Are you ready for some football? The answer seems to be no. The NFL’s ratings are down compared to last year.
Opening night for the NFL featuring last year’s Super bowl champs Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons had 19 million viewers, which is down 13 percent from last year’s opening kickoff.
“Sunday Night Football” saw a decrease of nine percent in their viewership compared to last year. The game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers only drew in 22.1 million viewers.
ESPN’s double-header of “Monday Night Football,” and the premiere of “Thursday Night Football dipped in ratings as well.
The biggest surprise is that the Dallas Cowboys, also known as America’s team, had the lowest week one ratings in nine years in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.Critics believe the ratings drop could still be a result from last year’s protest when players kneeled during the National Anthem to protest police brutality.
The protest began when Colin Kaepernick first took a kneel in 2016.
Colin Kaepernick made the headlines again before the season started when Nike endorsed him, and he became the face of Nike’s 30th Anniversary ‘Just do it” campaign.
The endorsement caused a backlash of Nike product owners burning their Nike products and brought the protest back into the news.
Korel Chisely, a Toxicology major, continues to watch professional football regardless of what happened during the protest. “Yeah, it’s football. Why not?” He said. “I’ve watched it since I was ten or eleven years old.” He said.
Chisley said it was a peaceful way of doing it and said that the penalties during the game would be what would drive him away. “The penalties. Helmet to helmet stuff. That’s what would be the problem I have.” he said.
The NFL has enforced new safety rules regarding the tackling of the quarterback. A player is not allowed to drive the quarterback’s body into the ground.
A controversial call was made in week two during the Vikings and Packers game that ended in a tie, which was the second consecutive week to have a game end in one.
Eric Carter, a political science major, still watches football as well. “I play fantasy football, so I mainly watch it to keep up with my players and for the Saints.” He said.
Carter also said that the protesting didn’t affect him watching the games. “I know what they were doing. I understood it,” he said.
Ratings for the NFL’s week two dropped 4.4 percent compared to last year.