ESPN may drop NFL

[*Nately120*]

(11-01-2017, 06:26 PM)Derrick Wrote: Got the humor, but I bet you can't make a cogent argument of your own while lip-syncing MSNBC or CNN that President Trump is not a good president.
Now, back to the real story........................................

Oh snap.  I stand corrected (and erected!). Let's be honest though, patriotism is recognizing that all our presidents are great.

[Shake n Blake]

(10-31-2017, 03:23 PM)Jakeypoo Wrote: It's not like either of those teams were doing well in their previous city. 

Yeah but when you move a team to a new city, it's supposed to get better, not worse. 

I've seen at least 10 cities get new teams over the last 20+ years, and there's always been a honeymoon period where those cities were ecstatic just to have NFL football.

LA reacted with a collective "meh".

[PikesPeakUC]

I think there are multiple factors going on here as to the decline of ratings. Cord cutting is definitely on the rise. Protests I think are a part, but a small one. I think the growth of other things to watch hasn't helped either.

One thing I think that has really led to a decline is that there is a lot of bad pro football right now, and I'm not necessarily talking about teams, but more stylistically. Teams are beginning to be less prone to making mistakes down the field, so a lot of teams have turned into checkdown mania. 3 yard run, 3 yard run, 4 yard pass, rinse repeat. Aesthetically, it's hard to watch sometimes, let alone if you don't have a rooting interest.

I saw someone pitch an idea with MLB Network where you could possibly sign up for MLB.TV and choose what team you watch instead of paying for a full package of everything. I wonder how something like that could work for the NFL, where you might purchase certain packages that will give you your team and a few others.

[J24]

(11-01-2017, 10:22 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Yeah but when you move a team to a new city, it's supposed to get better, not worse. 

I've seen at least 10 cities get new teams over the last 20+ years, and there's always been a honeymoon period where those cities were ecstatic just to have NFL football.

LA reacted with a collective "meh".

Are they? The Rams are averaging 73,000 people to their games according to ESPN. I didn't like the move either but the NFL isn't hurting because of it.

[*jason*]

Yawn... If you don't like ESPN, the NFL, or the Bengals, then don't watch. The grandstanding and "oh we're really sticking it to them" was cute for a few days. It's gotten boring.

[*Nately120*]

(11-02-2017, 04:03 PM)jason Wrote: Yawn... If you don't like ESPN, the NFL, or the Bengals, then don't watch. The grandstanding and "oh we're really sticking it to them" was cute for a few days. It's gotten boring.

I gotta tell ya it's almost amusing.  I was living in Chicago and I was on the dating scene a few years ago and the number of ultraliberal women I'd come across who thought I was some sort of cro-magnon for liking the patriarchal, concussion-denying, woman-beating NFL was staggering.  Now I live in a rural area and a bunch of old right wing men act like I'm a firebrand commie who hates america because I like the NFL.  I tells ya, it's wacky.

I'm sure both sides will sit down together and have a hearty laugh when the NFL is dead and buried.  Oh well, at least I won't have to hear Steelers fans attempt to come up with a seven-pun when they win another SB.

[RunKijanaRun]

(11-02-2017, 04:03 PM)jason Wrote: Yawn... If you don't like ESPN, the NFL, or the Bengals, then don't watch. The grandstanding and "oh we're really sticking it to them" was cute for a few days. It's gotten boring.

Looks like photobucket is sticking it to you. Probably a few asians kneeling in front of a mainframe somewhere.

[*jason*]

(11-02-2017, 07:09 PM)RunKijanaRun Wrote: Looks like photobucket is sticking it to you. Probably a few asians kneeling in front of a mainframe somewhere.

That's the way I like 'em.

[*Awful Llama*]

(11-02-2017, 04:03 PM)jason Wrote: Yawn... If you don't like ESPN, the NFL, or the Bengals, then don't watch. The grandstanding and "oh we're really sticking it to them" was cute for a few days. It's gotten boring.

