Walk back onto the field and make the call.

Average time 2:16.. which, if I understand math, means approximately half of them take longer than that.

Turnovers and scoring plays are reviewed, they get 20 seconds to watch a few angles from the booth or some command center, if they can't prove the ref wrong in that amount of time, ruling stands.

You shouldn't be able to review a spot unless the difference is significant like you are saying he stepped out of bounds way back up the field of if it is a potential scoring play.. this process of reviewing a spot because he was falling toward the first down marker but his knee hit while the ball was still in the air then he fell 6 more inches forward is stupid. No idea how to enforce what is "significant" it just bugs the crap out of me.

Celebration penalties should be reserved only for really vulgar or violent acts.. let the dudes have some fun.. but put them on the clock, you get 20 seconds to celebrate, have a good time then get off the field.

Celebrating a 9 yard first down catch in the middle of the second quarter or for making a hard tackle on a guy who just gained 12 yards on you should be grounds for a 15 yard penalty and 1 game suspension. Again, probably not, it just bugs me.

During all time outs or breaks, the cameras should focus on the cheerleaders and every team should be required to have them... and I'm talking scantily clad professionals, not high school girls, that would just be creepy.

Kap, Josh Gordon and all the idiots in the NFL is a real turnoff.

I think a lot of it has to do with the same reasons that ESPN is struggling mightily too. Lots of reasons though, and most have already been mentioned.

1) Commercials. The NFL sold it's soul to capitalism trying to squeeze out as much money as it could. It's sort of like when a big company wants to cut as many corners as possible with a product to make as much money as humanly possible, to the point where they just start offering an inferior product that's over-priced. That's what's happened to the NFL. They are trying to inject every possible advertisement they can into a game-space and it feels like we're watching more of a commercial than a game. The same problems plagued the Olympics and their ratings were terrible too.

2) The game rules/penalties. So when you're not watching a commercial, you're likely watching a referee or replay review. They've gone so overboard with the rules trying to protect players, that this has also killed the action. I remember some article that ran the numbers, and if you count the time that the ball was actually in play, MLB actually has more "action" than football now.

3) Cable TV/NFL Ticket. As others have mentioned. Cable TV has become ridiculously expensive. Some say that people are just watching online now, but I'm not even sure that's the case. Online/Streaming ratings have been up, but they aren't replacing the ratings that are being lost from standard TV. It also doesn't help the the NFL doesn't give a lot of options. Other sports let you buy season-packages through several cable outlets. The NFL is restricted to only DirecTV, which can't even provide access to a large percentage of households. Couple that with the one-size fits all price of $300+ a 17 week season and that probably equals a lot of cancelled viewers.

4) Political agendas. People watch sports as a means to "get away" from the stressful rigors of daily life. Politics is a part of that stress. And now the NFL players (and ESPN in particular) wants to ram politics down your throat while you're trying to escape and relax. Imagine going camping every weekend, but deer pop out of the woods every night to complain to you about social injustices that herbivores face against carnivores. You probably wouldn't want to go camping much after awhile.

5) The same stupid story lines. Sort of related to the one above, but this is the biggest sin of ESPN. Tim Tebow, Brett Farve, Deflate-gate, Johnny Manziel, Colin Kaepernick, etc, etc. Do we really need to hear the same stuff over and over? It causes viewer fatigue. Added to that, most of it has nothing to do with actual playing of football, so we're going back to some of the above items. We're talking about all this garbage during the game, nobody cares, and it's just taking away from the actual game.

6) And to that point, all the child/wife beaters, drug offenders, and other criminal behaviors. The NBA had a major image problem with this in the early 2000's. They seemed to have cleaned up their act and recovered in ratings. The NFL just seems to like to make it a bigger storyline.

7) The NFL sucking all the fun out of anything the players do. No uniform modifications, no celebrations, no breathing outside of NFL regulated airspace. If an someone is blatantly mocking an opponent, they yeah, throw a flag. If they are dancing in the end-zone, let em. if they spray paint their shoes orange, let em. I think that's what makes the college game so fun, is that the participants can actually have some fun too.


