Stuart Elliott: Is Football's Long, Glorious Reign Coming to an End?

But what makes that game on Dec 28 1958 so outstanding in retrospect is that as Sports Illustrated proclaims it quotput football on the mapquot and sparked the love affair between the sport and television The game which the Colts won 2317 was broadcast nationally by NBC and it marked the start of a surge in popularity that eventually took the NFL to the top of the heap among sportsmad AmericansAs pro football benefited so too did TV filling gazillions of hours of airtime with programming that viewers couldn39t get enough of And football coverage could be monetized like almost nothing else the networks offered bringing in bagsful of ad dollars each seasonMarketers may grumble about the high cost of putting their pitches in front of football fans but as it became harder to reach male audiences they delighted in the NFL39s ability to draw guys to the tube to see commercials for cars beer tires insurance sneakers credit cards and phones The power of pro football is underlined by the fact that the Super Bowl long has been the biggest day of the year not only for the NFL but also for TV and for Madison AvenueNow however the goose that laid all those golden eggs may be an endangered species Pro football because it39s almost always watched live had seemed immune to the problems suffered by other types of TV fare But to this point in the 201617 season ratings unexpectedly have declined in some instances by as much as 21 percentThat has led top executives to worry whether the NFL39s unique hold on TV viewers is loosening and even if gasp pro football has peaked There39s enough concern that Roger Goodell the NFL commissioner has offered a suggestion that not long ago would have been deemed heresy reducing the amount of commercial time during each gameAny cutbacks would be part of efforts to address gripes that games are too long and unevenly paced Those complaints are high on the list of theories to explain the sudden falloff in NFL viewership Maybe it39s a backlash against players who protest during the national anthem or against the onfield violence that causes brain injuriesMaybe it39s because apart from the Dallas Cowboys there have been few teams with compelling story lines this season That lack of excitement was in stark contrast to the outsized dramatics of the presidential campaignamp160and indeed ratings have improved for some games played after Election Day In an era of inattention as people bury their heads in small screens the game on big screens may need to be more actionpacked and engrossing to hold their own against streaming video appsamp160and social media feedsamp160amp160The factors that I consider most responsible for the ratings plunge all are related to expansion There are more games now than there used to be they39re being played on more days of the week and they39re being played abroad as well as on American soil The danger is saturation giving people more than they want or can take in You know the saying quotToo much is never enoughquot I39m a big believer in another sayingamp160quotAlways leave them wanting morequotWhile I39m unsure if the NFL should cut back the number of games each season or reduce the rounds of playoffs I39d strongly recommend trimming frequency to two days a week Sunday and Monday and stop scheduling games on Thursday nightsPlaying regularseason games in London or other venues outside the United States is great for team owners and it may offer NFL officials a way to test in real time the prospects for an International Football League But I can39t see what possible benefits there are for fans of those teams and it39s the fans for whom the games ought to be played That39s not just some highminded sentiment without the fans there39s no reason for marketers to pay all that money for pricey commercial timeSpeaking of which I39d also vote for running fewer commercials during each gameamp160oramp160at leastamp160shortening the ad breaks Commercial loads are too high on TV whatever the programming and paring the interruptions during marquee content such as pro football would set a great exampleThe one exception the Super Bowl There ought to be more commercials during the Super Bowl Why Because we should encourage marketers and agencies to participate in the one day of the year when consumers actually look forward to seeing adsClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Stuart Elliott: Is Football's Long, Glorious Reign Coming to an End?

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