Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
NFL drops to “least liked” sport

NFL drops to “least liked” sport

Last updated on: October 11, 2017 at 5:45 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

NFL drops to “least liked” sport 2017-10-10T10:01:42-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The National Football League had surpassed Major League Baseball as “America’s game.” But no more.

From August to September, the favorable ratings for the NFL dropped from 57% to 44%. And the NFL now has the highest unfavorable rating–40%, the lowest of any major sport.

So reports The Washington Examiner‘s Paul Bedard in Shock poll: NFL now least liked sport, core fans down 31%.

The major beneficiary of the NFL’s fall from favor is baseball. (Though MLB actually led the NFL slightly in August too, with 61% favorable.) Here are the September numbers for the major sports:

MLB/63 percent favorable to 16 percent unfavorable.
College football/51 percent favorable to 21 percent unfavorable.
NBA/46 percent favorable to 28 percent unfavorable.
College basketball/45 percent favorable to 25 percent unfavorable.
NFL/44 percent favorable to 40 percent unfavorable.

Among professional football’s core audience–men–the numbers are even more dramatic. As a whole, the NFL’s favorability among men dropped from 68% to 45%, But among what used to be football’s biggest NFL fans–men aged 34-54 –the NFL’s popularity dropped from 78% to 45%, a drop of 31%.

Observers blame the backlash among fans on players’ National Anthem Protests. Since such a precipitous drop-off took place in one month, the month this became an issue, this is probably a valid conclusion. Still, television ratings have been dropping for some time. In fact, we discussed that decline way back in December of last year.

In an article not related to the favorability poll, Sports Illustrated observes that Monday Night Football ratings have dropped 24% from last year. Sunday Night Football has dropped 19%, and Thursday Night Football is down 18%. Here are some theories:

The NFL and the networks changed the rules and the conduct of the game to make it all about scoring in an effort to boost ratings and attract the casual demographic. And so these new NFL fans and fantasy fans only care about scoring. There is no need to watch an entire broadcast when all you care about is, “Who scored?”

With the RedZone channel, Twitter, highlight shows and a hundred fantasy outlets saturating the airwaves, ratings are down for traditional broadcasts, and they will continue to decline because it’s a lousy way to consume NFL football. The old-timers watched an entire game but are tired of all the commercials, while the newly minted fans happily consume the NFL in short bytes from non-broadcast sources. Why would anybody sit through three hours of commercials when they can get all the scoring plays with an investment of 15 minutes?

The owners, league and networks fell in love—not with their best, most loyal customers, but with the people who weren’t their customers yet. That was a strategic mistake on their part, thinking they could keep the fans they already had AND change the game enough to win over the new set of fans.

Well, I suspect there may be some less subtle reasons for the popularity decline, in addition to the protests and the politicizing of the game. Things like crime, concussions, new stadium blackmail, team soap operas.

How about you? Have your favorability ratings for the NFL slipped? If so, why?

Illustration from Michael Tipton, Flickr, Creative Commons License

Football

Sports

America's favorite sports

National Football League

professional sports

Previous Post

October 10, 2017

Our New Book on Lutheranism and the Postmodern Condition

Next Post

October 11, 2017 Our "Astonishing," "Scintillating, "Daring" Book

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"While she worked for Trump she was a tool's tool!"

reg

Luther on Tools

"I know wired earbuds are making a comeback (I never stopped using them as I ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"VCRs, tape decks, and cassette players are all having a revival among a segment of ..."

Tom Hering

Luther on Tools

"As a (retired) lawyer I see potential liability from sharing things like power or sharp ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who is the head of the Vatican City and the Roman Catholic Church?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Archbishop Cardinal Patriarch Pope

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »