According to Sporting News report, “A third of NFL TV viewers boycotting games because of Colin Kaepernick-led protests.”
The Sporting News article says, “Nearly one-third (32 percent) of adults say they’re less likely to watch NFL game telecasts because of the Kaepernick-led player protests against racial injustice, according to Rasmussen’s telephone/online survey of 1,000 American adults conducted Oct. 2-3. Only 13 percent said they were more likely to watch an NFL game because of continuing protests by Kaepernick and supporters such as Antonio Cromartie of the Colts (who was cut only two days after raising a fist during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in London on Sunday).”
This is not that surprising.
Several weeks ago, the national anthem protests that began with San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and has since spread across the NFL and little league football teams has angered many fans. In fact, CBS’ Sunday afternoon game and NBC’s Sunday Night Football saw their lowest ratings in seven years. Ultimately, 2016 NFL season is off to the slowest start in several years.
A quick search on Twitter and you will find thousands of tweets calling for the boycott of the NFL.
Tomorrow..another glorious Sunday when I will ignore @NFL games because @nflcommish has let it become political platform.#boycottNFL
— Deplorable Ulysses (@Just_a_Texan) October 16, 2016
ESPN is next. We started with #BoycottNFL as a show of our numbers and impact. This will evolve to us destroying ESPN. https://t.co/u1KEjU8Yz0
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) October 15, 2016
This is not a good sign.
Even if more than half of NFL viewers still aren’t making decisions based on the anthem protests, if the actual number people boycotting the league is even close to a third of NFL fans then the anthem protests, and subsequent boycotts, would undoubtedly be having a massive effect on the league’s sharply declining viewership and revenue.
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