There are two sides to every story and one side to facts. The NFL is an example of this.
There were/are plenty of excuses for the NFL's ratings decline of 8 percent in 2016 -- such as the fact that the 2016 presidential election interfered. So, naturally, the ratings have rebounded without having an election this year...
Oh wait!
Acutually, they're down another 7 percent from last year's numbers.
Through week seven of the NFL season, TV ratings are now 18 percent lower than two years ago. That's a fact regardless of how the league attempts to spin it.
Here's another one. Gallup last conducted an accredited survey of sports fandom in the US in 2012. The change over five years for many sports is interesting but none more so than the lost support of the NFL.
Here's the question posed by Gallup:
For each of the following, please say whether you are a fan of that sport or not:
Olympic sports
- 2012: 75 percent
- 2017: 63 percent
- = -12
Professional football
2012: 67 percent
- 2017: 57 percent
- = -10
College football
- 2012: 54 percent
- 2017: 56 percent
- = +2
Professional baseball
- 2012: 53 percent
- 2017: 51 percent
- = -2
Professional basketball
- 2012: 37 percent
- 2017: 40 percent
- +3
College basketball
- 2012: 40 percent
- 2017: 38 percent
- = -2
Auto racing
- 2012: 28 percent
- 2017: 32 percent
- = +4
Professional ice hockey
- 2012: 24 percent
- 2017: 28 percent
- = +4
Professional soccer
- 2012: 23 percent
- 2017: 28 percent
- = +5
Your winners are:
- Soccer
- NHL
- Auto Racing
- NBA
- College Football
Your losers are:
- Olympics
- NFL
- MLB
- College Basketball
The NFL ratings peak wasn't 2012. It was 2015.
Gallup's info shows a 15 percent loss of fans over the 2012 levels.
For perspective: NFL ratings indicated that there were 3 million more people who tuned into the NFL in 2015 over 2012. This is the next and perhaps most instructive point.
The 18 percent decline in ratings might not be a temporary thing. If fans are gone it might simply be part of a permanent trend. If that's the case, the NFL and its players will have one heck of an expensive protest on its hands.
Eighteen percent of the NFL's revenue is more than $2.5 billion per year.
Again, the only ones really being impacted at this early stage are the TV networks having to deal with the ratings loss.