I want to say things like "brutality of the sport" or "over-saturation" or "mlb/campaign competition", but college football is dealing with those same issues and they don't seem to be having the same ratings issue. The biggest issues have to do with the watering down of the product, the injection of things that have nothing to do with playing football, and the overall cost of it.

Awesome post!

And this should be identified as an instant classic:

You speak as if politics and sports have never blended in prior to this current situation.

It's really odd that all of a sudden it's a problem now to cause a rating drop.

I already said earlier that I quit watching baseball because of all the steroid talk and the labor dispute talk. I don't watch sports to hear about political issues.

I have a feeling that many other people share a similar opinion.

Politics and sports blend all the time, yes. When politics start overshadowing the sports to the point where you can't enjoy the sport part of it anymore, then you've got a problem.

You're also acting like it's the only thing causing a ratings drop. It's part of the problem. When you water down the product as much as the NFL has, it's going to be an issue when politics are the biggest talking points of your sport.

That's fine, I'm simply asking why, and when is enough all of a sudden enough?

Politics has been in sports since, we'll forever.

How political was it when Jackie Robison joined the MLB?

Or when Muhammad Ali in boxing? Which by the way, Excel, his politics overshadowed the actual sport. Did he lose ratings?

Or the host of other factors? It wasn't too political then?

You stated an opinion. So here's mine:

I think too many are trying to dance around the issue and avoiding to admit something.

People love drama. It's probabaly the biggest reason why the NBA has blown up so quickly. Those players are some of the biggest social justice warriors in this country. Probabaly on this planet. And that, combined with the pace at which the game is played, is why it's so massive. In 20 years, it's gonna rival the massive pay days and popularity of FIFA worldwide.

Soccer is so political it crazy. And that's the #1 sport on this planet. And it's growing here in America

They both are political, yet no rating drops.


MLB spiked with all the Bryce Harper drama.

Combine that with the pace of the game, and the ratings don't drop.

But in the NFL, all these rules about touchdown celebrations, the refs controlling the pace of the game, stupid ass fines for different situations, and the No Fun League has finally become no fun.

The majority of people around the county watch sports for entertainment, drama, and speed of the sport.

You take any one of those things away, and watch the ratings tank.

People watch the giants just to see the next antics of Odell Beckham jr.

You take the antics and WR diva personalities away, and watch the ratings drop. The NFL has damn near made it an ejectable penalty every time a monster hit happens.

The NFL has became boring. It's going the way of the MLB. A snooze fest losing ratings because everything about it that use to be fun and dramatic is going away.

Politics creates a hero and a villain. Combined with good players, it's why people can't help but watch the legion of boom, even those they are some of the most vocal social justice players in the sport. And the fans watch them.

We all have our takes, but I think the ratings decline is due to several factors. The social issue is just one of the factors.

You mentioned Jackie Robinson, but sports were not on 20 channels all day long back in those days. What did they have? A game of the week? If that?

I also think you are misunderstanding what I--and perhaps others--are saying. It's not really about him kneeling, it's about all the sport's talk shows that deal w/it ad nauseum. It's about tuning into enjoying a game and listening to the pre-game rhetoric that is dominated by his beliefs. It's about having to deal w/it while watching a game. A lot of people do not watch sports for that type of political/cultural/social exposure.

You like it and that is cool. But, there are plenty of others who do not like it.

And again..........no one is saying that is THEE reason for the decline. It's just a possible factor. And I hope you respect the intent of the thread enough to avoid turning this thread into a political/cultural/social thread.

i understand what you're saying, I'm just adding my opinion on why I don't think that is.

This a message board, after all.

You're right, a lot of people don't watch the sport for those reasons.

But many more probably do. Because of drama that creates a hero and a villain to rally for or against.

Remember, his jersey sales shot through the roof. Hero and villain.

