NFL spproval ratings have dropped 30% and its viewing audience has dropped 17% as it continues to do battle with Trump and the American Patriotic Nation.

None of these dark times would have happened if any other politician was sitting in the White House,  whether Republican or Democrat.  Certainly,  NFL ratings would have taken a hit,  but to mount a PR campaign against Trump,  well, most would call this move "suicide."  Anytime you see the visual of 20 people kneeling and 60,000 folks standing,  you know you have lost the argument.  Yet,  ESPN and NFL Network commentators continue to mouth off.  Sooner than later,  the networks are going to tell their sportscasters to sit down and shut up.  Millions in T.V. revenues are being lost as commercial discounts pile up effecting the very monetary base needed to pay NFL salaries and sports casters salaries. 

 

By  Andrew Beaton/Wall Street Journal

Updated Oct. 10, 2017 12:40 p.m. ET

  

Carson, Calif.
StubHub Center is an apt name for the modest soccer stadium-turned NFL foster home for the Los Angeles Chargers. The tiny 27,000-seat stadium, named for a ticket-resale behemoth, has struggled to fill up for the country’s most popular sport.

In the Chargers’ first season back in L.A. after 56 years in San Diego, seats are noticeably empty at kickoff for home games. Many other seats are often filled by boisterous traveling fans of visitors like the Kansas City Chiefs. After a recent game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said it didn’t feel like a home game.
Chargers fans knew that starting over in L.A. wasn’t going to be easy. “We’ve been moved from a city in San Diego that appreciated the team and the players,” said Chad Smith, a Chargers fan at a recent game here.
The Chargers aren’t alone in facing questions about their fan support. All four of California’s teams are struggling with identity crises  . . . . . 
Since last year, Rams’ prices have dropped 10%. On the other end of the spectrum, because the StubHub Center is so small, Chargers tickets on the secondary market cost 70% more than they did a year ago when the team played in San Diego.
While the Chargers and Rams face the challenge of breaking into a new city, the entrenched 49ers’ questions are different. Their stadium, which opened in 2014, has been criticized for its location in Santa Clara, which can be a nightmare for fans to reach, and its design, which leaves fans on the sunny side of the stadium with extremely hot seats.
All of this to watch a team that is 2-19 since the start of the 2016 season. The 49ers have been working with an architecture firm for more than a year to study potential improvements to Levi’s Stadium, which includes options to give fans relief from the heat.
The Chargers and Rams, on the other hand, still have a few years until they move into the $2.6 billion home they plan to share in Inglewood, Calif., where the NFL hopes to take hold with a premier venue in one of the country’s biggest markets.
Los Angeles has always been somewhat of an enigma for the NFL. The league became richer than ever over the past two decades without a team in the country’s second-biggest city.
Then after 21 years in St. Louis, the Rams repatriated to L.A. last season. The early returns were positive. Playing in the city’s famous Coliseum, they averaged 84,457 fans in their first season. But they also went 4-12.

(You will want to read the full story at the Journal, linked above).