As the second week in the NFL season kicked-off, the normal fall football hysteria seemed to be lacking. Is the NFL losing its hold as America’s sport?
After a slow start to the NFL TV ratings, things didn’t get much better in week two as thousands of seats were vacant in many stadiums around the country. Many of the countries biggest stadiums were nowhere near capacity for NFL Sunday.
When the Redskins took the field on Sunday to play the Colts, about 30% of the seats were left empty.
Per ESPN, announced crowd of 57,013 at FedExField today. #INDvsWAS (3rd pic: https://t.co/yY7OkW7El0) pic.twitter.com/magqxQGw4l
— Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) September 16, 2018
What is causing the decline in America’s most popular sport? Some say it is how the deals with protesting and Colin Kaepernick kneeling demonstration. Some say it is because the games take too long and tickets cost too much money.
For some, they are just tired of seeing their team lose.
“@pbhockey04: @[me] I can’t take a pic of it but lots of empty steats for the Bills/ Chargers game… Bills fans fed up with the losing” (https://t.co/iuowo1TJUe) pic.twitter.com/agLBq1Pfjn
— Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) September 16, 2018
While some of the empty seats can be attributed to fans being tired of losing, there are many reasons why the NFL is taking a hit in viewership right now. There isn’t just one thing to fix. They can’t just fix the protest problem and everything will be all right.
One challenge for the NFL is that they have to remain neutral in political stances. Picking a political side could split their audience according to an article by FiveThirtyEight.
“The NFL’s fan base is much more bipartisan than those of other major sports leagues, and it risks angering one side or the other if it mishandles the situation.”
If the NFL can stay out of politics it still has another problem, and that is ticket sales. Last year, ticket sales went up an average of six percent from the previous year with an average cost of $172.
So if you want to take your family of four to see a game, it will cost you on average $688. That doesn’t take into account parking, nachos and beer.
The NFL is facing a lot of challenges, but they still have millions of fans around the country. As long as the NFL doesn’t ostracize one side, they can still pull out a win for the season. Just please fix the ticket prices.
Do you support the NFL? Who is your team? Let us know in the comments below.
