Football Ratings Are Down

[GGGG]

If the Packers win at Chicago later this season, the overall series will be tied for the first time since something like 1933.  (The Bears have been ahead that entire time.)

If I have done the math right, the Bears at their largest least in the series after their first meeting in 1992 (Favre year 1). - 24 games.   

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Quinnipiac University Poll says the same thing as the Yahoo online poll.

Rasmussen poll, also the same thing.

You may find Yahoo poll worthless, but two non-online and controlled polls show the same results within a few percentage points.

And it's hard to take a Rasmussen Poll seriously about anything.

[Sir Lawrence]

This suggests that baseball might have dented NFL national TV ratings.

Cubs ratings nearly twice Bears viewership last night

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20161021/BLOGS04/161029975/cubs-ratings-nearly-twice-bears-viewership-last-night#utm_medium=email&utm_source=ccb-breakingnews&utm_campaign=ccb-breakingnews-20161021

Last night's Cubs-Dodgers game drew an average local TV rating of 24.1, or more than 1 million homes tuning in.

That's the highest-rated Cubs game during the National League Championship Series. But that's not the jaw-dropper.

The Bears, playing the rival Green Bay Packers on Thursday Night Football at the same time as the Cubs game, posted just a 12.8 average TV rating in Chicago between NFL Network and CBS combined, according to a source familiar with the ratings.

That means roughly 400,000 more Chicago TV households were watching the Cubs last night instead of the Bears, who lost to the Packers 26-10.

The Cubs' high number is not shocking, given the fervor around the team as it marches toward a National League pennant.

But the Bears' TV rating is exceptionally low. Its games so far this year have posted ratings in the 19 to 21 range. That's a more drastic dip than NFL TV ratings overall, which were down 11 percent over the first six weeks of the season compared to the same point last year.

"Dented" is probably the correct descriptor.  Preliminary numbers from last night:   TNF on CBS+ NFLN = 14,202,00 viewers
MLB NLCS on FS1 = 7,180,000 viewers
So yes, the eyeballs in the Chicago (and likely LA) markets were understandably watching the Cubs, but nationally the ratio was about the same as Sunday night. 

[brandx]

To suggest that the national anthem is a political statement is a wild stretch.  Some of you wonder why so many Americans are fed up to the point of breaking.  Should all American flags be banned at all public buildings?  Can I go to the DMV anymore without being oppressed because the American flag and the state of Alabama flag is outside the building?   Is that flag a political statement that beats down my oppressed soul as I park the car and make the walk into the building?  How about the post man?  Your local policeman or firefighter with the American flag on their vehicle or uniform.  Or the state flag.

I must have missed it, but who has demanded the removal of American flags from all public buildings? Or from the uniforms of government employees?

Is this something new that I missed? Or is it just a silly made-up argument for who knows what purpose.

In case people like you are unaware, Colin's protest is an attempt to make America more like what we always claim we want it to be. To be a fairer country. To be a more inclusive country. To be a country that actually applies the equality we always talk about.

For anyone to equate Colin's protest with demanding the removal of all American flags goes way beyond chica-esque language.

[tower912]

Chicos gotta chico. 

[Lennys Tap]

Exception to the rule.
This decade, the Packers are 11-3 against the Bears, with those wins coming by an average of 13.6 points per game.
I say this as a fan of neither team.

Wally said the Bears play the Packers 2x a year and get beaten badly by them 2x a year. Depending on how loose your definition of badly is, Wally would be correct in 1, 2 or 3 of the last 10 years and wrong in 7, 8 or 9.

I never said that the Pack hasn't been the dominant team in the series in recent years -  they absolutely have been. But what Wally stated was just wrong.

[rocket surgeon]

I must have missed it, but who has demanded the removal of American flags from all public buildings? Or from the uniforms of government employees?

Is this something new that I missed? Or is it just a silly made-up argument for who knows what purpose.

In case people like you are unaware, Colin's protest is an attempt to make America more like what we always claim we want it to be. To be a fairer country. To be a more inclusive country. To be a country that actually applies the equality we always talk about.

