MNF Continues NFL Ratings Slide, Numbers Down 20%

Now that the first week of the 2020 NFL season is on the books, the TV numbers continue to erode badly. Thursday night's opener was down 13 percent, Sunday Night football between the Rams and Cowboys was down 28 percent, and now Monday Night Football slides big.

Brietbart.com is the first large media outlet to nationally crunch the numbers for the two Monday Night Football games.

Over the last few years, ESPN (ABC) have broadcast 2 games on Opening Weekend Monday night, for added punch. This year, the first game was Steelers-Giants, and according to the Nielsen 'overnight' or preliminary numbers, it was down 27% compared to the 1st MNF game in 2019.

The second contest, between the Broncos and the Titans, was also down, and when the two games are averaged together, the total ratings drop was 20% over 2019.

Outkick.com, which is a new online-social media organization that features, among others, former award winning ESPN Commentator Jason Whitlock (who's fast gaining steam as a conservative sensible commentator) also pointed out that unlike 2019, the NFL is struggling without fans in the stands.

When you consider that this time a year ago, Outkick says "1.2 million fans aren't attending the games live."  They say ordinarily the NFL would 'add' them to the TV viewer numbers, but that may not be the case.

They say the fans who were not in the stands (due to COVID) are likely the only reason the NFL saw a 27 percent drop instead of say, a 31 percent drop.

The only NFL game that was up noticeably Sunday was the Fox broadcast of the Tampa Bay-New Orleans game, which was the debut of Tom Brady for the Bucs, vs. Drew Brees of the Saints. That game scored well for Fox, but it was really the only one. All the other ones Sunday were down at least a bit, or a lot, depending upon which team and market.

Regardless of how the numbers are crunched, says Brietbart and to a degree Outkick, the "NFL and their broadcast partners have an enormous problem on their hands."

To read more about the NFL opening weekend TV drop, click on the button below.