So much this.  Tired of all the "I'm just about ready to quite this league" bullshit.  Just shut up and quit already. 

[grampahol]

I'm absolutely fine with players voicing opinions and could care less about the whole anthem / flag thing.
The players for better or worse should take advantage of their positions to bring things to light that otherwise become stories buried on page 43 if even covered at all.  The so called uproar over protests is nonsense nationalism to drive us all apart using the classic divide and conquer tactic. A lot of people are aware of it, but certain elements of the political and media class will use it to continue to drive us apart and run away with the money while we squabble over non-issues. 
As far as ESPN and the leagues profits?  I could care less unless they decided become benevolent and send all of us a nice fat check every month to share, but that ain't happening. Hey, hold your breath waiting for that! 
Monday night football has always been a crap game tossed out to increase market share, same thing with Thursday night games and all the rest of the NFL's gimmicks like pink items for breast cancer awareness. (Yey..NFL cares about your woman's health) Soon as that becomes reality we can all hold hands and sing happy tunes.. 

[snowy]

ESPN may drop NFL. So what? ESPN is already irrelevant, and the NFL isn't far behind. What's happened to ESPN is pure karma in action for those massive firings a while back.

[BengalHawk62]

Guys-

What in the hell is Mel Kiper Jr. and his boy wonder, Todd McShay going to do on Draft Day now? 

Great Scott!

[Shake n Blake]

(11-02-2017, 07:48 PM)Awful Llama Wrote: So much this.  Tired of all the "I'm just about ready to quite this league" bullshit.  Just shut up and quit already. 

Many already have. That's why ratings are down 18% (from 2015) and major sponsors like Papa John's are speaking out (they're losing $ due to selling less pizza on game days).

Not to mention the topic of this thread...ESPN possibly dropping the NFL.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/nfl-tv-television-ratings-down-numbers-national-anthem-protests/l2x7dhlkuubk1tbeftag9ttis
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21250448/nfl-sponsor-papa-john-not-happy-anthem-protests

[Shake n Blake]

(11-02-2017, 01:58 AM)Jakeypoo Wrote: Are they? The Rams are averaging 73,000 people to their games according to ESPN. I didn't like the move either but the NFL isn't hurting because of it.

http://theramswire.usatoday.com/2017/09/27/nfl-los-angeles-rams-attendance-worst-2017/
https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/9/17/16322710/rams-chargers-attendance-usc-texas

LA has been a flop. When you see the photo's of a half-empty (being conservative) stadium that seats over 90k, it's clear there isn't 73,000 people in those stands. The Chargers have a stadium that seats 27k and haven't even been at full capacity for some of these games.

Sure the NFL isn't hurting now that we can see, but it's a death by 1000 cuts thing. If I owned stock in the NFL, I would've sold a long time ago.

It's clearly on the decline, all things considered.

[*jason*]

(11-03-2017, 01:21 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: http://theramswire.usatoday.com/2017/09/27/nfl-los-angeles-rams-attendance-worst-2017/
https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/9/17/16322710/rams-chargers-attendance-usc-texas

LA has been a flop. When you see the photo's of a half-empty (being conservative) stadium that seats over 90k, it's clear there isn't 73,000 people in those stands. The Chargers have a stadium that seats 27k and haven't even been at full capacity for some of these games.

Sure the NFL isn't hurting now that we can see, but it's a death by 1000 cuts thing. If I owned stock in the NFL, I would've sold a long time ago.

It's clearly on the decline, all things considered.

Agreed.

I think it was you that brought up Mark Cuban's statement from years ago. The NFL has tried to dominate the entire calendar year. They play games on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Saturdays as the season rolls on. They stretch the draft out for days and moved it back to compete with the NHL and NBA Playoffs. It's hit a point of oversaturation. I wonder how bad off it'd be without the gambling ( by far the easiest sport for it), and fantasy football. Personally I wouldn't watch any other teams play without that. Unfortunately the Bengals have drained me to the point that I care more about my fantasy team than them this year.