For anyone to equate Colin's protest with demanding the removal of all American flags goes way beyond chica-esque language.

yup, you missed it-MUR was posing it as a question, as in, is this where this absurd, racist protest is going? 

   if the national anthem is a forced political statement, then so is making one do it in front of our flag-gasp!  it's all part of "some" trying to diminish our pride in american exceptionalism.  they call it jingoism or something. you know, we are no better than anyone else; some are just more "equal".  where did i get the racist part from-well check out how one person presented our national anthem at the miami heat/philly 76'er preseason nba game last night-on a knee with a blm shirt on.  my opinion?  they better nip this one in the butt before it gets out of hand.  my opinion? blm is offensively racist.  might as well have been a black panthers shirt

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/10/22/anthem-singer-at-heat-76ers-game-kneels-during-performance.html

[GGGG]

yup, you missed it-MUR was posing it as a question, as in, is this where this absurd, racist protest is going? 

   if the national anthem is a forced political statement, then so is making one do it in front of our flag-gasp!  it's all part of "some" trying to diminish our pride in american exceptionalism.  they call it jingoism or something. you know, we are no better than anyone else; some are just more "equal".  where did i get the racist part from-well check out how one person presented our national anthem at the miami heat/philly 76'er preseason nba game last night-on a knee with a blm shirt on.  my opinion?  they better nip this one in the butt before it gets out of hand.  my opinion? blm is offensively racist.  might as well have been a black panthers shirt

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/10/22/anthem-singer-at-heat-76ers-game-kneels-during-performance.html

LOL..."American exceptionalism"  Good one.

And it's "nip in the bud."

[Badgerhoney]

No, I do.  There are estimated to be 160 million NFL fans (according to various sources that came up on my Google search).  1,136 divided by 160,000,000 = .00071%

That is not statistically significant.  So no larger conclusions can be extrapolated to the larger pool of NFL fans.

Based on this math equation, you don't understand how this works.

[Badgerhoney]

It's all a moot point, really.
The chances that Adam Silver will punish any player for protesting during the anthem is pretty much zero.

Silver last night made this comment

"I don't know if the players are organizing anything," Silver said at the NBA's board of governors meeting in Manhattan. "All I can say is what we have seen in multiple preseason games so far is our players standing for the national anthem. It would be my hope that they continue to stand for the national anthem. I think that is the appropriate thing to do."

[Badgerhoney]

SEC TV Ratings up 12% nationwide (not just in the south)    Apparently the election doesn't matter.  No protesting going on with SEC games, by the way.

[Badgerhoney]

I must have missed it, but who has demanded the removal of American flags from all public buildings? Or from the uniforms of government employees?

Is this something new that I missed? Or is it just a silly made-up argument for who knows what purpose.

In case people like you are unaware, Colin's protest is an attempt to make America more like what we always claim we want it to be. To be a fairer country. To be a more inclusive country. To be a country that actually applies the equality we always talk about.

For anyone to equate Colin's protest with demanding the removal of all American flags goes way beyond chica-esque language.

In my humble opinion you are all missing it.

What is the proper, respectful thing to do?  What is appropriate?   One stands for a country's national anthem.  No one is requiring that person to sing it, or put their hand over their heart.  Just stand.

When we ask people for a moment of silence, what is the appropriate thing to do?  To be quiet, but sure you can be a jerk and scream during that moment of silence.  Or not stand and take a knee during the national anthem.

When a judge enters the courtroom, you are asked to please rise.  It is the appropriate thing to do.

When the bride walks down the aisle, you rise.  It is the appropriate thing to do.

It is called common courtesy.   To equate the National Anthem to forced politics is equally fraudulent then some of the other analogies here.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Based on this math equation, you don't understand how this works.

Show me where my math is wrong.  Or did you not understand the % sign.

