NFL Viewing is down 7.5%. Do you watch the Bengals as Much? Causes of this?

[McC]

(10-18-2017, 09:38 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: One obvious factor for the decline is the protests of players not standing for the national anthem. But, if you look closer there are other causes:

1 ) Offensive line play appears horrible round the league.
2 ) There appear to be no dominant teams. There aren't really many teams I'd consider good.
3 ) I've read speculation that the slotted rookie contracts in the CBA have made teams top heavy and cut out the middle. Why would teams pay a guy $3-4 million when they could draft a rookie and pay him $400k?
4 ) QB play in the league appears down
5 ) Rules appear to be called inconsistently

Any other things you notice? Thoughts?


http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21056998/nfl-ratings-75-percent-week-6-2017-compared-2016

Officiating has to be a big culprit.  Add the protests, there's your seven and a half.

[TheUberHuber]

My biggest deal is the NFL not recognizing brain damage issues and trying to get out of paying health benefits. Watching that documentary made me sick. Meanwhile let's pay Goodell 40 million for....... what exactly??

[grampahol]

(10-18-2017, 01:27 PM)sandwedge Wrote: It's just to slow anymore. You could basically watch the 1st inning, go mow the lawn and then go to the movies and make it home to watch to watch the last 2 innings. Maybe a little to much but you get my point!  
My dad always said about the NBA, "Give the teams 100 points and play the last 5 minutes".....

Yeah, but give baseball fans some credit. They don't sit through two or three hours in the rain to watch and damned sure won't sit out there when it's 10 below zero outside.. Football fans on the other hand...ehhhh...

[sandwedge]

(10-18-2017, 05:25 PM)grampahol Wrote: Yeah, but give baseball fans some credit. They don't sit through two or three hours in the rain to watch and damned sure won't sit out there when it's 10 below zero outside.. Football fans on the other hand...ehhhh...

I'm sure if they played in the rain or cold, the hardy fans would sit there and watch..

[*Nately120*]

(10-18-2017, 05:03 PM)TheUberHuber Wrote: Meanwhile let's pay Goodell 40 million for....... what exactly??

I'd wager Goodell is employed by the NFL because he makes the  NFL lots of money.  It's possible there is a more detailed explanation than that, but I wouldn't bet my left testicle on it.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

It's not the protests
It's not the commissioner
It's not the players
It's not the refs
It's not the internet
It's not the network
It's not favoritism

It's all of those but the biggest problem that's driving fans away is the product on the field.

[packerbacker]

I get rid of my Cable TV after the Superbowl. I did last year and didn't get it hooked back up till September after week 1. It saves a lot of money for one and there is zilch on in the Summer time. Now the NFL viewing might be down even more with Aaron Rodgers out.

[*bengalfan74*]

Many good posts in here and  put me in with all the guys saying penalties, they're making the game very hard to watch.

But another big thing for me is 26 years of Mike Brown has wore me down to barely hanging on. 15 years of Marvin Lewis has all but broke me. I'm not sure what the final straw will be but I can say without reservation I'm very close to pulling the plug.

I was a giant baseball fan, don't watch it anymore. I was a NASCAR nut, haven't watched 5 minutes of NASCAR in last 10 or 12 years.

It's hard to imagine my post NFL life but if Marvin is reupped it's just around the corner.

[packerbacker]

Also checking Facebook Sundays and I see some of the biggest NFL fans I know that I graduated HS with or work with and some are Golfing, doing Fall Color tours or just doing other things because of all the protests.

[sandwedge]

(10-18-2017, 06:16 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Many good posts in here and  put me in with all the guys saying penalties, they're making the game very hard to watch.

But another big thing for me is 26 years of Mike Brown has wore me down to barely hanging on. 15 years of Marvin Lewis has all but broke me. I'm not sure what the final straw will be but I can say without reservation I'm very close to pulling the plug.

I was a giant baseball fan, don't watch it anymore. I was a NASCAR nut, haven't watched 5 minutes of NASCAR in last 10 or 12 years.

It's hard to imagine my post NFL life but if Marvin is reupped it's just around the corner.

I actually think you have hit on something there. I really don't watch to much anymore period. I was a sports junkie you might say but anymore I can't watch the whole thing unless it OSU or the Bengals. Nascar, NBA, Baseball I watched. Hell golf I just can't get through the whole show. Maybe it's just us??

[HarleyDog]

I havent stopped watching. Its free to me and I'm not donating any money through cable. I aint buying any NFL shit neither. Plus, It's my fuggin Bengals. Their like cigarettes. You know their going to end up killing you in the end, but their addicting.

