League apologises for an ‘unacceptable’ tweet
>> NEW YORK: The NFL has apologised for an “unacceptable” tweet with three smiley emojis that likened the Kansas City Chiefs’ big victory over the New England Patriots to a deadly earthquake that shook Mexico.
The tweet came from the league’s official NFL Mexico account after the Chiefs upset the Super Bowl champions 42-27 in the season opener on Thursday night.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was upstaged by rookie running back Kareem Hunt in the game.
The game ended about a half-hour before the earthquake, which killed at least 32 people. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.1, hit the southern coast of Mexico. Authorities say it was the strongest in Mexico in a half-century.
The t weet from t he @nflmx account said in Spanish: “When Mexico City shakes with an #earthquake because it can’t believe the @ Chiefs won the #Kickoff2017 game.’’
The since-deleted tweet received wide criticism online. The NFL Mexico account later apologised for the “unacceptable tweet from yesterday, which doesn’t reflect the league’s values. We reiterate our solidarity with Mexico.”
The NFL is one of the most popular sports in Mexico, where the Raiders will play a regular-season game in November for a second consecutive season.
Meanwhile, the NFL kick-off game between the Patriots and the Chiefs broadcast on Thursday night on NBC attracted 21.8 million TV viewers, down more than 13 percent from last year’s opening game, data from NBC and Nielsen showed.
Last year’s game between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos, also on Comcast Corp unit NBC, drew 25.2 million TV viewers.
Despite competition for attention, advertisers and television networks are optimistic for this season due to a more compelling game line-up and the NFL’s traditional broad reach.
Viewership of the Thursday night game was probably reduced as fans in Texas, Florida and Georgia focused on recovering from Hurricane Harvey and bracing for Hurricane Irma, said Jason Kanefsky, director of strategic investments at marketing firm Havas Media Group, in an interview.
Still, this season’s NFL primetime line-up of match-ups between highly ranked teams is improved from last year, said Michael Nathanson, senior research analyst at MoffettNathanson.