JACKSONVILLE,
FL – SEPTEMBER 25: Hayes Pullard #52 of the Jacksonville aJaguars nd
Dante Fowler #56 raise their fists in protest during the singing of the
national anthem before the game
against the Baltimore Ravens (Photo by
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)A headline for a story in the Sporting News this morning: “Shock poll: A third of NFL TV viewers boycotting games because of Colin Kaepernick-led protests.”
Shock? Why?
The Sporting News article says “Nearly one-third (32 percent) of adults say they’re less likely to watch NFL game telecasts because of the Kaepernick-led player protests against racial injustice, according to Rasmussen’s telephone/online survey of 1,000 American adults conducted Oct. 2-3. Only 13 percent said they were more likely to watch an NFL game because of continuing protests by Kaepernick and supporters such as Antonio Cromartie of the Colts (who was cut only two days after raising a fist during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in London on Sunday).”
Also on Forbes:
Three weeks ago I wrote that “the national anthem protests that began with San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and has since been copied by other players have angered many fans. And that anger may be one reason why the television ratings for the first week of NFL games were bad.” As my colleague, Brandon Katz wrote: “Both CBS’ Sunday afternoon game and NBC’s Sunday Night Football saw their lowest ratings in seven years. Throw in last night’s lackluster debut and the 2016 NFL season is off to its slowest start in recent memory in terms of TV ratings.”
Two weeks ago I wrote ”it is starting to look like disrespecting the country during the national anthem is accomplishing what the concussions, domestic violence and deflategate could not do–drive down television ratings for the National Football League. Through two weeks of football the NFL’s television ratings are down across the board. The drop in ratings and viewership is unprecedented in recent years and has occurred during the protest of the national anthem, started by San Francisco 49ers backup QB Colin Kaepernick. Just last year some opined that the league’s ratings had no ceiling. That appears to be false.”
Recommended by Forbes
And last week I explained that “there can be no more excuses for the bad ratings, like the one offered by Billie Gold, vice president and director of programming research at Amplifi, the global buying arm of media company the Dentsu Aegis Network, who said it’s (the bad NFL tv ratings) the lack of big games and prominent names that have sacked the league the past two weeks. Nonsense. Something more visceral is causing ratings to fall. My opinion: Fans are ticked about the players protesting the national anthem.”
This morning it was confirmed by the fact that through four weeks, good games and bad, games with marquee quarterbacks and big markets, ratings are way down this year.
This poll is predictable, not shocking. Who will ultimately pay if the ratings continue to sink? The players and owners.
The National Football League will rake in roughly $4.6 billion in television fees from CBS CBS +1.85%, Walt Disney-owned ESPN , Comcast-owned NBC, Fox and DirecTV that it will equally share with its 32 teams this year. The NFL commands such a rich bounty because advertisers pay up for football’s huge ratings.
The television money is a big reason why the average NFL team is worth $2.34 billion and the average NFL player earns $2.1 million.
The networks that televise the games barely mention the protests anymore. But the fans have not forgotten.
EmoticonEmoticon