NFL BLUES – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  I love football, but the NFL is becoming a pain.  The viewing audience is turning on it.  It is a league in trouble.  And a lot of the trouble starts with politics.  The president had no trouble at all attacking the NFL last night in an Alabama speech, and the crowd cheered.  From Daily Caller:   

NFL ratings are in an absolute free fall after week two of the season.
Viewership for the league is down to its lowest point since 1998, according to Sports Media Watch.

From Sports Media Watch:

The Week 2 NFL singleheader window delivered an 8.4 rating and 14.5 million viewers on CBS Sunday, down 24% in ratings and viewership from last year on FOX (11.0, 19.2M) and down 14% and 13% respectively from 2015 on CBS (9.8, 16.7M). The 8.4 rating is the lowest for the Week 2 singleheader since at least 1998. The first two NFL windows on CBS this season have both declined double-digits to multi-year lows.

This is the least surprising news I’ve heard in a long time when it comes to sports. The writing has been on the wall since last season when Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem. People have grown tired of the NFL becoming a political side show, and it’s exhausting getting lectured about the problems with society during games.

On the other hand, college football has no problem getting viewers. Plenty of unimportant games are still garnering at least a million viewers, which is a pretty clear indication that it’s not football itself that’s becoming unpopular.

COMMENT:  Well said.  And President Trump has picked up the theme.  He made clear his feelings about players who engage in political protests on the field:  "Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, `Get that son of a bitch off the field right now! Out. He’s fired! He’s fired.'"

The president also disinvited championship basketball player Stephen Curry, of the Golden State Warriors, who said he would oppose his team being honored by the Trump White House.  The president said, correctly, that being invited to the White House is an honor. 

When you're invited to the White House, you go to show respect for the office of the president, not for the person who holds that office.  The president invites many people who disagree with him, and most accept the invitation.

The politicization of sports is, of course, a dream of the political left, which believes everything is political.  A number of "journalists" seem to agree.  ESPN, the leading sports network, has become an advocate for liberal causes.

The impact on sports, and on viewership, is entirely predictable.  When most viewers tune in to watch a football game, they're not interested in having a political speech thrown in their faces.

September 23,  2017