Sunday Night Football ratings dip for NBC

STAMFORD — Millions of Americans are spending more time at home than ever as a result of the coronavirus crisis. But their homebound schedules have hardly translated into a ratings bonanza for NBC Sports’ flagship show.

One month into the 2020 NFL season, Stamford-based NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football remains the No.1 primetime TV program, but it has drawn noticeably fewer viewers in recent weeks. The audience dip is likely the product of a number of factors including increased competition from other leagues’ rescheduled events, news coverage in a presidential-election year and shifting viewer habits.

“COVID-19 has done quite a number of all of professional sports, initially with mass shutdowns and now with many leagues shifting into unfamiliar seasons or playing abbreviated seasons or playoffs,” said Josh Shuart, director of sports management at Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology. “Even the NFL is not immune to decreased viewership, although it’s still significantly higher than all other leagues.”

NBC Sports declined to comment for this article.

Early-season challenges

With its first two SNF games of the season — the Sept. 10 opener featuring the defending Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs’ victory against the Houston Texans and the Los Angeles Rams’ win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13 — NBC averaged 20.5 million viewers. For the 2019 season, SNF also averaged 20.5 million.

But the viewership has dipped in the past four weeks.

On Sunday, 15.6 million watched the Seattle Seahawks grind out a 27-26 decision against the Minnesota Vikings. The same number watched the San Francisco 49ers beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 4.

The Seahawks’ win against the New England Patriots on Sept. 17 and the Green Bay Packers’ defeat of the New Orleans Saints a week later both brought in 18.5 million viewers.

As a result of the coronavirus crisis, SNF has faced increased competition this year from other leagues that postponed the start or completion of their seasons. The previous two SNF games coincided, for instance, with the NBA finals, which are traditionally played in June. Last Sunday’s game also coincided with Game 1 of Major League Baseball’s American League Championship Series.

Playing the games in front of largely empty stadiums probably has not helped its ratings either, according to some experts.

“The NFL relies on packed stadiums to give their games a sense of moment and importance,” said Daniel Durbin, director of the University of Southern California’s Institute of Sports, Media and Society. “Empty stadiums simply reinforce the notion that NFL football games might not be the “mustsee tv” they once were.”

Widespread changes

Other marquee events including the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, U.S. Open golf and tennis tournaments have also grappled with declining viewership in recent weeks amid the unprecedented congestion on the sports calendar in recent weeks.

NBC’s coverage of the rescheduled Kentucky Derby was watched by an average of 8.4 million — about half as much as the total for last year’s race. The 146th Derby was postponed from the event’s traditional running on the first Saturday of May, ending up in a busy weekend that also featured action in the NBA playoffs, Major League baseball, college football and golf’s Tour Championship.

In addition, sports are competing for viewers’ attention with a relentless news cycle dominated by the pandemic, social unrest and the final stages of campaigning before the Nov. 3 election.

At the same time, some fans might have fallen out of the habit of appointment TV viewing when the leagues were delayed or suspended. In the first half of the year, Netflix added about 5 million home subscriptions, raising its total to about 73 million.

“The NFL has long relied on the ‘water cooler’ necessity of watching their product — the desire by fans to not be left out Monday and Tuesday mornings when their friends are talking about the big NFL games of the weekend,” Durbin said. “That necessity has largely dried up and the NFL can no lon

Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz (86) runs against San Francisco 49ers linebacker Kwon Alexander (56) during the second half of the 49ers’ win in Santa Clara, Calif., Oct. 4. An average of 15.6 million viewers watched the game on NBC.

ger rely on social pressure to keep audiences flocking to their televised games.”

Meanwhile, many restaurants and bars that show sports are either operating on reduced schedules or remain closed.

“We have definitely seen a decrease in sports viewing,” said Dani Corbett, general manager of Tigin Irish Pub on Bedford Street in downtown Stamford. “A factor for us with (soccer’s) English Premier League and the NFL may be that we are not open on Mondays or Tuesdays yet. We also don’t stay open late. Any late games we would not be able to show to completion, and therefore patrons are

likely to go elsewhere.”

Still, SNF is unlikely to soon relinquish its No. 1 position during its 12 remaining games of the 2020 regular season. It has ranked as the top primetime TV show for a record nine-straight years.

“To say that having almost 16 million viewers was disappointing is only true in the context of Sunday Night Football’s historically mighty performances,” Shuart said. “But producers may need to come to realize that the pandemic has truly altered how many people spend their free time.”