Are you surprised NFL TV ratings are down? I am not.

Everything about everyone who watches the NFL on TV is down about 10 percent this season, including their tolerance.  It might be an anomaly because pro football is still the most popular sport in this country and there is no other way to get live events, like programming that can be streamed on line. In addition, two of the first three presidential debates were opposite prime time NFL games.

I have my favorite teams and players but, overall, I have come to hate the NFL and every dollar it stands for. Roger Goodell makes $44 million as commissioner, an obscene salary he was granted by the 32 owners specifically to line their pockets. Despite being a disaster of inconsistency in so many other ways, Goodell has increased the value of each franchise and the wealth of the owners – at the expense of the fans.

Have you ever sat, by yourself, and watched an NFL game with no distractions while refusing to get up during the commercials? How could torture be any worse? Long breaks at every possible opportunity, from exchange of possessions and official reviews to injuries up to and including my personal favorite: touchdown, TIMEOUT, kickoff, TIMEOUT. With viewership down, the NFL has to air more commercials to make good on the projected ratings.

The number of people watching in sports bars doesn’t figure into those ratings, and that likely has a lot to do with it. The games don’t seem quite so long when you are surrounded by 75 of your favorite people, chugging beers and screaming at the top of their lungs while jibber-jabbering during breaks in the action. If you planned something to do at home every time the game stopped, such as 40 distinctly different chores, it might be similarly tolerable.

Millions of people have taken to recording the game and then reducing the viewing time dramatically by fast-forwarding through the commercials. I read an absurd stat recently in the Wall Street Journal that in a three-and-a-half hour NFL telecast, from snap to whistle, there is only 11 minutes of action. And there are, on average, more than 100 commercials.

Related Stories
None