Football ratings are down; reasons unclear

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Most television shows would love to have the “bad ratings!” that President Donald Trump tweeted the NFL is suffering from. But he’s generally right that the TV audience size for professional football is off this year.

The president tweeted over the weekend: “NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love country. League should back U.S.”

Sunday afternoon NFL games averaged 16.04 million viewers for the first two weeks of this season, down 11 percent from the 18.1 million people who watched during the same period last year, the Nielsen company said. There was little change for NBC’s first two Sunday night games: 22.2 million this year, down slightly from 22.9 million in 2016. For the first three “Monday Night Football” games shown on ESPN, viewership slipped 5 percent from the 11.79 million last year to 11.23 million this year, Nielsen said.

In a world where TV viewing is increasingly fragmented and more people are watching on devices or saving programs until later, the majority of TV shows have smaller ratings than the year before. Still, pro football games remain among the most-watched things on television.

The president may have his theories, but explaining why ratings are down isn’t simple.