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The NFL Has a Star Power Problem


MKnight82

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The NFL doesn't have enough star players, which IMO, is why ratings haven't been doing as well.  The league has a mass exodus of former stars retiring recently.  Peyton Manning, Tony Romo, Calvin Johnson, Michael Vick, Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, and more have all retired in the past 3 years.  

Who are the new "faces" of the league?  Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are probably the two most recognizable, but Rodgers just went down for the year and Brady doesn't do many commercials and isn't really a public figure.  

Odell Beckham and JJ Watt are both players that are in commercials and would be considered part of the new group of players that transcend the sport, but both are out with significant injuries.  

Cam Newton could be a big star but seems to always be putting his foot in his mouth. 

Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot play on the league's most popular team, but Prescott is still unproven and Elliot is always in trouble.  

Andrew Luck was supposed to be the next in line of great QBs, but he hasn't taken a snap this season.

When you compare this to a league like the NBA that is full of young exciting players you can see why the NBA is gaining on the NFL in popularity.  I know the league has had some bad luck with injuries lately, but it seems to be more than that.  The league hasn't been replenishing itself with stars players enough over the past few years.  

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I feel like Sunday Night Football's opening that had IIRC 12 players last season demonstrates the lack of star power or poor decisions they make promoting the stars they have. The 12 players ended up being like half NFCW defensive backs, no HoF QBs, no Gronk or Watt, and Clay Matthews who hasn't been a force in the NFL since like his rookie season. 

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18 minutes ago, patriotsheatyan said:

I feel like Sunday Night Football's opening that had IIRC 12 players last season demonstrates the lack of star power or poor decisions they make promoting the stars they have. The 12 players ended up being like half NFCW defensive backs, no HoF QBs, no Gronk or Watt, and Clay Matthews who hasn't been a force in the NFL since like his rookie season. 

I forgot Gronk, he's probably one of the bigger stars right now.  But I agree, the league has done a poor job promoting individual players as stars.  

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51 minutes ago, DontTazeMeBro said:

We all know why the ratings are down 

Poor quality product as a result of practice times being sharply cut? This plus the non-football commentary filling the pre/post-game shows is probably 80% of it.

BTW the latest numbers have ratings down roughly 7% so far this year. Certainly nothing to sneeze at.

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28 minutes ago, RamRod said:

What do you mean by star players? Are you basing it off skill alone? Or do they need to be in commercials and be some kind of public figure to be considered star players?

Players that transcend the sport.  Someone that people are aware of that are just casual fans and will tune into a football game to see.

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I definitely feel like Bell and Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers are stars. They have social media followings in large numbers and the best at their respective position. Julio is a star too he just doesn't come off like a diva like Moss, Owens, and Chad Johnson. There's star power in the NFL just not being branded enough.

 

To be consistently elite in the NFL is tough. We thought Dez Bryant would be a top 3 WR year in year out and Cam would continue his MVP self but that hasn't happened.

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God....please dont turn this into the crap show known as the NBA. This is a team driven sport. Ratings are down partly because of over-saturation. 

It used to be Sunday football. Then they added Monday night football. Then they added Saturday football. Then Thursdays....

 

Add into that the fact that today's game average fan has their face stuck in a cell phone and is more interested in tweeting and being followed on the internet rather than truly following the game, gives you the decline you see. Lets not forget that fans are more concerned for their fantasy team than they are for a single team. Loyalty is down the toilet. The average fan description of players on their team is:

Trash

Garbage

Dumpster fire

Hot mess

 

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10 minutes ago, patriotsheatyan said:

So fans just turned on Monday Night Football 40 years later? Sure thing

Easy to shoot down ideas without offering your own insight.. what do you think the root of the NFL's viewership problem is, if oversaturation isn't an issue?

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3 hours ago, DontTazeMeBro said:

The NFLs popularity has never been star driven. There's usually maybe a handful of QBs and RBs who can move the needle. But that's it. We all know why the ratings are down 

Ratings are actually up.

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1 minute ago, cddolphin said:

Easy to shoot down ideas without offering your own insight.. what do you think the root of the NFL's viewership problem is, if oversaturation isn't an issue?

Terrible officiating that the league does virtually nothing to radically change, declining quality on the field due to shortened practice and rules that favor signing young players, politicization of the league, lack of emphasis on football in the NFLs media, failure to replace several star players, total breakdown of law and order in the NFL under Goodell, and a near universally hated commisioner. 

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3 minutes ago, scar988 said:

Ratings are actually up.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/nfl-player-protests-national-anthem-week-6-network-footage-nbc-cbs-fox-espn/15rgt3xvut45m1hmlf0uhar8ea

Quote

Through Week 5, the NFL TV numbers were down 7.2 percent, according to Nielsen data. That drop came on top of a 7 percent downturn last season. Through Week 5 of the 2017 season, NFL games averaged 15.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That’s down 7.42 percent from an average of 16.371 million viewers through the same period of the 2016 season, and 18 percent down from the average of 18.438 million viewers through the first five weeks of the 2015 season.

 

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