A SUPER SUNDAY? – AT 12:22 P.M. ET:  The Super Bowl is played this Sunday, and there's almost as much speculation about the TV ratings as about the outcome of the game between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles.  NFL ratings have nosedived this season, thanks in large measure to the politicization of the game by the "take a knee" crowd.  Will the losses continue into the biggest football day of the year?  From Yahoo: 

Super Bowl 52 is just a few days away, and after NFL regular season TV ratings fell by nearly 10% this season on average, one of the biggest questions pundits and sports media have is: Will the Super Bowl ratings be good?

If the results of a new survey from Seton Hall University are to be believed, the answer might be no.
Seton Hall surveyed 706 Americans across the country, via landlines and cellphones, from Jan. 29 to Jan. 31. The first question asked people how closely they follow the NFL. Of those who said they follow it “very closely,” which the survey identifies as NFL fans, 16% said they won’t watch this year’s Super Bowl. The poll has a 3.8% margin of error.

Rick Gentile, director of the Seton Hall Sports Poll, calls 16% a “significant number” that “should be a concern to the league, the broadcasters and especially the advertisers.”

The poll didn’t ask those why say they won’t watch what their reasons are, but the political controversy that overshadowed this football season is almost surely a factor.

COMMENT:  We'll see Sunday.  The NFL has done precious little to get itself out of the hole it's in.  There is nothing in writing that says football has to continue as a major professional sport.

February 2,  2018