The NFL's ratings crisis

My guess is the network filled or the local stations. When I was out in Los Angeles in 2002, the NCAA tournament final was done around 8:30 or so. CBS put on repeats of Everybody Loves Raymond and a couple other shows.

 

Pretty much all local programming.

 

It seems the NYT reads this thread ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/s...in-nfl-and-epl-a-blip-or-something-worse.html

 

Between this and exposing Trump's cheating at golf, we are impacting the world. Just think of what would happen if we still had a college football poll.

 

I've long said that a good way to raise ratings is to get rid of the rotating NFL schedule and to foster regional rivalries by having teams like the Jets/Giants, 49ers/Raiders, Pats/Giants, Texans/Cowboys play each other every year. Nobody gives a damn to see the Patriots play the Lions every four years. Just look at this week's matchups:
Jax/Tenn -- fine, divisional matchup, will probably set new record for lowest rated TNF ever
Wash/Cin -- in London. I like these games in London, but I'm on the east coast and would be pissed if I weren't. Still, this game has no rivalry aspect to it. It's just another game.
NE/Buffalo -- great matchup. Divisional AND regional rivalry with the Rex factor.
Det/Houston -- yawn. Two teams that should only meet in the Super Bowl...
KC/Indy -- fine matchup between longtime AFC rivals.
Sea/NO -- great intraconference matchup between great defense and good offense.
Oak-Tampa -- yawn. They made for a shitty Super Bowl, too.
SD-Den -- great game.
GB-Atl -- fine, the Brett Favre Bowl.
Philly-Dallas -- awesome.
Minn-Chicago -- another shit MN game. Why the hell were the Bears three primetime games this year? No one expected them to be good. By the way, ya wanna know why the MNF ratings suck? There are almost NO divisional matchups. Of the 17 games scheduled, only 4 -- four! -- are between divisional opponents. Rams/Niners (week one); Falcons/Saints (week 3); Panthers/Bucs (week 5); and this week, Vikings/Bears. The rest of the Monday schedule is below.

I mean, I know it's tough to predict who is good from one year to the next, but divisional games are always more important, even if a team is down and one team is up. Contrast that with SNF and TNF:

SNF: 8 divisional matchup.
TNF: 13!
MNF: 4.

Whoever was running point on picking the games for ESPN/ABC should get fired.

 

MNF has gotten scraps for years since SNF started and the league wanted the latter to be the featured game.

 

Most years, there was something interesting in roughly 75% of the NFL teams. This year, the interesting teams are about half that. Ergo, these primetime schedules look like garbage.

 

The schedule rotation is a good idea and ought to be retained. It's based on a principle that every team is bound to play in every other city at least once in an eight-year span. So if you're a Bills fan in Seattle or you really want to see Tom Brady, you're never totally out of luck.

The problem with a 'permanent rival' system is that the lumps you put in the system create problems in other places. Let's take a look at MLB, which employs the same system. It works great for Yankees/Mets or Cubs/White Sox, etc. However, if you're a team that has no NL team in proximity (like Detroit) or whose 'rival' is in the same league (i.e. Pittsburgh), you get stuck with six Tigers-Pirates games a year that no one particularly gives a shit about. (Detroit has also been stuck with dumb interleague games against Arizona and Colorado for the same reason). Growing up in the Upper Peninsula, the closest MLB ballpark to my house was Miller Park in Milwaukee, but since the Brewers moved to the NL in 1998, screw that. Detroit has played in Miller Park exactly once (2006) since Miller Park opened in 2001 (they've played in Detroit three times, including Justin Verlander's first no-hitter and a series in 2015), and they don't next year either because the AL Central plays the NL West. This year was the first time the Padres had EVER played in Toronto.

I haven't read it in a long time, but "These Guys Have All the Fun," the oral history of ESPN, explains exactly how NBC ripped the good primetime games out from under them. A good book or useful website could probably be written on the intracacies of the NFL TV schedule.

 

Who cares? It's a TV world now. Fans would much rather see annual rivalry games (Raiders-49ers, Giants-Jets, Cowboys-Texans) than the Broncos' trip to Tampa Bay once every eight years.

 

I'm sure by now, either Huggy or slappy would be a member of college football playoff pickin' committee.

 

The schedule is not the problem. Look at the games in CD's post. Half of them have playoff teams from last year in them. The problem is that by Monday night people have watched enough fucking football for one weekend.