Ratings dip is fault of fans

Don’t blame Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest for the NFL’s declining ratings over the first month of the season. No, blame the lazy TV crowd.

At least that’s what Roger Goodell wants everyone to do. During the NFL’s latest round of owners meetings in Houston Tuesday, the NFL commissioner insisted that Kaepernick’s protest had nothing to do with the league’s collapsing TV attention.

“We don’t think that’s a factor,” he told reporters, “and our network partners don’t either.”

It’s likely that the league has lost at least a few viewers, especially since several have claimed via email and Twitter that they’re done with the NFL because of Kaepernick.

Still, Goodell didn’t acknowledge any of that.

“We don’t think we’ve lost viewers, and I think when you look at ratings you have to go a little deeper than that,” he said. “There’s viewers, but also how long they’re engaging for. A lot of times, people will leave a game for whatever reason, whether they’re going to go to other programming, or whether the game is less competitive.”