If social reasons are part of the reason for the decline (and I'm not saying they aren't, but rather theorizing) why hasn't there been a ratings drop for the NBA, CFB, and others where athletes have taken similar stands? The governor of Nebraska met with the team after they refused to do the national anthem thing..........but Nebraska football is still huge there.

I'm not saying it isn't part of the problem, but am interested as to if it is why is it just the NFL that are suffering from it?

Again, personally I think it has much more to do with the rules and speed of the game than anything else, but am not ruling the social issue phenomenon at all. I am just curious as to why the NFL would be the only one suffering from a ratings dip because of it.

What have been the biggest storylines coming out of the NFL that last few years? Deflategate and Kaepernick. They get talked about more than the games themselves.

In the NBA and CFL, it happens, but it's not the main story. Even if there is a non-football related story, it doesn't get talked about ad-nauseam. They move on to other things.

But like I'm saying, it's just a part of the problem. It's going to turn some people off, not all.

Of course they have and there have been ebbs and flows in sports popularity as well. Like when Jackie Robinson joined MLB, love him or hate him, people showed up to see what the guy could do. I don't need to tune in to see what Kaepernick can do, his "drama" is not at all sports related. Up until this week, he could hold a clipboard, when he's not holding a clipboard, he's a guy who couldn't beat out Blaine Gabbert. There is no drama in that.

I think whatever impact political drama is having on NFL ratings has more to do with all of the political fatigue people are feeling over the election in general... People want and NEED an escape from all of the BS going on in politics.. you turn on sports and there is more of it... I don't know how big of an impact it's having but my guess is that it's some.

I do think the bigger problem is game related issues which have been mentioned..

You say that soccer is very political.. having never watched soccer in any of the countries where they really get into it, what do you mean by that?

You never seen those famed soccer riots?

Their politics are interwoven into the matches itself. It's absolutely nuts. My wife took me to a Germany vs Poland "friendly", and it's the scariest thing I've ever been to.

Fair point. Do you think that has to do with the NFL media coverage being over saturated at this point? Personally, I think that has a ton to do with some of their problems.

What I find ironic is the way CFB has replaced the NFL as Teflon ratings on "their" day of the week. Although not as big as the NFL, CFB has solid ratings no matter the matchups nor external situations. The NFL has lost that obviously, and I have to believe the NFL lost some of their loyal fan base by just having a much less exciting product currently.

punch, I'm close to quitting fantasy now too. Did it this year, but am kinda over it

uh oh

Cause Kap is the head of the CRAP ON THE FLAG MORONS ... football is now the lightning rod for the INGRATES ... bunch a PUNKS that have NO CLUE what SACRIFICE is ...

Willie I know about 15 people that the crap on the flag stuff was the last straw .. and i would be gone also ... and all I do is DTV .. if i didn't purchase it before the INGRATE crapped on the flag ... i would be gone also ..

I am going to save a ton of money cause there's about 30 things I wil never do again due to politics and just plain flat out STUPID THINGS some businesses do ..

I think your top sentence answers the bottom paragraph. If it is less about the athlete using his/her position as a platform to speak their mind and it is more about the broadcasters constantly talking about it...then it is a media issue. For whatever reason the media are fixated on it just as they were fixated on every drink Manziel had or party he went to. It is crap journalism and it is reported 24/7. 24 hr news is one of the worst things to ever happen because to fill 24hrs of news you end up with a lot of repeat and a lot of fluff. Unfortunately, the fluff these days seems more important to many than the actual headlines.

Athletes have always promoted social causes. Remember, there were Black Power fists raised at the 68 Olympics. AND, Swish is correct on the hooliganism in European soccer. It is very political and much of it goes back to WW2, Cold War and border/culture wars. Just this past summer at the European Championships the Russian fans and the English fans rioted and the Russian team were threatened with being kicked out. England v Scotland and Wales is always tense. As is England v Germany. I know Turkish soccer fans have had issues in the past too.

