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Many football fans would agree that this 2017 NFL season has not been as entertaining as expected. After six weeks of play, there's not a single team that remains undefeated. The league's perennial powerhouses, such as the Patriots, Steelers, Packers and Seahawks, haven't been as dominant as they once were, either, and NFL ratings are suffering as a result.
Actual numbers back up the lack of interest. ESPN's Darren Rovell reported that according to Nielsen, an average of 15 million viewers tuned in for the first six weeks of the current season, down from 16.2 million in 2016 – a 7.5-percent decrease in viewership. Rovell also pointed out that FOX and CBS, the NFL's two major local TV broadcast affiliates, have also seen a dip in their respective stock values, mainly due to the decline of the NFL's ratings.
Considering the mix of player protests and relatively mediocre football in general, expect the downward trend to continue throughout most of the season. Social media also plays a significant role here, as more and more people are getting their football fix through clips and status updates online instead of watching full games on television. Not having big-name players in action, like Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (who suffered a seemingly season-ending injury) and Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., isn't doing the league any favors as well.
While die-hard football fans will relentlessly continue to watch their favorite teams duke it out on the gridiron, the same could not be said of the casual viewer, who might've already tuned out given the reasons stated above. In turn, the NFL faces a pretty serious problem; one that could easily snowball into even more pedestrian football games if the league's owners aren't getting their expected returns from the overall product.