Addendum:  I am aware of the statistical significance theory.  For example, a group of 1,111 people can generate a statistically significant set of data plus or minus 3%.  My opinion, though, is that polls of such size are a snapshot misconstrued as a complete picture.  But I'll try to stay on topic and not turn this into a discussion on the merit of polling in general.  If anyone starts a thread on it, then I'll participate.

[rocket surgeon]

  And it's "nip in the bud."  you can have your "bud", but i like my version better 

[forgetful]

SEC TV Ratings up 12% nationwide (not just in the south)    Apparently the election doesn't matter.  No protesting going on with SEC games, by the way.

SEC students have protested during the Anthem at football games this season.  The most evident one was Alabama students protesting during the Anthem during their homecoming win against Kentucky. 

Missouri keeps their players in the locker room during the Anthem (some were going to protest). 

So, by virtue of this, and the ratings being up, I conclude that SEC TV ratings are up because of the protest.  That's logical right?

[rocket surgeon]

SEC students have protested during the Anthem at football games this season.  The most evident one was Alabama students protesting during the Anthem during their homecoming win against Kentucky. 

Missouri keeps their players in the locker room during the Anthem (some were going to protest). 

So, by virtue of this, and the ratings being up, I conclude that SEC TV ratings are up because of the protest.  That's logical right?

one observation however-you are the first person i've heard this from.  i'm sure some of the media is covering it,  but i haven't seen it and that is a good thing.  if the tree falls in a forest....

[GGGG]

I don't know if people turned over to the Ohio State v. Penn State game after the NLCS, but the fourth quarter of that game, including the blocked FG returned for a TD that put Penn State up for good, is why I find college football much more compelling than the NFL. 

[Badgerhoney]

1,136 x 29% x 40% = 132

So 132 people in a small sample size are boycotting the NFL due to Kaepernick's protest.

As my dad would say, "That amounts to a pimple on a pigs a$$."

Which means that 132 /  1136 = 11% of this sample size chose not to watch football because of the Kaepernick protests.

No, I do.  There are estimated to be 160 million NFL fans (according to various sources that came up on my Google search).  1,136 divided by 160,000,000 = .00071%

That is not statistically significant.  So no larger conclusions can be extrapolated to the larger pool of NFL fans.

Why would you divide the sample size (1,136) into the estimated number of NFL fans?  The purpose of a sample size is to use it with statistical significance to extrapolate what it mean against a larger population, within a margin of error to a certain degree +/-  a few percentage points either way.

Your .00071% means literally, nothing.  The math is right, but it means nothing. You aren't solving anything with that equation.

You should have taken that 11% from the original equation and extrapolated that by multiplying by the 160 million.  Which gives you almost 18 million people. That is not a pimple on any pig's ass, unless it is a damn big pig and the pimple the size of most of Florida.

How this ties into football ratings is more complex.  Individuals don't translate into households as easily since more households have multiple people.  But say there are 2.5 people per household, you can then further refine the number to say roughly 7 million households are impacted (17.6M people watching less football because of Colin divided by 2.5 people per household). Also not a pimple on a pig's butt.

Still not good enough, because we don't know how much less football they are watching.  Does it mean completely turned off? Does it mean any games with Colin? Does it mean instead of 3 games a week, they watch 1?   We don't have those numbers, but your approach on how to use these numbers is wrong.  Your .00071% means nothing.

[Badgerhoney]

SEC students have protested during the Anthem at football games this season.  The most evident one was Alabama students protesting during the Anthem during their homecoming win against Kentucky. 

Missouri keeps their players in the locker room during the Anthem (some were going to protest). 

So, by virtue of this, and the ratings being up, I conclude that SEC TV ratings are up because of the protest.  That's logical right?

Your evidence is an action that never took place, Missouri?  Your other evidence is what students are doing at the games, not covered on the field by the camera?  You can find liberal students to protest anything. Were they in a safe space when they did this? 

