NFL Leads Unfavorable Ratings 3rd Straight Month
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The NFL’s unfavorability rating shows the damage from player protests during the National Anthem.
The Washington Times reports:
The NFL registered the highest unfavorable rating of any major U.S. sport for the third straight month in a newly released survey, a hit attributed in part to the ongoing protests during the national anthem.
The Winston Group Sports Survey released last week found the NFL was ranked “unfavorable” by 38 percent of respondents, the highest percentage of any major professional sport as well as college football and basketball.
Major League Baseball had the highest favorable rating at 63 percent and lowest unfavorable at 15 percent, while the NFL notched a 48 percent favorable rating.
“Major League Baseball continues to have the best sports brand by a significant margin,” said the survey. “The NFL had been competitive, but since the kneeling controversy it fell significantly behind, and this survey continues to demonstrate that trend.”
While the NFL player protests continue, fans are responding by tuning out and by not attending games.
However, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has a different perspective and believes “the games are still more popular than most programming.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has pointed out that the games are still more popular than most programming, rejecting the premise that the league’s best days may be behind it.
“Let’s step back and talk about what’s happening to ratings overall: The NFL’s ratings are 25 out of 30 of the top-rated shows in sports in all of entertainment this year,” Mr. Goodell told CNBC in a Monday interview.
The NFL’s ratings are down 7 percent from the 2016 season based on JPMorgan figures, CNBC reported.
“I would say fans are going to different devices to consume media, so you have to be on those devices,” he said.