I really, really, really wish Zoneblitz was here to take his comeuppance.
I don't.. because that means ZB is here on the boards..
W2B said:
FOX, CBS, ESPN all down between 1%-5%.
Thanksgiving games down.
NFC Championship Game was down.
Again I think you're over analyzing this.. to break it down.
FOX was down a measly 1%. FOX also lost two big marquee games to NBC in weeks 16 and 17 (SF at SEA, DAL at WSH).. if they had one of these games they probably match or beat out their 2011 numbers.
CBS had a ratings hit because the AFC was generally awful. The majority of terrible teams in the NFL played in the AFC.. and the few times a good AFC matchup was present, it was on either NBC or ESPN, save for a few contests.
The NFC Championship was down in large part because it featured the Falcons. Apologies to the Falcon contingency here at VSN.. but to the casual viewer, no one really cares about Atlanta. San Francisco is a big draw in itself though. Really though I think every possibly matchup this season would have a hard time beating out last years draw of Giants-Niners - a game which btw happened in primetime too.
W2B said:
Super Bowl was up, but that was thanks to the blackout. NFL Network Thursday was up, but that was to be expected with more homes getting the network, leading to a novelty factor for many people.
The Super Bowl has become such an event in itself that it will draw massive ratings no matter what. The blackout didn't do anything for the draw... though in the long term it may have helped slow down the Ravens momentum which in turn led to a closer game and better finish. But, no, people didn't suddenly tune into the Super Bowl because the lights were off. NFLN's coverage was up because they doubled the games they showed from 2011.. a true barometer will be comparing 2013 to 2012. However, THIS is where I agree with you that Goodell is overexposing and watering down his own product. These games were simply not good.. for a whole host of reasons. The main ones being these teams were playing on short weeks, thus making the game sloppy and otherwise hard to watch.. coupled with the fact they put every team in the league on in primetime when the NFL has more poor teams than interesting ones. There's a reason NBC isn't throwing the Jaguars and Cardinals on SNF... no one cares.
W2B said:
Tried to tell that m'fer that any form of entertainment reaches a breaking point, and the NFL was greatly expediting that breaking point with some of their decisions. Tried to tell that m'fer that the rules changes would wear down fans patience and change the fabric of game.
Ratings will drop again next year. If they start doing dumb shit like widening the field, and eliminating the three point stance, and eliminating hits below the waist, and eliminating kickoffs (all are real possibilities), they will drop dramatically and not incrementally. The league has peaked, only so many people were going to get into the NFL, and some were obviously going to lose interest at some point. CFB powers would be wise to expand playoffs now. I've said for years that CFB is a good playoff system away from at least challenging the NFL as king of the mountain.
I kind of disagree here. I think you will see similar ratings to this season with maybe a spike on NBC's end as they will showcase the young QB's this season (RG3, Luck, Wilson, Kaepernick will all be on NBC at least twice.. book it) .. not to mention the AFC will probably improve a little bit from the previous year to help out CBS.
Regarding college football's playoff.. unless they run the games against the NFL, I don't see how they will hurt the NFL's rating draw at all. The National Title game is never going to draw conference championship numbers and forget Super Bowl numbers. Has the NFL peaked? Maybe.. but I am inclined to believe this new youth movement at QB is going to only help the league grow even more.
