TV audiences were down during the '16 NFL season, and to help "right its ship, the league sought advice from its media partners to design a season they hope will start strong and gain momentum," according to Futterman & Beaton of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The schedule is "packed with attractive games in prime-time slots, especially in September and October, to get fans hooked early." The league and its rights partners also "moved forward with a plan to cut the number of commercial breaks and made several other moves to improve the flow of the game." Designing a more "appealing schedule is a key part of the fix." NFL Chief Media & Business Officer Brian Rolapp said that the league "tries to heed its media partners’ wishes every year, though it’s difficult to give each network all the matchups it wants." ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Scheduling Burke Magnus said that the net for this season "demanded more support" for "MNF." He said that the net "pushed for more divisional and intra-conference games aiming 'to return Monday [Night] Football to the position where we think it should be.'" Futterman & Beaton note five Patriots games are "scheduled for prime-time slots, including a week seven Super Bowl rematch with the Falcons on a Sunday night." The Cowboys also are in "prime slots five times, including a first-week showdown" with the Giants. The Falcons and Packers, who met in last season’s NFC Championship game, "face off in week two." ESPN’s "MNF" matchups in September feature the Cowboys, Broncos and Giants (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/7). Magnus noted ESPN and the NFL have had "close dialogue in the past, but we were more concerned with them this time than we probably ever have been." He added the league was "not in any way happy with the results from last season either." Magnus: "I give them a ton of credit for recognizing what I would call an urgent situation relative to 'Monday Night Football's' performance and doing the very best that they could to improve it" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/4 issue).
OPTIMISTIC VIEW: In N.Y., Richard Morgan notes MoffettNathanson Senior Research Analyst Michael Nathanson "offered a bullish report" on the NFL's TV ratings for this season. Nathanson said that the "much-chewed-over" ratings slide last year was "caused in large part by the nasty presidential election." He is forecasting the audience for "SNF" will increase 5% and that "MNF" will "see its TV viewership rise" by 11%. Nathanson noted that last year's NFL ratings were "hurt by poor matchups." He said that is something that is "not so much of a challenge this year." Nathanson: "It does look like the NFL has constructed a better primetime schedule this year" (N.Y. POST, 9/7). Meanwhile, RECODE's Rani Molla wrote the "real game is the one between advertisers and the TV networks that carry pro football." For years, it has been a "one-sided affair: Advertisers pay more money for football every year, even though ratings have stayed about the same." Data from research firm Kantar Media claims advertisers last year spent a record $4.2B for ads that "appeared nationally during regular season games." Part of the increase was "due to more national telecasts, which means more ads." But per-ad prices "were also up." Advertisers still see football games as "incredibly valuable since people watch them live at a time when people are increasingly watching shows on demand -- or not watching TV at all." But if ratings "don’t bounce back this year, advertisers may finally decide that pro football isn’t must-see TV, after all" (RECODE.net, 9/6).
HOW WILL THEY APPROACH IT? SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote the NFL’s broadcast partners are "faced with significant editorial choices before kickoff." Players across the NFL "plan to either kneel or make some kind of statement when the national anthem plays," and all the rights holders "agreed that it was a news story to cover." How each network "covers the protest will vary," though. CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus said, "We don’t show the national anthem for most of our games, but we have instructed our producers and directors to scan the sidelines, and if something is going on that we think deserves coverage, they are free to show it." Fox NFL producer Richie Zyontz: "Our boss [Fox Sports President & COO] Eric Shanks, similar to last season, has asked us to acknowledge what our cameras see without dwelling on it, and I totally agree. I think we should document what transpires during the national anthem on both sidelines. I don’t think it would be right to show a single player without the context of his teammates and the other sideline." NBC "SNF" Exec Producer Fred Gaudelli: "We would definitely show any player who is protesting, no question about that. ... I don’t want to get into -- and I don’t think Al (Michaels) and Cris (Collinsworth) want to get into -- any long elaboration, because it can become an endless discussion." ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer Tim Corrigan: "We all expect something to happen. You have to be careful, though. You don’t want to lead people in a path of conversation that is not the right conversation. You have to be reactive to what you see." Deitsch noted the execs "swear up and down that their coverage of the issue is not dictated by the NFL." McManus: "We don’t tell our announcers what to say. We encourage our announcers to express their opinion. If they have an opinion or thought on this, they are free to express it. But I have said we are basically there to broadcast a football game and not get involved in political or social issues" (SI.com, 9/6).
