If Thursday’s preseason game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars is any indicator, the TV ratings issue that plagued the NFL in 2016 may be back in 2017.
“It is just the preseason, and it is the Jaguars, but Thursday night’s Bucs-Jags preseason game earned a 1.6 rating on ESPN, which is the lowest-rated preseason game (excluding NFL Network) in 12 years, according to Sports Media Watch,” Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times reported. “The 1.6 rating is the lowest for any ESPN preseason game since a tape-delayed 2005 game between’ the Falcons and Colts, which drew a 1.5 rating.”
How big of a deal this is remains to be seen. But it’s certainly not what the NFL wants to see.
It could simply be a matter of two teams without big national followings squaring off, on a Thursday night, no less.
It could also be a matter of viewers tuning out preseason football, opting to pay more attention to the tragedies that occurred in Charlottesville and Barcelona. That would certainly be understandable.
But if those aren’t the primary causes of the poor ratings and this becomes a trend, it’s bad news for the NFL. One of the stated contributing factors to the poor ratings in 2016 was a particularly contentious presidential election. If the ratings remain down in a non-election year, it may be a sign of a greater problem for the NFL.