NFL TV ratings continue to soar in the wake of the league's domestic violence scandal because football followers care far more about what happens on the field of play than off it, said messaging expert Frank Luntz at the ’14 NeuLion Sports Media & Technology Conference this morning. Luntz has conducted sports focus groups in dozens of cities, and in the last few months has looked at the issue of football and domestic violence. When the Ray Rice TMZ video first broke in early September, many people thought it could hurt the NFL’s popularity.
“More than any other sport, (football fans) want to separate things that come off the field versus things that are on the field,” said Luntz, whose firm, Luntz Global Partners, works in politics and sports. “Even for teams that face this in a direct way – such as Minnesota and Baltimore and Charlotte, teams that have had issues – fans don’t want to talk about things that are happening off the field during the season. And that is one of the reasons why football continues to get the most incredible ratings.”
For more SMT coverage, including the full Luntz story, see our dedicated section or use the Twitter hashtag #sbjsmt. Other highlights of today's conference include:
