The NFL's ratings crisis

Or in my house... how much time your dad gambles on football influences how and how much you watch football. As my teenage son well knows.

 

I wonder what fantasy football participation rates are? Maybe that novelty has worn off, and it's affecting ratings of games.

I also wonder how much Chicsgo ratings are down right now for the NFL. The Bears are irrelevant and the Cubs are appointment viewing.

 

I don't know about fantasy football participation rates, but the thing about that game is that you can play in it, and be emotionally involved and stay up to the second on your team without watching TV at all. Just use your smartphone. I bet there are any number of folks who've made that switch.

 

I remember when we all made fun of the "Moneyball" revelation that Billy Beane didn't actually watch the games except on his little device.

 

As the refs became more a part of the broadcasts, my interest lessened.

 

Yep. Smartphones are changing everything. And demographics (millennials) who prefer doing / experiencing things.

Why waste 3 to 4 hours of your life watching something from beginning to end, either at the stadium or on TV, when you can quickly monitor the league scoreboard from your phone, check finals, and maybe watch one or two key plays that made the difference?

In the meantime, I can get a good walk or bike in, or a meal, or just go to a bar and be near women.

 

I like to think of the NFL as the last of the old line network hit shows of the pre-cable era. And it is now suffering from one of the problems that indicates when such a hit is losing steam. Too many spinoffs.

 

ESPN doesn't exactly help with the over saturation either. They've got some conferences playing games on Tuesdays. So you've got some form of football on every day of the week, and all the yapping talking puking heads filling a lot of the other airtime. Like Stephen Fucking A. Just UGH. Unwatchable. And some of the athletes in the studio - smh. When ESPN brought in Ray Lewis - yeah, that was going to go well... Not.

Add in the moronic antics, showboating, etc. and it's a big turn off.

And the money of it all - down to shoe and apparel companies, to weekly uniforms in the pros and college, just sickens me. And the NC$$ - one big hypocrisy.

 

Lack of compelling games in prime time doesn't help much. Sunday night you had the Colts, who are nothing special with Luck struggling, and the Texans, who may have the smallest fan base outside of Jacksonville.

A week from Sunday night will be the Eagles at Cowboys. That game will tell the ratings tale.

 

The over saturation is a good point. Games just aren't special any more.

Monday Night Football was destination TV in the 70s and 80s because we only saw two or three games on Sunday and there weren't all the highlight shows. That made Chiefs-Oilers something we looked forward to.

Now, as others have written, it's 24/7 NFL.

 

Crappy Canadian teams haven't helped.

 

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?! Uh, not so much.

From personal experience, 15 years ago I would watch most any NFL game on Sunday and be entertained. But now it's rare that I watch any game other than the Chiefs, and even during that game I might be doing laundry or reading.

Part of that is getting older, getting married and having two young girls who need interaction with their father that doesn't involve getting him another beer while he watches a meaningless game. (For the record, I don't have my kids get me another beer.)

Another part that has decreased my interest is the Sunday night game. It's too much. I haven't watched a whole Sunday night game in years and years. I'll maybe flip over during commercials to check the score, but that's about it, and the chances of getting live action so I can see the score are about 50/50 with all the commercials during an NFL game. It's just not worth my time to invest in games I don't care about.