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| The new NFL logo went into use at the 2008 draft. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
It has become apparent that fewer of us are spending our Sundays (and Mondays and Thursdays) plopped down in front of our big (and little) screens to watch NFL football. It still dominates the TV ratings, but not as much as it used to. Everybody seems to have a theory about why that is, but there's no real consensus for what to do about it that won't hurt the league's bottom line. We don't either, but we can list some of those theories.
Thursdays Years ago, football on Thursdays used to be restricted to Thanksgiving Day with games in Detroit and Dallas. Now they're on every week, mainly to give the league-owned NFL Network an excuse to show live games. Then NBC and CBS were brought in to increase exposure and prestige. Nobody likes these games--not the players, coaches and fans--because it means having less time to prepare, and the quality suffers as a result. But people are watching, so . . .
London Calling It's no big secret that the NFL wants to someday put a franchise in a country where the other kind of football is king, and that they also want to place their footprint in other parts of the world. But asking American TV viewers to get up as early as 9:30 a.m. in the East (6:30 in the West) to watch a game live from across the pond between two mediocre teams is a bit much. There's a reason why people sleep in on Sunday mornings.
Commercials The networks (NBC, CBS, ESPN and Fox) pay billions of dollars per year for the privilege of showing NFL games, and so do sponsors who want to be the official this-or-that of the league. So where do you put the commercial spots? Before and after kickoffs, time outs, quarter breaks, change of possession, replay reviews, punts, injury time outs, two minute warnings for each half . . . It goes on. So what's the alternative? Since the NFL is unlikely to part with all that money, we can look forward to ads on jerseys and/or virtual ads on the field of play. There's no getting away from a word from our sponsors.
Replays and Officiating Ever seen an exciting run for a touchdown or a great catch nullified by penalties, or a replay showing that the player stepped out of bounds someplace? Or the disproportionate amount of yellow flags thrown at certain players (usually black) who refuse to "act like they've been there before"? Yes, it's important to get the call right (and the vast majority of those are usually confirmed by the replay), but they also tend to suck the life out of a close game.
The Election and The Cubs You would think that, during the most bizarre presidential campaign in memory, people would be using the NFL as an escape from having to watch another Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump attack ad--especially for those living in battleground states. You would be wrong. Also, Major League Baseball had its best post-season TV ratings in years due to the presence of the Chicago Cubs, winning the World Series for the first time since before most of us were born.
Rally Round the Flag, Boys and Girls Some folks who seem to love America more than you do have been boycotting NFL games because Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers and others gained attention for taking a knee during "The Star Spangled Banner", protesting the treatment of African-American men by police. Which is ridiculous, because TV networks usually go to a commercial while the anthem is played. Could it also be that the NFL is losing viewers because they don't want to watch propaganda for the military, and for breast cancer research? They just want to watch football. Oh, we should mention that Kaepernick didn't vote in the election, which is a statement in itself.
New Tech As the devices for watching games gets smaller, so do the number of cable subscribers to sports networks like ESPN. The NFL has responded by streaming some of their games on social media and other platforms, but the numbers are iffy at best.
Concussions Now that we know more about the health risks of getting your bell rung, it is no longer appropriate to celebrate a colossal hit on another player with their helmets on. We're getting used to players taken out of the game after they've been hit to go through what's become known as the "concussion protocol". Unless the NFL is really serious about the safety of its players, the future of the game depends on (to paraphrase a country song) mamas letting their babies grow up to play football.
Then there's the retirement and/or suspensions of stars like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, players who can't seem to stay out of trouble, and the leadership (or something like it) of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Come to think of it, this isn't just a list of why we're not watching the NFL. We've also created a partial list of what's wrong with the league itself. It's up to them to make it right to the players and fans, for otherwise it will affect their bottom line and all the TV money in the world won't save them.