[Shake n Blake]

(11-03-2017, 01:30 PM)jason Wrote: Agreed.

I think it was you that brought up Mark Cuban's statement from years ago. The NFL has tried to dominate the entire calendar year. They play games on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Saturdays as the season rolls on. They stretch the draft out for days and moved it back to compete with the NHL and NBA Playoffs. It's hit a point of oversaturation. I wonder how bad off it'd be without the gambling ( by far the easiest sport for it), and fantasy football. Personally I wouldn't watch any other teams play without that. Unfortunately the Bengals have drained me to the point that I care more about my fantasy team than them this year.

I think the NFL was primed for a fall for all the reasons you listed, then the protests (mainly politics being infused due to them) was the crowbar that broke the camel's back. People follow sports for an escape. Now we have to hear commentators talk politics after the latest kneel session. Our sports sites look like yahoo news or MSNBC.

[packerbacker]

(11-03-2017, 01:47 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: I think the NFL was primed for a fall for all the reasons you listed, then the protests (mainly politics being infused due to them) was the crowbar that broke the camel's back. People follow sports for an escape. Now we have to hear commentators talk politics after the latest kneel session. Our sports sites look like yahoo news or MSNBC.

Yesterday Stephen A smith or was it earlier in the week he started ranting about politics and how our President is awful. I mean what does that have to do with football? Even the NBA Coach of the Spurs is ranting about our president and politics. He went on a full rampage about Trump which has nothing to do with his preparation for a NBA game or the Spurs in general. I mean I don't watch ESPN much anymore due to Politics. It doesn't matter if I supported Trump or Hillary I don't want to hear about politics in Sports.

[Shake n Blake]

(11-03-2017, 01:54 PM)packerbacker Wrote: Yesterday Stephen A smith or was it earlier in the week he started ranting about politics and how our President is awful. I mean what does that have to do with football? Even the NBA Coach of the Spurs is ranting about our president and politics. He went on a full rampage about Trump which has nothing to do with his preparation for a NBA game or the Spurs in general. I mean I don't watch ESPN much anymore due to Politics. It doesn't matter if I supported Trump or Hillary I don't want to hear about politics in Sports.

I'll throw in the Warriors and their constant political ramblings from Kerr, Curry and Donkey. Or that CBSsports.com and PFT have become glorified left-wing political spin sites, that have at least a half dozen political stories every day. I was reading a story about the Pats signing Brian Hoyer the other day, and the writer (Will Brinson) managed to turn it into a story about Kaepernick. Many people are sick of being told how to think and feel...especially coming from a supposed sports site.

[*Synric*]

(11-03-2017, 01:21 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: http://theramswire.usatoday.com/2017/09/27/nfl-los-angeles-rams-attendance-worst-2017/
https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/9/17/16322710/rams-chargers-attendance-usc-texas

LA has been a flop. When you see the photo's of a half-empty (being conservative) stadium that seats over 90k, it's clear there isn't 73,000 people in those stands. The Chargers have a stadium that seats 27k and haven't even been at full capacity for some of these games.

Sure the NFL isn't hurting now that we can see, but it's a death by 1000 cuts thing. If I owned stock in the NFL, I would've sold a long time ago.

It's clearly on the decline, all things considered.

I just think the NFL stadium experience sucks. My friends and I have been to all thr Steelers Bengals games since 2011 and I'm not a fan. It's weird cuz we also go to the WVU home games and I love it. 

[Shake n Blake]

(11-03-2017, 02:02 PM)Synric Wrote: I just think the NFL stadium experience sucks. My friends and I have been to all thr Steelers Bengals games since 2011 and I'm not a fan. It's weird cuz we also go to the WVU home games and I love it. 

Maybe because there's less chance you'll get shanked or sucker punched at a college game?