A new wrinkle on Thursday was added to the debate over "whether the NFL has a viewership issue tied to national anthem protests, long commercials or last year’s presidential election," according to A.J. Perez of USA TODAY. A J.D. Power survey cited those "among the reasons why 10% of the football fans" said they "watched the NFL less last season." However, 29% of the survey’s football fan respondents said they actually "watched more than in the season prior," even though total regular-season viewership "fell an average of 8% among the league's broadcast partners." J.D. Power had its survey "completed by 9,200 sports fans who attended at least one NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL or MLS game during the previous season." Of the fans who said they watched "fewer games, the national anthem protest (30%) was listed as a primary reason for the decrease," followed by game delays (24%), the presidential election (18%) and excessive commercials (18%) (USA TODAY, 7/28). In DC, Philip Bump notes fans of other sports "indicated that it wasn’t the anthems that caused them to watch fewer games." They indicated that the turnoff was "more likely to be the series of stories about players who’d committed domestic abuse that turned them off the game." J.D. Power confirmed that the reasons for watching less football were "offered as a list for respondents to choose from." Bump: "In other words, this wasn’t people voluntarily chiming in to say that the anthem protests discouraged them." Respondents were also able to "pick multiple reasons for their decreased viewership" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/28).