[Yojimbo]

(10-18-2017, 02:13 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I thought it was illegal to stream an NFL game without NFL consent so if I am correct, they can calculate streaming thus accounting for it.

I cancelled the NFL ticket. I DVR'd channel 701 (4 games at a time) and channel 702 (8 games at a time) + all local games. Since I cancelled the ticket, I only watch one early and lone late game at most. I quit watching Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights also so I watch a whole lot less due to disrespecting our flag and our country. Find another way to protest (which is your right), but my right to watch you less when I disagree with your actions.

If you ever tried the streaming option, you would see these streams aren’t coming from inside the U.S. where those laws apply. Most of the streams I’ve watched are from either a Canadian or UK channel.

The way ratings are tracked are outdated and archaic. Technology has passed Nielsen by. They only include Hulu and YouTube in their ratings.

https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/tv-and-culture/online-streaming-affect-tv-ratings.htm

This article only mentions legal streaming. As far as I know there is no way to track pirated streaming.

[*Awful Llama*]

Nope, still watching on tv and going to games, and will continue to do so. The Bengals are like that tv show you've loved for so many years: even if the current season is subpar, you still want to see how it ends. I'll be there on Christmas Eve even if we're 6-8 and Mike plans on kneeling during the anthem while wearing only a hot pink thong. Now, if Katie does that, Imma need to reconsider.

[RoyleRedlegs]

(10-18-2017, 04:09 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 1. People did not hate Paul Tagliabue like they do Goodell. If you want to blame social media or the internet, then I would respond by saying that people don't hate Rob Manfred or Adam Silver. It's a Goodell thing, and a Goodell thing only. People have legitimate gripes with the man.

2. Specifically, rule changes being far more frequent and drastic under his watch, the witch hunts for New Orleans, Brady, Burfict, etc, how he handled the Ray Rice situation, how he handled Josh Brown, his inconsistencies in player discipline...which seem completely arbitrary, and clown show stuff like this:


Are just some of the long list of reasons people hate Goodell. Sure, he's just "doing his job", but for some reason he runs things in a much more controversial manner than his predecessor.

1.  Manfred and Silver aren't doing as well. Baseball is on the decline as a whole. People just don't care as much. NBA is all about the players so the owners/Commish have no real power. The power dynamic is insane. 

2. He'd be much better off to just basically ignore it like NBA does/did? MLB? Rule changes...Silver and Manfred won't win any rule changes awards either. And MOST of the rules are good changes aimed for player safety or improving the game. Moving the FG back? Good. Moving touchbacks up? Good. The what is a catch BS is not his fault and there's no way to handle it well. 

You can't list how he handled Ray Rice when dudes were literally getting off of murder charges under Tagliabue and still playing and then "wonder" if social media may or may not have played a role. Come on. 

[CJ2etc]

Buddy and I have season tickets - 3 club level seats.  We served together in Desert Storm.  The CK thing was bothering us but it was one stupid, ignorant spoiled brat.  Then another joined, and another, and it just isn't something we can ignore anymore.  We always tell the story of how we woke up in the desert in January of 1991 at 2am and listened to the win on shortwave armed forces radio. Anthem and flag are sacred to us and I know quite a few others who feel the same way.  We haven't attended a home game since and haven't watched them on TV either.  We were huge NFL fans and when we weren't at the Bengals games we were texting with each other and a few other veteran friends for the other Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games.  We are done, we won't be renewing and we were talking earlier today about it - the bond is gone, the passion we felt has been replaced by a sense of betrayal.  It's one of those things that if you haven't experienced what those symbols mean to people like us you just can't understand it.  Too many have lost too much and that is the time we reflect and pay respect to those who paid the ultimate price. The older I get the more sentimental I get when I hear the anthem and I always start running through my mental list of those I served with who are no longer with us.  And to take a knee or disrespect that 2 minutes is just not something we are not only willing to ignore, but to pay money to participate in.  Just can't do it and I assure you there are a lot of us out here.  The NFL will never get people like us back.  Ironic that these people protest the police while surrounded and escorted on and off the field by police.

[StoneTheCrow]

Every game pretty much sucks unless you have a rooting interest like I do. Gambling, fantasy. Even still, they mostly suck.

Choppy, constantly interrupted, penalty-ridden 5 yard check down pass at a time slop.

[JonasNJ]

For me, i cannot watch NFL anymore. Except a few ways that NFL is not happy about.