I will also highlight what I said in my first post...lets not forget the "Red Zone". This is football for those with ADD. I personally hate it because when I watch a game I want to see the development of a drive (or a defensive stop) from start to finish. I don't want to bounce all over the league seeing scoring plays. However, many people love it and for some it might be how they watch the game. If it is, there goes somebody's concentration and dedication to watch a game start to finish thus, ratings go down.

I also wonder if the Oregon Ducks/Golden St. Warriors style...score fast and score more than your opponent has made people bored with a good defensive game. Everything has to be glitzy, sexy and high scoring or, once again, people lose interest (defense in the NBA is way down). Thus, why baseball is no longer the #1 sport. Soccer is definitely becoming more popular but, many Americans who still don't like it say so because they think it is "boring". There is a reason why it is called the "beautiful game". When it is good, even at 1-0 it is tremendous from start to finish. Also, it is really freaking difficult to score in professional soccer.

the jets/cards game was maybe the worst one I've seen in a long time. I couldn't keep it on

Maybe it's the Browns being so bad and a combination of the reasons I listed above, but I didn't even know who was playing on MNF until someone posted the teams and the score in the Indians thread. Sure, my focus was 100% Tribe and that's expected, but I'd normally at least know the teams and maybe have it playing on the other tuner in my DVR. Not last night.

j/c

Commercials.

The nfl is after money. But, they forget that the product is what earns them the money. They've gotten too big.

Just like nascar. 2 minutes of racing, then 2 minutes of commercials. At least in nascar, if you attend the race, you can still watch it. They don't stop the race for commercials like they do in the nfl.




Nascar got too big, and too expensive, and they are paying the price in lack of attendance and lack of t.v. viewership.

Same is/will happen to the nfl. Money money money. Parking, tickets, anything in the stadium. Money money money. They've taken away the average American fan and made it unaffordable for them to go to a game. They've replaced real fans with people that want to sit in the loge or club seats. But those people aren't generally speaking "die hard fans". People have been priced out of going to games.

Commercials and the slow game play are affecting the at home viewers.

Every one wants to get bigger to make more money. Nascar is learning - many tracks are now tearing out seats because it looks bad to see empty seats. Not many see the empty seats on tv though, because of all the commercials. People aren't going to watch.

The nfl will have that happen as well. Can't afford to go to the game, and don't want to waste all the time watching the game on t.v.

jmo

Has nothing to do with the fraudulent election being purported on the American people. Has nothing to do with baseball. Goodell is ruining the game, period.

Kickoffs used to be a game changing element, now they are irrelevant. Now it's, score a TD, 3min of commercials, kick extra point, more commercials. Goodell is turning the game into arena football.

Concussions? Who gives a damn, its like telling a fireman he might get burned on the job. Or a police officer he might get shot. IT'S THE RISK THE PLAYERS DECIDED TO TAKE!!!!

Penalties, geez what a fricken joke. You mean to tell me the offensive player can stiff arm anybody in the face mask without penalty and yet ANY defensive player does the same and an illegal hands to the face flag is thrown?
Interference calls are a complete joke.

Honestly, I was an avid fan, I can barely watch the crap this year....not much different than arena football.

Heck, I felt like I was watching an extended commercial break Saturday with a little bit of Ohio State football mixed in....

I agree with you Archie, it's too dang expensive to go to a game anymore, and once you get accustomed to HD it is quite a let down watching the game from afar.

Who has $500 to go to spontaneously go to a game? Who wants to pay $8 for a can of MILLER lite? Blech! Not too mention the corporate fan who could care less about the outcome.

Ticket from stubhub: 50$ (X2 with the wife)
Gas: 15$
Parking: 5$
Food: 10$

I'd she'll out 80-130 to go to a game, I don't know how you are spending 500 unless you're getting a hotel and whatnot.. I only like an hour and a half from Cleveland so..

I enjoy going to games. Watching it on TV has its perks, but there's nothing like being there.. maybe that's just me..

its no longer football?

its not allowed to be biggest baddest bullys win. its political correctness and 100 million dollar contracts to people not even starting.

its like sherman hogties jones and no flag. its the same few teams allowed to win because of some fantom flag. its somehow a fluke that our owner was an owner of the steelers.

after 911 the patriots win. after hurricane katrina the saints win. is it really football anymore?

