What's behind NFL's ratings woes?

By Jeffrey M. McCall,
professor of communication
DePauw University
Greencastle, Indiana

The juggernaut that is the National Football League catapulted to the spotlight largely through the power of television. The league masterfully marketed the sport by distributing the games through all major television networks. The league went primetime in 1970 with "Monday Night Football" and later expanded to Sunday and Thursday night offerings.

Production variables, such as instant replay, created viewable events that kept fans engaged during the stoppages that characterize the game. The NFL used television to feature outstanding players, providing the kind of action, athleticism and competition that Americans love. Television football announcers became part of the viewing attraction, elevating sportscasters such as Pat Summerall, John Madden and Ray Scott to national prominence. As much as anything, NFL broadcasts drew fans from all walks of life and all corners of the nation to cheer their teams and revel in the uniquely American experience.

The NFL is still quite popular by the standards of pro sports and television programming. But this season's ratings have declined by double-digit percentages, perhaps a sign the NFL thrill is fading. Prime-time games are particularly down in viewership.

One theory about fan's declining interest is that they were absorbed with the presidential campaign. Oh sure, gridiron enthusiasts were so engrossed reading the Trump and Clinton economic proposals. Another excuse is that the game has lost big-name stars such as Peyton Manning, but it's not like Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers have been on the bench. The NFL creates stars out of thin air each week.

This should have been another banner year for NFL ratings. Los Angeles, a huge TV market, had its own hometown team again. The ratings-generating Cowboys re-emerged as Super Bowl contenders behind exciting new stars Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. The Patriots were so good that all non-Patriot fans still wanted to root against them. The big city Giants made the playoffs and are poised for a playoff push, as are the Steelers and Packers, both traditional favorites. Final scores were tight all season, and playoff races went down to the wire.

The NFL's official reaction to the drop-off in television ratings has come off like Alfred E. Neuman, "What? Me worry?" That's a mistake. NFL executives better look seriously at the league's condition. The canary is still singing, but starting to miss some notes.

Just as television helped propel the NFL to craze status, television is now a factor in the sport's current decline. Broadcasts have too many commercials, and games last forever. Real football fans still have jobs to do and family obligations.

Television producers of game broadcasts now over-hype everything. Routine plays are "game-changers," and dramatic stories are explored for each player. The average fan can only absorb so many camera angles. Glitzy graphics, statistics and special effects are more exciting for wonkish video producers than for Joe Sixpack watching his Broncos.

Television is the reason players engage in so much showboating. Players celebrate three-yard gains and routine tackles. And TV replays the histrionics. Football is a game of emotion, to be sure, but high school players play with as much intensity and don't swagger around after every success. Television is now producing a spectacle, not a football game. Production effects should enhance the game, not replace it.

Television football commentators feel compelled to inject their sociopolitical perspectives into the broadcasts. But fans don't need a halftime panel of five talking heads to tell them what to think about whether some player knelt during the national anthem. Fans just want to watch a football game. The NFL should steer broadcasts back to focusing on football and leave social analysis to cable news channels.

Finally, the NFL should consider a "less is more" strategy. Football, like dessert, is great, but too much of it becomes uneventful. Oversaturation during primetime diminishes the product. Sunday morning broadcasts from London add to the insanity. The NFL might like the globalizing of American football. Blue-collar football viewers, however, see this as a rhetorical signal the NFL cares more about European expansion than about protecting a truly American experience.

Television helped make the NFL great, but now TV's overbearing presence has diminished the game. A renewed focus is needed on the sport itself and not the technical delivery. In this case, the medium is not the message.

Jeffrey M. McCall is a professor of communication at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., and author of Viewer Discretion Advised: Taking Control of Mass Media Influences. Contact him at jeffmccall@depauw.edu. On Twitter: @Prof_McCall