The NFL Isn’t Reading the Room
Can you not feel it? There is healing being spread all over America by 300-lb. men who are paid to knock each other to the ground. The new COVID-riot-year NFL is totally against racism now. I’ve been a fan my whole life and was unaware that they were for racism prior to this.
Live and learn.
Hardcore sports fans like me spent the spring and early summer worried about what negative impact the pandemic would have on our favorite games. As summer wore on we all began to realize that the tedious woke stuff was going to make us not care that they found ways to play.
The NFL probably has the biggest potential downside here. It’s the most popular of the major sports leagues, and therefore has more to lose. That also means it can weather a bumpy ride better, too, though.
After a rough start in last Thursday’s Texans/Chiefs game, when the sparse, socially-distanced crowd could still be heard booing loudly at the players as they linked arms for a social justice call to unity and unicorn dance or something.
NFL fans just want to watch some football. I don’t need some privileged athlete who has been a multimillionaire since he was 25 pretending to be my moral better. That’s not what he does better than I do. He plays football better. It would be nice if they could focus on that.
Sunday’s games all featured some sort of B.S. moral posturing, of course. I’m taking bets on how long it will be until the networks and the NFL get corporate sponsors for the virtue-signaling moments.
“This super-healing moment of protest against systemic racism is brought to you by Geico.”
Sunday Night Football provided what should have been a ratings hit. The Los Angeles Rams were christening their brand new home, SoFi Stadium. They were hosting the Dallas Cowboys, who are usually television ratings magic wherever they play.
Yeah. not so much.
With all that on-field action, and coming off disappointing ratings of the NFL season kickoff on September 10, the league and the Comcast-owned network were looking for a win themselves this football packed weekend.
Even with the usual ratings gold of Jerry Jones’ team on the field, the NFL and NBC didn’t get that win – at least not in the early numbers. Despite two teams with big national followings, SNF snared a 4.7 in early ratings among adults 18-49 and 14.81 million viewers last night.
In numbers certain to change, that’s a fall of 28% in the demo and a hard decline of 23% in sets of eyeballs from the early numbers of the the September 8, 2019 SNF season debut.
You would think that the tens of thousands of people who bought their tickets for this grand opening and weren’t allowed to attend in person might have helped the television ratings go up.
It’s this simple: no one is interested in the Social Justice Parade. That doesn’t mean that we’re heartless and don’t want the world to be a better place. It simply means that most of us didn’t become football fans because the NFL is our go-to for depth of spirit.
Just shut it and go score a touchdown, already.
Maybe when the stadiums are full and they can hear ALL the boos, they’ll finally get the hint.
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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.
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