Many NFL Teams See Decrease In Facebook Followers In Wake Of Protests During Anthem

Twenty-eight of the NFL's 32 teams have seen a "marked decrease in fan following on their team Facebook pages" following league-wide protests last week, according to Jeff Nowak of the Baton Rouge ADVOCATE. Social analytics tool CrowdTangle showed that in all, the Facebook likes among NFL team pages "decreased by 88,610." All data is "representative of figures accurate as of Sept. 26." The three teams that did not take the field -- the Steelers, Seahawks and Titans -- saw "some of the most precipitous drops." In the two days following the protests, the Steelers saw a decline of 17,400 likes, the "most of any team," and the Seahawks' total fell by 10,200. The Titans lost 4,100 Facebook likes, which "represented the second highest percentage of their relative total of any team." The Saints saw the "second-highest drop of 13,300 over the two-day span (5,100 on Sept. 25 and 8,200 the next day)." The Saints' drop of 13,300 "only accounts" for 0.33% of their total likes -- roughly 4,030,000. Four teams in the league, "none of which had a single player kneel during the anthem," saw their likes increase. The "largest increase" was that of the Cowboys, who had their total "climb by 6,200." The Cowboys' demonstration had the team "lock arms and kneel before the anthem, then rising for it." The Cowboys have the league's "largest following with 8,760,000" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 9/28).