Bad News For The NFL: 80% State They’ll Watch Less Football, 53% Support Trump More

Bad News For The NFL: 80% State They’ll Watch Less Football, 53% Support Trump More

Actions have consequences and in the case of an NFL that will not get control of its players, inaction also has consequences. And those consequences are laid out in a brand new poll conducted by Yahoo Finance. Based on how many questions the respondents answered, most of whom, 79%, are current NFL consumers, Yahoo determined that 62% of respondents said they will be watching less NFL football.

From the moment Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest the flag and the anthem last year, the NFL, specifically the commissioner, the owners and the coaches, has failed to reign in the protest mania. The rampant disrespect for America, our anthem, our flag and for the blood of patriots that was shed to make us free in the greatest nation on earth, has come at a high cost for the NFL. Ticket sales have dropped. Viewership has declined. Which in turn means that sponsors are not getting what they paid for; product exposure to an intact NFL fan base. At best, the fan base is fractured and at worst is likely to continue disintegrating. Why? America is tired of being lectured and condemned by a bunch of wealthy men who play a game for a living. Football used to be a place and a time when Americans of every walk of life could unite together and enjoy rooting for their teams. It was a place where we all sat together and experienced the joy of football with no thought as to politics. We were united in our love and enjoyment of NFL football. And now, those who sow division and disrespect have ruined that pastime, just as Yahoo Finance has found in their poll.

Yahoo said, “In our survey, we wanted to suss out whether the anthem flap could deal a lasting financial hit to the NFL. The answers suggest it could. When we asked fans if the controversy would make them more or less supportive of the NFL, 71% said less and only 15% said more. Of those who said they are now less supportive, 74% said their change of heart was permanent, and only 3% said they felt it was temporary.”

When men who are living the ultimate American Dream cannot respect the men and women who died to provide that opportunity, that isn’t going to sit well with most of America. Americans have better things to do than to watch petulant whiners take a knee or stretch on the sidelines while the colors are raised and the anthem is sung.

The raw data of the survey also showed that respondents tended to be more supportive of President Trump and his calling out of the NFL players for their disrespect. Of course, as Yahoo Finance said, “Those findings all have financial implications for the NFL and its 32 team owners.”

Indeed they do. Bad behavior will hit them right in the pocketbook. So, in essence, players are protesting and disrespecting their own employer right out of business or at least lessening significantly, their profits. They are making sure their own bosses won’t be able to pay them and won’t be able to offer those big contracts any more. It’s like an old cartoon where the character is standing on the outer side of a tree branch and sawing it in half. When the branch is all the way sawed through, the character falls. And when the NFL players have sawed through the NFL’s profits and chipped away large chunks of customers, then it is they, the players, who will fall. And that is what we call shortsighted in the extreme. NFL, get control of your organization and your employees. Or continue hemorrhaging viewers, sponsors, ticket holders and money. It’s Red Zone time and the pressure is on. Will you fail to convert?

Sonja Bochow

I live in Newark, DE, am married, and the mother of four children; Liam, Brenna, Keira and Erin. I am also a full time Bible teacher and have a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from West Chester University.

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!