Through the first six weeks of the season, the TV ratings for NFL games have gone down by 11 percent compared to last season. Roger Goodell said he does not know why the big decrease. The second he made his comment, there was the feeling of a large portion of the sports world rolling their eyes. Really Roger? You can’t figure it out? Most fans will say that it is easier to fix the NFL rating issue than properly determine the amount of air in a football. So here is a couple of ideas you can start with.
1. Get rid of Thursday Night Football
First off, Thursday Night Football is usually a joke. It is just another way to make sure you are getting advertisement revenue; making sure people are spending money for the NFL Network and buying Color Rush jerseys.
The matchups are usually terrible. Quick raise of hands, who watched Jacksonville-Tennessee last week? Hands down if you just watched for fantasy implications.
And don’t get me started on the Jaguars uniforms. Terrible, just terrible.
2. Cut down on regular season International Series games
Let’s make this clear, the only people who willingly get up early for London games are either fans of the two teams playing, or those who just turned off a soccer match. At least there are just three games in London this year, but the NFL added one in Mexico City.
The eight teams participating in the games are not exactly the most fun teams to watch. Washington-Cincinnati at Wembley Stadium at 8:30 a.m.? No thanks.
3. Instead of fining celebrations, encourage them
It is always a big moment when a team scores a touchdown and players get excited. Allow them to celebrate. Who knows what kind of fun and interesting things will happen.
Odell Beckham will run away with the kicking net. Arron Rodgers will sign insurance papers. Colin Kapernick will take a knee. And they won’t get a fine. Those fines are out of control — $10,000 for shooting a pretend arrow? Really? This must be Goodell showing everyone he is still the boss. He also must be Scrooge McDuck, swimming in his pool of coins.
4. Cut down on TV timeouts
Fact: not every football game is the Super Bowl. So then, not all football commercials are Super Bowl quality. They are not funny, and rarely are any good. So, why spend so much time advertisements.
This is the Mr. Krabs business model where it is all about the money, money, money. The fact there are commercials on either side of a kick off make viewing a terrible experience.
5. Introduce a segregated away fan section
An introduction to the European football method of dealing away fans. Keeping all the visiting fans together would provide a new sense of atmosphere in stadiums. This way, away fans will get a certain amount of tickets allocated to their team. Hopefully this will lead to a more European traveling contingency for each team. If they are going to stay with games in London, then try to create a London soccer style atmosphere for all the games.
It is easy to see teams adopting songs to sing pregame, like Liverpool’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Vikings with Prince’s “Purple Reign” sung by 60,000 fans before finishing with a Thunder Clap, now that would be a scene.
6. Cut Ticket Prices
The issue for so many fans is the high-ticket prices that come with attending a game. For the Vikings this season, it is hard to find any cheap tickets. That does come with the fact it is a new stadium, and should be expected. Still, around $200 for nosebleed seats, not cool.
At least things are a bit better in the NFC North. $100 will get you a pair of tickets to a Bears or Lions game, but that is before all the fees are applied for buying the tickets online. Still, think of all the people who would flood to stadiums if tickets were more affordable.