Can the NFL fix all of its issues?

[jhawk91]

As a Canadian, it's hilarious hearing Americans talk about giving up on the NFL or boycotting the NFL.

This thing is a part of your DNA........you'll "boycott" it for like two weeks, and then come right back.

What are you going to replace it with? Dancing With the Stars?

I honestly could live without the NFL amd easily replace it with college football or some other sport likely. I personally feel like the product is becoming less and less fun to watch each year. But that's me personally, I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't ever think about giving it up

 

[SixSeahawk]

As a Canadian, it's hilarious hearing Americans talk about giving up on the NFL or boycotting the NFL.

This thing is a part of your DNA........you'll "boycott" it for like two weeks, and then come right back.

What are you going to replace it with? Dancing With the Stars?

I honestly could live without the NFL amd easily replace it with college football or some other sport likely. I personally feel like the product is becoming less and less fun to watch each year. But that's me personally, I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't ever think about giving it up

With all due respect, try it. Give it up.

Then when the Seahawks go on their next big run do your best not to care.

I've heard this sentiment from many people over the years, some of which have tried....all of which have come back.

 

[hawxfreak]

First thing they need to do is define the rules like what is a catch and what is a "football move"
Second is employ the most high tech helmets even if they look stupid to get that cte monster off their back , why is no none suing boxing organizations ? or am I missing that
They should probably be going to commercial now during the anthem because its just causing problems they can't fix, Oh and uh pay me like ten mil a year to take over roger's job

 

[JGfromtheNW]

I also wanted to add another reason for the decline in ratings and popularity that I don't see talked about very much.

The millennial generation. Not sure about you guys, but I have two kids, ages 23 and 19.......and even though they grew up in a house with me glued to Hawk, Husky and the sport of football religiously, they literally DO NOT care about football. It is definitely not watch TV for them, or even care about.

I think this is a common refrain, the NFL just doesn't have the attention of the 18-30 demographic like they did when we were that age. Social media, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and 1,000 other distractions. It's a common theme for all the sports, but it's VERY prevalent for a sport like the NFL that had nowhere to go but down with popularity.

Can that be fixed? Idk, I don't think so, lord knows I've tried in my house.

This is a great point and one I was thinking about recently. The fact is, there are so many entertainment options out there for everyone, not just millennials. When you add all the things up that are pushing fans away it becomes a significant issue for the NFL. There are other industries that are impacted as well, the movie industry just had a terrible summer for example. A long time friend of mine commented a year ago that the the NFL would be done within 10 years. I scoffed, but he very well could wind up being right unfortunately.

Take all of the distractions and other options for entertainment and add-in the fact that cable/cord-cutting is becoming more common and I think it's easy to see why the viewership numbers are going down, especially with millenials. I'm 27, I've paid for cable once, maybe twice since I got my own place at 19, and I really don't see myself needing it at all going forward. With services now like Hulu Live TV, Youtube TV, etc. I think it's even less likely that folks like me ever agree to pay a cable provider again - not to mention the countless number of illegal streaming sites for sports/tv/movies that people can use without paying a cent.

 

[SixSeahawk]

I also wanted to add another reason for the decline in ratings and popularity that I don't see talked about very much.

The millennial generation. Not sure about you guys, but I have two kids, ages 23 and 19.......and even though they grew up in a house with me glued to Hawk, Husky and the sport of football religiously, they literally DO NOT care about football. It is definitely not watch TV for them, or even care about.

I think this is a common refrain, the NFL just doesn't have the attention of the 18-30 demographic like they did when we were that age. Social media, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and 1,000 other distractions. It's a common theme for all the sports, but it's VERY prevalent for a sport like the NFL that had nowhere to go but down with popularity.

Can that be fixed? Idk, I don't think so, lord knows I've tried in my house.

This is a great point and one I was thinking about recently. The fact is, there are so many entertainment options out there for everyone, not just millennials. When you add all the things up that are pushing fans away it becomes a significant issue for the NFL. There are other industries that are impacted as well, the movie industry just had a terrible summer for example. A long time friend of mine commented a year ago that the the NFL would be done within 10 years. I scoffed, but he very well could wind up being right unfortunately.

Take all of the distractions and other options for entertainment and add-in the fact that cable/cord-cutting is becoming more common and I think it's easy to see why the viewership numbers are going down, especially with millenials. I'm 27, I've paid for cable once, maybe twice since I got my own place at 19, and I really don't see myself needing it at all going forward. With services now like Hulu Live TV, Youtube TV, etc. I think it's even less likely that folks like me ever agree to pay a cable provider again - not to mention the countless number of illegal streaming sites for sports/tv/movies that people can use without paying a cent.

That's a great point. Younger generations aren't even paying for cable so television ratings are down in general. Whenever I go to a friend's house now, I find that they almost never have cable and they watch all their sports on streaming sites.

 

[MD5eahawks]

Another issue that is growing in concern is the fact that they moved two teams to a market that doesn't seem to really want them. The Chargers are having difficulty selling out a 27,000 seat stadium and the Rams are playing in a half empty Colisium. When the Chargers move into the new stadium Phillip Rivers will either be retired or staying for an encore year.They in turn will be a struggling team in the rebuilding process. Meanwhile the Rams have looked a lot better than in recent years and can't get any love from a city they were a part of for almost 50 years.

 

[mrt144]

Trevathan's hit on Adams?

Yeah, I couldn't watch after that. I had visions of Lockette's injury and that is gut wrenching.

 

[VivaEfrenHerrera]

...sport like the NFL that had nowhere to go but down with popularity...

Just wanted to highlight this little snipped among all the other points being made. Even if we ignore all the issues (small and large) that are being brought up, I really started to get the sense last year or maybe a little earlier that the NFL has "peaked". We have full saturation at this point, and there really is nowhere to go but down.

The path of mega growth the league's been on since the 70s had to reach a dead end and a turnaround at some point, and it kinda feels like it might be happening.

Personally, I'm not enjoying the games as much as I used to, and a part of that is growing a little weary of the bloated, 10-ton-collussus that the NFL has slowly become.