Has the NFL bubble burst?

[red]

red is wise

Fuckin-a right

[red]

I agree that red blends the wisdom of Jesus and Larry Flint. But you quoted Zool, for God's sake.

I like this comparison

[Zool]

[gbgary]

All TV ratings for the networks are falling. Football was a strong holdout for a long time but it was inevitable. I always thought that weakening prime times games (ESPN on Sunday or Monday) was a bad idea. But I have no numbers to back that up.

Why do you want prime time dreck?

there are WAY to many prime time games. it's not the spectacle it once was. predict one per week and hype it up. everyone else at noon and three.

[ThunderDan]

there are WAY to many prime time games. it's not the spectacle it once was. predict one per week and hype it up. everyone else at noon and three.

Thursday night has to go. Total waste except for Thanksgiving.

[Patler]

Thursday night has to go. Total waste except for Thanksgiving.

I agree. I'm not even a fan of Sunday night games. Early and late afternoon games are enough. I don't need almost 12 hours of the NFL on Sunday

[pbmax]

Really, I think we should just blame ESPN (horrible Division matchups for extraordinary money) and Art Modell (Thursday Night games).

[pbmax]

Its not just this year:

A larger-than-expected number of make-goods so far is stoking concern that the NFL may be in trouble. Last year, one buyer purchased 100 NFL ad spots and got six free commercials to make up for ratings that fell short of estimates. This year, that same buyer acquired 100 ad units and expects to get about 10 make-goods.

The decline in NFL viewership raises new questions about the invincibility of live sports at a time of great anxiety for the media industry, marked by a loss of subscribers to conventional cable and satellite services, falling broadcast-TV ratings and fierce competition from digital outlets. And National Football League games aren’t alone. The Olympics on NBC and the U.S. Open tennis tournament on ESPN also drew fewer viewers than previous years.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-06/tv-networks-forced-to-give-away-ads-as-nfl-viewership-declines

Short version? NFL not immune to effects that are draining viewers from traditional TV.

[Harlan Huckleby]

The salary cap is bound to come down with shrinking ad revenues. Wonder if some recent fat contracts willl be a drag.

[Guiness]

Short version? NFL not immune to effects that are draining viewers from traditional TV.

In other news, the sky is blue

The arrogance of the old billionaires to think their product is so amazing that there's nowhere to go but up...

I think the watering down of the brand is a real thing. Thursday night, as many as 4 games Sunday (London games early morning, 1 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 8:30) and Monday night. Maybe it's all about 'opportunities' to watch a game, but they're spreading out the available eyeballs over a lot of time.

I also agree fantasy popularity has probably peeked and it dropping off. There was a lot of interest, but casual fans who picked it up as a flavour of the month thing are bored with it and playing Clash Royal now.

[Patler]

The salary cap is bound to come down with shrinking ad revenues. Wonder if some recent fat contracts willl be a drag.

But are revenues shrinking? The contracts with the networs have 5 and 6 years yet to run, so the NFL won't see a decrease until then. Maybe not even the networks:

The networks point out that they offer make-goods every year, and can do so without hurting their revenue. That’s because NFL ad rates are so high, and there are so many games, that inventory rarely sells out, leaving a cushion of unsold commercial time to make it up to advertisers, one ad buyer said.

[gbgary]

Thursday night has to go. Total waste except for Thanksgiving.

yup. hurts teams involved, contributes to over exposure. it's the second most ridiculous game on the schedule next to the london games. monday should probably go too. make the sunday night game the big deal monday used to be. makes the thanksgiving games truely special again too.

[pbmax]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/10/07/nfl-tells-teams-anthem-protests-arent-impacting-ratings/

The memo attributes the drop in viewership to the presidential election. It also claims that the national anthem protests have not affected ratings.

“In fact, our own data shows that the perception of the NFL and its players is actually up in 2016,” the memo explains.

[Harlan Huckleby]

monday should probably go too. make the sunday night game the big deal monday used to be.

I will green light your request if you make this modification: get rid of ESPN, move the Sunday night production to Monday night. I slightly prefer to watch Monday rather than Sunday because football burnout happens after 2 games.

[Harlan Huckleby]

That's right, you don't. Your heavy-handed moderating has resulted in fear and loathing. You need to develop a more community policing approach. It wouldn't kill you to learn peoples names, ask about people's families, etc.