NFL for future loss
for “SNF”) across the board.
The “conversation” would go something like this: Network executive: Mr. Goodell, do you know why our Monday night football ratings are down 24%? Because our schedule sucks. We need flexibility at a certain point in the schedule, just like NBC. We are not paying you almost $2 billion per for the shlock you are putting on the field.
Think about that line. For it leads to another short-term impact of the ratings situation. There is not a coach, GM or NFL TV analyst who does not complain about restrictions on practice time and hitting, which resulted from the last collective bargaining agreement. As media and fans continue to push the notion the on-field product is in decline and affecting ratings adversely, how soon do GMs and coaches go to ownership and push back, saying, “you want a better product, you want the ratings to come back, then let us do everything it takes for our team to perform at its highest level. Do what is necessary to get rid of the
ACOREY SIPKIN/ DAILY NEWS restrictions.”
Privately, other pro sports leagues, and people associated with them, revel in the NFL’s problems. They love to knock the king of all sports operations. Yet the immediate impact of the NFL’s ratings situation includes a bolder approach, not just the usual tweaking. Like what Fox’s Alex Rodriguez said Tuesday night during the World Series pregame show before Game 1. “In 2016 we (baseball) own the fall. Not football,” Rodriguez boasted. See, MLB can point to the NFL’s ratings decline and, for the first time in years, flex its October muscles. Especially when one of the participants in the Fall Classic is the Cubs, a transcendent team and a ratings magnet. -Rod’s point should not be dismissed. The perception is baseball, in Cubs-Indians, has something good to sell at a time when NFL football is perceived to be broken. That’s not good in an entertainment world where perception is reality.