thebigp

44gh.,b71--rush
With an average per game loss of 1.4 million viewers over last season, according to The New York Post, total audience watching all nfl games was down 120 million.
In January, Fox Business reported that nfl tv viewership declined nearly 10 percent during the regular season. Home attendance was down significantly, with most games playing to half-empty stadiums. A Winston Group survey last fall found that in just one month, the nfl’s favorable ratings dropped from 57 percent to 44 percent. The nfl also garnered the highest unfavorable rating — 40 percent — of any major sport.
If you could replace Goodell as nfl Commissioner, what would you do to bring the nfl back to its glory days, and get people like me to tune in again.
Depoliticize.-- So that’s where I’d start. I’d say, let’s talk “collusion,” the buzzword of the day. And we would discuss the problems stemming from the real collusion between the political left and the nfl leadership over the past decade: pink breast-cancer-awareness paraphernalia on the field; Obama hhs Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pushing an Obamacare partnership with the nfl; Obama railing about helmets and concussions. And players have openly disrespected the anthem and the f**g.
The nfl has gone off-track, becoming an organization used by the political left to advance their anti-American agenda. When the take-a-knee protests first began, I told you that leftwing activists were behind it all, that they were running the players on this. Of course I was right, sadly, as The Washington Times reported: “nfl Players’ Union Teamed Up with Soros to Fund L*****t Advocacy Groups.” This is how you got the players to take action that actually harmed the nfl while believing they were in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.
As Commissioner, I would travel around and ask to meet with every team, every player. And I would ask for their cooperation in putting the best foot forward for our business. Because that’s what the nfl is — a business. Not a political organization. No business worth its salt allows the product to be damaged and tarnished without consequences.”
What should be the-goals of the nfl?--One, profits. Two,--playing football.--Three, having fun.--Four, selling merchandise. Five, entertainment.- Notice I didn’t mention “right the wrongs of society.”
People are paying to watch a game, not to see somebody express a grievance about their boss, or about the country.
I believe I could unify the players around the core mission. What should be the goals of the nfl and its owners? Number one, profits. Two, playing football. Three, having fun. Four, selling merchandise. Five, entertainment. Notice I didn’t mention “change communities” or “sell Obamacare” or “right the wrongs of society.”
De-chickify. So many league executives and sports drive-bys are competing to see who can be the most politically correct feminist guy. Stop feminizing this game. Football is a man’s sport, and the more it’s chickified, the faster it’s being ruined.
Honor the Fans-- In regular season, nfl teams play 16 games and travel eight weeks a year. Baseball teams play 162 games, and half of those are on the road. . Many athletes are too focused on themselves, their aggravations, peeves, or insecurities to prioritize how they’re seen by the fans. I think it would be possible to appeal to these enormously talented players’ sense of purpose, to inspire many of them to understand how important it is to give their very best professional performance for the sake of those who root for them.
Respect the Advertisers.-- According to The Wall Street Journal, “while the nfl is still prime real estate for advertisers, property values aren’t rising as fast as before.” nfl suits appear to shrug at the drop in ratings, but Lyle Schwartz, president of investment at major media buyer GroupM, said he is “concerned about the political nature of the anthem controversy.” A December article at Business Insider titled “Sinking nfl Viewership Is Threatening to Crush Ad Sales” gives more background:
When it comes to tv ratings, the National Football League needs a Hail Mary. Average game viewership has fallen to 15 million this season, down from 16.5 million last year, and the lowest since 2008, according to data compiled by rbc Capital Markets.
Within the nfl universe, there ought to be a far greater sense of recognition, respect, and responsibility toward advertisers that are crucial for the league to prosper.
Clean Up Your Act. The nfl needs to get out of the courtroom, so the industry news isn’t primarily about charges and trials and suspensions. nfl lawyers are involved in everything, even beyond domestic abuse. They try to put their players in jail, including the marquee players. I don’t know if the nfl has calculated just how many of the existing fan base would tell them to take a hike, or how the courtroom drama affects player morale.
Everything that takes away from the sport of football is a way of defying the fans. Especially when it appears that the nfl is being used to advance the l*****t agenda. Could the nfl be trying to reach social-justice-warrior Millennials with all this litigation? It’s definitely crossed my mind that perhaps the nfl is afraid this younger demographic is turning against football because of the cte brain-injury scare — and that Millennial affection might be regained by turning the league into a junior version of the Democrat Party. Dumb idea; social justice warriors by definition loathe raw competition and contact sports.
Stop the Denial. The football industry keeps coming up with excuses why fewer people are attending and watching on tv: the matchups aren’t exciting, the games are too slow with replays. The Chicago Tribune thinks more people aren’t watching because they’re concerned about concussions. According to The Atlantic, “the decline in football ratings … has more to do with structural shifts in media” such as cord-cutting. The Wall Street Journal points to overexposure; there’s too much football, the “flurry of new football offerings [such as Thursday Night Football] has backfired; ‘It’s just simple mathematics.’” A lone voice in the wilderness is nbc Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus, who told The Journal he won’t discount politics — particularly the anthem protests — playing a role in the viewership decline. “If you see the d******eness and the public debate, it’s hard to discount that some people have said, ‘I’m frustrated with this and I’m turning away.’ It’s unfortunate.”
It’s more than unfortunate, it’s tragic. As I’ve long predicted, this fan-base turn-away is far more than a one-year one-off. The problem, as I said years ago, is that “Football has jumped the shark, and has now become politics.” And unless my profound advice as Commissioner Limbaugh is heeded — which is, sadly, unlikely to happen — this league’s glory days are behind it. Do not doubt me.
source-rush-fox-winston group-wash times-wsj-the atlantic-

bahmer

Amen and Amen