Why?
Well, i live in Denmark and have selected not to have cable TV.

For many years, that has been great, living with Netflix, HBO etc. and for NFL Gamepass.

Now NFL decided to subcontract the gamepass to another company, which to be honest - Should not have taken this task.
During the first few weeks, of launching the new Gamepass, it was clarly not any good. Almost un-useable.

That combined with an price increase, again for 3 or 4 years in a row. It was approx 200$ and now is almost 300$.
That was it.

So i cancelled my Gamepass subscription, and since i have no cable and cannot attend live games. Well, i only have illegal ways left for watching NFL.

I think this failure to Gamepass, is a big part of the NFL problem.


Fun fact -
Illegal ways of watching NFL, is actually better than their new Gamepass.
NFL have already accepted the Gamepass is shit, and opted to payback 20% of the subscription, to all customers (after 5 weeks) and issues still not solved.

[falsestart]

Ok I'll take a crack at this. A lot of good responses. I like the number system so I think I will try that.

1. Cost - People simply don't want to pay the cost to watch games at home. I believe most fans love and care about their favorite teams much like us Bengal fans. If your lucky enough to live in the viewing area, you don't pay anything to see the games. If your a savy tech and can find illegal streams more power to ya. I still do it the old fashioned way, pay for it. Unfortunately I live in northern Ohio and can only watch the Browns and Lions on a weekly basis so I purchase the Sunday ticket. The cost is outrageous and will probably be my last year getting it. I can just go down to my local sports bar and watch all the games there. A lot of people don't want tv packages that carry NFL Network or ESPN anymore because of cost. Internet vs Television. Winner Internet.

2. Fantasy Football Effect - A lot of new football fans are more interested in just stats and not so much the game. As the fan bases get older the true fans are falling by the wayside. With all that's going on with CTE and other injuries involved with the sport, the young fans passion for the sport just isn't what it was years ago. Parents of kids and the kids themselves get more involved in other sports or activities at a young age leaving football with less true fans. The kids play fantasy football when they get older as a way to be involved and enjoy a form of gaming with friends or playing for money. The die hard TEAM fans are not what they once were. Everyone just wants to know what my PLAYER did.

3. Rules and Regulations - For some of the fans that's been watching the NFL for decades, we have had the luxury of seeing the game evolve into what we have today. WWE style entertainment. The game has become much more physical, as has the NBA, which has happened for a reason. Sure athletes today are physical freaks running faster, being stronger and more agile than ever but the game itself is so much more physical. It's gotten to the point where three penalties in a football game could really be called on every play. Holding, Pass Interference and Defensive holding or illegal contact. These three penalties control many outcomes of football games much like the foul call in the NBA. Years ago these penalties were called tighter leaving the game less physical and easy to recognize. Now these penalties happen on a regular basis and are left up to an individual to decide when and where they will be called. When the game is played at such a physical pace having the penalty call or no call can be used to control pace or outcome of games. Fans recognize this and some have been so turned off that they have just decided to quit watching NFL football. I do believe the college games are called a lot tighter with some different rules. I actually think the one penalty in college that should be adopted in the NFL is the targeting rule. I know fans of college football hate this but I think it should be implemented in the NFL. Fines and suspensions just don't seem to work for some players and this rule could actually make sense to curb some of these hits. Imagine half the Steelers being ejected for targeting every week. LOL

4. Protests & Kneeling - What started out as a protest by one person, who really has been banished from the league, needs to go to the next level. The President tweeted about kneeling players and fired up an issue with a lot of people about disrespecting the flag. This led to a firestorm of protest by players and owners kneeling, wrapped arm and arm or raising a fist. Me personally I feel that this needs to be worked out from both ends. The President should invite the commish, some owners and some kneeling players to the white house and listen to each others grievences. Let their voices be heard and move on from these anthem protest. Football is as american as we can get and is a wonderful thing for our country and fans. The sooner we can end this controversy the sooner we can get back to enjoying the sport without the politics.

I could probably go on with a few more but I think I gave my opinion on maybe some of the reasons that could be causing viewership drop off. So in closing!

WHO DEY!!!!!

[Socal Bengals fan]

im in law enforcement 12 years n counting. most of my peers are boycotting the NFL. the socks n support of the pos was to much. i still watch the Bengals n pay for the ticket but refuse to watch ESPN.

[The Caped Crusader]

I refuse to pay for Cable. Watch with my Dad at the house. Easier that way. I don’t know many people with cable either. I believe numbers are inflated and are painting a story that isn’t the case.