Statistics seem to show that less people are watching NFL games on TV. President Trump wants to take credit for this as part of his war with the NFL, but that’s not the real reason. Following are the real reasons.
Flags! Depending on the game, With every 10 plays made there are 5 or 6 flags thrown, They not only negate the play, but also put the offending team back several yards or ahead several yards, depending on if it was the offense or defense who drew the flag. Now if a player commits an illegal move that directly affects the play, that’s fine. But many times a play takes place on one side of the field and a penalty flag is thrown on the other side of the field and has no bearing on the actual play, but negates the play anyway. The fans didn’t decide to watch a game to see how many flags are thrown, they want to see the players play. It’s almost like the referees are having a contest to see who can throw the most flags.
Scheduling! I live in south Florida. It’s common knowledge that a lot of New Yorkers have moved here. You’d think the NFL or the local stations would show games that New Yorkers would be interested in. Not so. This Sunday the early game shown was between the Miami Dolphins and The New York Jets. Not because the Jets were playing, but because the Dolphins were playing. That makes sense since the Dolphins are the local team and they always show their games. The later game could have shown the New York Giants against the Seattle Seahawks. Many New Yorkers would probably watch that game. But they couldn’t. What was shown was the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals. Not much interest to most New Yorkers so they turn it off. I’m sure this happens in other parts of the country with the same results.
Time for the NFL and the TV stations to wake up.