A number of colleges do not play the national anthem while the teams are on the field, this is nothing new.  The NFL would be wise to do the same thing.  Then Colin can go protest in a more suitable setting.  It is common courtesy to stand for a nation's anthem.  Can you imagine the vitriol by the media if a bunch of athletes decided not to stand for the Canadian anthem during a hockey game or NBA game?  Let's add to it, what if they were white athletes?  What would the reaction by the media in this country be?  Common courtesy, that is all people want. They go to a football game to be entertained, not to watch a political protest by athletes unfairly making broad, and fact less statements about law enforcement in this country. Play the games. Show some respect.

[4everwarriors]

Refreshin', hey? BTW, who da fook is Colin Kaepernick, ai na?

[brandx]

Can you imagine the vitriol by the media if a bunch of athletes decided not to stand for the Canadian anthem during a hockey game or NBA game? 

Are the Mounties in the habit of shooting black Canadian citizens?

[rocket surgeon]

Are the Mounties in the habit of shooting black Canadian citizens?

  "...in the habit of shooting black canadian citizens?  seriously?

    i am hoping and praying that you are not intimating that our police are "in the habit of shooting black american citizens(without due cause) because that would be showing the ultimate disrespect to our police.  broad brush brandee back at it again.  i am hoping others see this as well because i know for a fact that if i would have stated something this outrageous here, the firestorm would be relentless as it should be

btw, there are approximately 900,000 sworn in police in this country.  "in the habit of..." means that we would have an epidemic of  unprovoked police shootings.

any unjustified police shooting of ANY race is not right.  unfortunately, there are some bad actors in the police as there are in all other walks of life

[Babybluejeansfan]

Are the Mounties in the habit of shooting black Canadian citizens?

Are they armed, which is the overwhelming situation in the United States when they are shot?   Are you suggesting there is a conspiracy of the million plus law enforcement in this country to shoot black Americans? 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Are the Mounties in the habit of shooting black Canadian citizens?

  "...in the habit of shooting black canadian citizens?  seriously?

    i am hoping and praying that you are not intimating that our police are "in the habit of shooting black american citizens(without due cause) because that would be showing the ultimate disrespect to our police.  broad brush brandee back at it again.  i am hoping others see this as well because i know for a fact that if i would have stated something this outrageous here, the firestorm would be relentless as it should be

btw, there are approximately 900,000 sworn in police in this country.  "in the habit of..." means that we would have an epidemic of  unprovoked police shootings.

any unjustified police shooting of ANY race is not right.  unfortunately, there are some bad actors in the police as there are in all other walks of life

Are they armed, which is the overwhelming situation in the United States when they are shot?   Are you suggesting there is a conspiracy of the million plus law enforcement in this country to shoot black Americans? 

None of this crap is helping from either side. Brandx, that is a gross over-generalization. RS and Chicos, you know what he was getting at and know he doesn't believe that a significant population of police officers are killing African Americans for no reason.

Police brutality against the black community is an issue in this country. It is an issue for a vast vast vast minority of police officers. But it still happens and that's a problem. We need people from both sides to help end it.

[forgetful]

A number of colleges do not play the national anthem while the teams are on the field, this is nothing new.  The NFL would be wise to do the same thing.  Then Colin can go protest in a more suitable setting.  It is common courtesy to stand for a nation's anthem.  Can you imagine the vitriol by the media if a bunch of athletes decided not to stand for the Canadian anthem during a hockey game or NBA game?  Let's add to it, what if they were white athletes?  What would the reaction by the media in this country be?  Common courtesy, that is all people want. They go to a football game to be entertained, not to watch a political protest by athletes unfairly making broad, and fact less statements about law enforcement in this country. Play the games. Show some respect.

So, if this is happening off camera, then why does anyone care?  How is it impacting watching football? 

People out there claiming to not being watching because of this are the ones keeping this in the press and keeping this an issue.  It is actually making the protest significantly more affective, because the entire nation is now aware of this issue, because of its association with the NFL and ratings.

Kind of ironic, that those bothered by this are the ones making this a national story, for something that wouldn't even be on camera if it wasn't for the uproar by those against Kap.