NFL primetime ratings are up across the board this season.
Fox Sports’ Michael Mulvihill tweeted Monday morning, “Sunday NFL overnight ratings for FOX/CBS/NBC combined have been up over last year in all seven weeks of the season thus far.”
Sunday NFL overnight ratings for FOX/CBS/NBC combined have been up over last year in all seven weeks of the season thus far.
— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) October 22, 2018
As ESPN’s Darren Rovell pointed out, a large part of the ratings bouncing back is the fact the national anthem debate has essentially been killed.
Putting National Anthem discussion on permanent hold paid dividends. https://t.co/52r12OhfiX
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 22, 2018
Well, I can’t say I’m overly surprised. I think everybody with a functioning brain knew the national anthem debate was a cancer for the NFL. Nothing positive was going to come out of it. The fans were getting upset and starting to turn the games off. (RELATED: NFL Star Wears Kaepernick Jersey And A Bizarre Anti-Trump Hat. What Is He Thinking?)
However, there’s been extremely little focus on it this season. Is that the only reason the ratings bounced back? No idea, but I have no doubt it’s a large contributing factor.
Your deeply entrenched fans who were alienated the past couple years might finally be coming back. There’s probably also something to be said for the fact the games this season have been really good. For example, who didn’t want to watch when the Chiefs played the Patriots in primetime? That’s outstanding football all the way around.
Now, we’ll just have to wait and see if the ratings continue to outpace last season. Something tells me this is going to be a trend that doesn’t go away anytime soon.