I live an hour and a half away also, and there's no way I'd ever be able to do a game for 80 dollars for 2 people. Parking is 10 or more anywhere I've parked. What food did you get for 10?....Beers alone were 8 dollars the last game I went to. Don't even try and tell me to watch this team without drinking, lol. Tickets were more than 50. I agree, being there is great....but it's not worth it to me to go on a regular basis like I did years ago. Back in the day, we could decide to go the night before.... now there's financial planning involved.

I think #1 and #4 are spot on.

Way too many penalties in todays NFL. You spend 1/3 of your time watching and listeng to some ref.

While the NFL has slowed down, baseball has taken steps to speed up the game. That and baseball is a much cleaner game. The rules have largely remained the same for a century. You also have more parity. The worst teams in baseball have a much better chance of beating the best team then you do in the NFL. If a team gets down 2-3 runs, they still have a shot where in the NFL if you get down 3 scores, you are pretty much done.

Free Agency


Fans no longer get attached to the players like they use to. At one time guys played most of their careers for one team. They stayed with the team for years unless they were cut or traded. Free agency has been good for players, but bad for fans.

in terms of the cost of games, I'm lucky to sit in a loge when I do go ... free food is the best perk.

When I don't sit there, the food is both pricey and bad IMO. Cold nachos/cheese, stale popcorn, old chicken fingers/fries ... just bad food (for 10 times its value)

I am watching less NFL, and am less enthusiastic about what I do watch of it.
We have reached or are at a tipping point for viewers. The number of rules changes is rife. Yearly. And I still don't think anything but a coin toss is needed to decide what is a catch (ridiculous definitions, and can include actions after the event and even outside the field of play) and pass interference. Games are being swung or wins jeopardized when refs get really busy in the 4th quarter. The later in that quarter, the more impact it may have potentially. National Flag-toss League. I was taught that they are never an excuse, but the holding calls and such that are ignored bother me. The inconsistency is maddening. I also personally hate "Celebrity Ball" as well. NFL has moved from SI type of coverage to People magazine type garbage. I watch for sports competition, period. Spare me the social work and social engineering and opining and second guessing that is not sports coverage. I am equally worn out with large numbers of has-beens and nevers who stand or sit around and jaw at each other. Flavor of the Day lovefest for overkill coverage, names over games. Cover teams. Our priorities are wrong. Fans are not liking it. WE have overmanaged The Game with people who should know, but don't, when to leave The Game alone, but don't.

lol'd hard, so true. ESPN has turned into the Social Justice Warrior network.

Just last night after baseball I considered tuning into to some sports. Saw "His and Hers" was on, turned my TV off and went to bed.

His and Hers is incredibly unwatchable for me. Whenever ESPN gets into race discussion, I turn the channel. Not because I'm white and racist, but because I don't want to think about that stuff when tuning into ESPN.

Jemele Hill, Michael Smith, Cari Champion, etc seem to bring everything back to racial inequality. Just not my cup of tea.

I can have discussions on it, I can discuss opinions in great depth.....when I want to.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I see Jermell Hill it's a race ware debate. I can't even stand her face anymore because it reminds me of her constant harping. If she is on Mike and Mike in the mornings, I am not listening to Mike and Mike that morning.

ESPN is owned by Disney, extreme liberalism is not surprising, it's just annoying when I want to watch sports.

Jemele Hill is horrible. She's more annoying than Skip Bayless. At least Skip had a quirky crazy uncle charm about him. Jemele is just loud and annoying.

Also have to give props to the MLB and NBA. They are smart and have looked to expand globally. The NBA is killing it in China and Europe. Everybody knows about MLBs effort to expand in Central and South America. The NFL is going at a snails pace trying to expand in Europe.

Not sure who I despise more....Jemele Hill or Tony Rizzo.

Jemele.

Not even close. Depends on how much you watch TV vs listen to radio.