For the most part, there have been a good number of exciting NFL games thus far this regular season. And yet, viewership ratings continue to dip following the lackluster numbers from 2016.
Preliminary NFL Ratings (Compared To Week 3 Of Last Year — Games Only)
CBS: DOWN 1%
NBC: DOWN 11%
FOX: DOWN 16%— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 25, 2017
One significant reason cited by pundits for the decline in viewership is perhaps the National Anthem protests. Sideline and off-field protests from players have become a normal occurrence during games, leading to President Donald Trump encouraging NFL owners to actually fire such players who oppose the current political regime.
Now, there's more fuel added to the fire sparked by Trump's remarks against the NFL. Kevin Seifert of ESPN received word that America First Policies – a pro-Trump political action committee – recently took to their Facebook page urging NFL fans to stop watching games and opt for more patriotic programming as an alternative. The committee also launched the hashtag “#TakeAStandNotAKnee” to take a social media protest of their own against the league in an attempt to get fans who voted for Trump in last year's elections to wholeheartedly keep their allegiance with the President of the United States.
And yet, in the wake of Trump's comments made this past week, the NFL saw an increase in displays of discontent this Sunday. Even more players decided to take knees or link arms in unity during the national anthem, and there were also a couple of teams that went as far as not showing up during the singing of anthem altogether.
Interestingly, CBS' pregame show actually had its best ratings in seven years. And, with Week 3 offering the best set of performances this season to date, perhaps fans will tune in to the action more so in the coming weeks, regardless of the socio-political turmoil that's been looming like a dark cloud over the sporting world of late.
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