Initial ratings show the woke NFL saw a nearly 30 percent decrease in viewership during the first prime-time Sunday game of the season on NBC.
The Dallas Cowboys lost 20-17 to the Los Angeles Rams in a “Sunday Night Football” game that was marketed as a must-see.
The eyes of the world will be on the Cowboys and Rams in this year's first Sunday Night showdown. Who's your pick?
[ NBC Sports | @lowes ]
— Sunday Night Football (@SNFonNBC) September 11, 2020
Despite having "America's Team" facing off against a team from the country’s second-largest TV market in what turned out to be a nail-biter, the NFL game was a ratings disappointment, Deadline Hollywood reported Monday.
The game earned an initial 4.7 among the key advertiser demographic of ages 18-49 and attracted a total of 14.81 million viewers based on early Nielsen data, the report said.
That is an abysmal showing.
Those early numbers represent a 28 percent decrease in the key demo and a 23 percent drop in total viewership when compared with 2019’s "SNF" season opener in which the New England Patriots walloped the Pittsburgh Steelers 33-3 in Foxborough, Deadline reported.
It’s also a big tumble from the game’s recent high for Sunday night on NBC.
A Sept. 30, 2019, matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the Cowboys attracted 24.7 million viewers, which was the most-watched “Sunday Night Football” game since 2016, according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Less than a year later, a Sunday night game featuring the Cowboys drew in almost 10 million fewer viewers, based on early figures.
Many fans, who are in their sixth month of a global pandemic and have witnessed nationwide civil unrest since May, didn’t tune in Sunday, despite the return of the country’s most popular sport to TV.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say the NFL’s decision to embrace leftist political activism and anti-police sentiment -- including encouraging protests during the national anthem and airing a separate "national anthem" for black Americans -- was largely responsible for the decline in interest in the Sunday prime-time game.
That activism was on display Sunday night in Inglewood, a day after two police officers were ambushed and shot Saturday in nearby Compton:
Cowboys lined up in the end zone w/ the message of End Racism for the playing of “Lift Every Voice And Sing” before departing for the locker room. pic.twitter.com/1J5dPnOu4c
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) September 13, 2020
Oh my pic.twitter.com/FEShN3nAVe
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) September 14, 2020
Dontari Poe was the only #DallasCowboys player who chose to kneel Sunday night, stating this was his decision and his way of protesting
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) September 14, 2020
Dallas played a closed game in the Rams’ brand-new $5 billion SoFi Stadium, which was empty because of coronavirus restrictions.
But TV viewership should have been higher.
The Cowboys always draw a crowd, and they have a Super Bowl-winning new head coach in Mike McCarthy.
The Rams are loaded and seem primed for another playoff push.
Both teams have high hopes for this season -- but Sunday night, millions of potential viewers apparently took a knee on the NFL and found something else to do with their time.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Early numbers show NFL's ratings plunge got even worse Sunday night appeared first on WND.
