Ratings for last night's MNF game were down 37% from the same week's MNF game last season. That's a pretty big drop in a one year timeframe.
I truly think the election is the biggest factor here. Instead of watching SportsCenter where you can become interested in storylines around the NFL, people are watching CNN. Likewise, people online are reading about Trump more than they are about Tom Brady. It's not as easy to become interested in the NFL and its storylines when you aren't constantly being bombarded with them through media.
I believe NBA regular season ratings were pretty disappointing last season. Live sports aren't the ratings fortress many advertisers predicted. I expect the NBA salary cap will fall after the next TV/cable contracts are negotiated. Same for the NFL.
MLB Playoff ratings are up from the previous 2 years which kinda takes away from this argument. But ya the NBA season starting in the heart of election period will be a good indicator. From a personal standpoint, I don't think that has much to do with it. Actually think that we have been bombarded with too much of Brady, Kaepernick, and ODB where it is just overload.
It's going to be really tough to tell when looking at the current environment in the NBA. The Warriors will get a lot of national television viewers, but after a while of Warriors this and Warriors that, ratings will drop off though still high. They will certainly be lower for all of the teams who think they have no shot at a championship. And since the only teams with a shot are Cleveland, Golden State, and San Antonio, the ratings will be low much like they were last year.
lots of variables and unknowns, and people cherry picking the ones that agree with their own views just about all the reasons mentioned here have logical merit Personally I increasingly feel a sense of regret after spending my waking hours watching other men play a game, like I should be dispensing with such childish things. So I've cut it back to only watching my team, and may give up that eventually.
Honestly the only interesting things this season are watching Dak and Ezekiel, Pats offense, David Johnson's beastly running, or watching the Vikings' D smother everyone. Everything else is kinda meh. I don't watch the Texans that much anymore either.
I used to really enjoy characters like Ocho Cinco and TO, but I think if they played today they would be fined after every catch. Even with the Texans game, I might usually only watch a quarter or two and then go about the rest of my day and catch up on scores later online.
I didn't watch last night's game..but wow. That's a matchup you would typically look at before the season and think would be great. 6-6 tie. Geez.
Sure, the mental midget kickers were dumb... but there was good defense being played. It wasn't simply a case of bad offense. Its funny that 38-35 games are almost universally declared as "good games"... but low scoring affairs with two strong defenses playing their ass off, aren't. Then there are those that love the 58-0 College football blowouts...
Watching Mariota, and wanting him to succeed, I think the element I miss from the Warren Moon era is connecting on the long ball. Why that is missing I don't know. Seems like most teams cannot make a deep connection on a regular basis, and when it's there, they miss. Is it better coverage. Is it a lack of receivers. Is it a lack of QB play. Is it new offense. Not sure. But there are so few electric plays. And that has translated to Mariota as well. Now Mariota has bad widereceivers, but that isn't the case across the NFL. And it seems like that is the case at RB too, where now a 9 yard run gets the announcers amped, when we used to get 30 yard scampers and excitement. Chris Johnson is the last electric player I can recall where he could literally go 60-70 on every play. But his window closed fast too as the speed just vaporized.
