It's an interesting look at how ratings for live sports — the NFL in particular — are way down, and some of the reasons being speculated about.
I found this one in particular fascinating:
'And some of the season’s early matchups have been uncompetitive or underwhelming. “Sports at the end of the day is a narrative. You can’t create it. It’s organic,” said Neil Macker, an entertainment analyst for Morningstar, an investment research firm. “If you don’t have those compelling story lines, people aren’t going to take the time to watch.”'
Sooooo … live sports are simply a subset of Reality TV? Makes sense — you have some modicum of competition, but increasing amounts of time are invested in the "narrative" and "compelling story lines" — Will athlete X recover from his injury last week? How are his children doing, and how is he hiding the pain from them? And how does he feel about the trash talking athlete Y did about him on Monday? Will he retire this after the season, or will he be traded away? Stay tuned!
Yeah, that's the kind of crap that's ruined coverage of the Olympics, and I certainly see more and more of it in professional sports. Perhaps that's a reason for ratings going down, rather of being what the NFL lacks to keep ratings up. Just saying …
NFL ratings plunge could spell doom for traditional TV
A continued slide, executives say, could pose an even bigger danger: If football can’t survive the new age of TV, what can?
If Howard Cosell were to rise from the grave, he would disagree with you – to a point.
Cosell maintained that the success of Monday Night Football was because he, unlike the jocks (Gifford and Meredith), would talk about more than X's and O's. Rather than concentrating on what happened in the last play, Cosell would attempt to weave a storyline, in which something in the fourth quarter could affect the first quarter.
Then again, I'm not sure how Cosell would react to the way that the game is promoted today.
Regarding NFL ratings, I doubt that the problem has to do with Colin Kaepernick or any of that. I think that our entertainment choices are just continuing to fragment. In the 1980s, it was the proliferation of cable networks. Today, it's things outside of traditional television itself.
If everyone gives up on sportsball, the economy is finished!
+John E. Bredehoft Like all things, it's probably a matter of balance. I don't want, for example, all Olympic competitors to wear masks, or football players to lack numbers and names and just be Xs and Os.On the other hand, I do want the focus to be on the sport and the competition.
Of course, I'm in a zillion different ways not the market that professional sports is looking for.
Hate the NBC Olympics for that very reason. I just want a live feed, basic commentary and that's all.
Get rid of the players that disrespect the National Anthem and our country and do it publicly and see how fast the ratings go up…
+Roy Savell Are you suggesting there is a significant boycott of NFL TV coverage because some football players are "kneeling out" the National Anthem?
+Stan Pedzick – have you ever read Dave Barry's column on the 1996 Olympics? http://www.davebarry.com/misccol/olympicskerristrug.htm
+John E. Bredehoft oh my yes, back in '96. I agree fully and laugh in a painful way because it's true.
I quit watching all sports over 25 years ago when it became more about entertainment and money that love of the game. The strikes, poor role models and exorbitant salaries at all levels ruined it for me. I just found other choices that were more "entertaining "!
Player's start doing there job and not disrespect the very thing that gives them the freedom to do so and I will start watching again. And so will many many others.
+mike fennell Again, are you saying that there is a significant boycott of the NFL TV coverage because some football players are "kneeling out" the National Anthem?
And is standing at attention for the anthem actually "their job"?
I believe there is that's reason I will not watch. I through on a game to get away from the everyday life of work and political crap. They have a right to protest and a right to there issues but on the sidelines of America greatest past time to disrespect the flag and anthem that men and women have died protecting so that they have a right to do something like this …. it's not ethical and it's not the platform for such a protest. And to answer your question there job is not to stand at attention. There job that they are getting paid millions of dollars is to come out and play ball. Standing at attention is there moral duty to honor the the nation that allows people of all color to succeed such as they have. Only to protest against the flag and anthem saying they are oppressed while getting million s of dollars doing it. It's disrespectful and morally wrong. So until I it stops I and I know many others that will not watch even though my team has yet to show such disregard.
+mike fennell So it's not not their job to stand at attention, but to go out and play ball. So why have the national anthem there in the first place? Few of the rest of us start our day with a rendition of the national anthem.
You argue instead that it is their moral duty to do so, though you also note they have a right to disagree.
So I'm not sure what you're looking for here. They are exercising their Constitutional rights to protest, and it's not part of their job. The introduction of "political crap" seems to be (from their perspective, at least) the playing of the national anthem itself.
(Suggesting that they are personally successful and therefore have no moral or practical standing in protesting against the treatment of people of color in the US is silly. It ignores what experiences they had prior to their success, what experiences they may be having off the field, or the experiences of friends and family, or even just of people they see on television. There are any number of causes I believe in even though have not been directly affected by them; world hunger, for example.)
As to the moral duty, I doubt anyone has died to protect the national anthem. To the extent that they have died in service of the flag, it has been to the principles they felt the flag embodied, from a representation of their homeland to the political principles of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." For other people to believe that the flag represents other, less wholesome aspects of our society is not disrespectful of those sacrifices, but is in taking action to protest it, actually in keeping with why those sacrifices were made.
Ignorance must be bliss. You asked why I am not watching. I gave you my answer. Find someone else to argue with. Nothing I say will change your views and visa versa. Have a wonderful day.
While trying to find an authoritative study on the reasons for the decline (there isn't any), something occurred to me. Since there is now a football team in the Los Angeles major market, and since they're not terrible, one would expect a ratings boost. It's probably worrying NFL officials to know that they finally got a team in LA…and ratings are STILL going down.
+John E. Bredehoft Given the number of folk I know in LA who were utterly non-fanatical about bringing a team there, it's not all that surprising.