Through Week 7, overall TV ratings were down 12 percent. The numbers are even worse for the primetime Sunday, Monday and Thursday night Games.
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Many theories have been cited for the falloff, ranging from the U.S. presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, over-saturation of games , poor quality of play and fan backlash to Colin Kaepernick’s political protest through the #BoycottNFL movement.
But ESPN’s Herm Edwards made an interesting point on Tuesday’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning.”
He blamed high-scoring college football for taking viewers away from the more defensive-minded NFL.
Or at least making some NFL TV viewers change the channel out of sheer boredom.
The discussion got going when Mike Greenberg noted that Game 5 of the Cubs-Indians World Series on Fox trounced a strong Cowboys-Eagles “Sunday Night Football” game on NBC
Yes, the Cubs are a great story that’s attracting casual sports fans.
But “SNF” almost always beats the World Series in ratings, Greenberg noted. (In fact, the last time the World Series beat “SNF” was 2011, Austin Karp of SportsBusiness Daily reported).
Edwards, the former Jets coach, said the fast-paced excitement of college football has hurt the NFL this year.
Compare the high-octane scoring on Saturdays, Edwards said, to some of the somnolent defensive struggles we see on Sundays.
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How about that 6-6 tie between the Seahawks and Cardinals on “Sunday Night Football,” sports fans?
Meanwhile, Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post writes that the NFL is becoming “more disturbing than appealing.” Viewers are tuning out as a result. Writes Jenkins:
