“Attendance and ratings are way down. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country,” President Donald Trump commented. Over the past decade, NFL football has been top five in television ratings across the country. In fact, NBC’s Sunday Night Football has been one of the most watched televison series of the decade. Despite all this, NFL ratings have fumbled over five percent since the 2017 kickoff. Along with Trump, many are quick to point to the recent politics surrounding kneeling players as the sole reason for the dip in ratings. After a closer look, it is more likely NFL’s TV ratings would have fallen this year regardless of whether players stood, kneeled, or performed cartwheels while the National Anthem played.

The controversy first began when former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee for the pregame national anthem in an attempt to raise awareness for police brutality and social inequality between blacks and whites. Many players went on to follow Kaepernick’s precedent by taking a knee before each kickoff. Despite the opposition, San Francisco’s Eric Reid and Denver’s Brandon Marshall stated they “have no intentions in disrespecting our great military or the flag itself.” In Week 3 of the 2017 NFL season, President Trump voiced his opinion by stating that NFL owners should cut players who protest the anthem. Every NFL team participated in some type of protest: the Seattle Seahawks locked arms, the Miami Dolphins all took a knee, and the Pittsburgh Steelers did not even show up for the pre-game anthem (with the exception of Alejandro Villanueva, a former Army Ranger). Although anti-protesters called for a boycott of the NFL, the dip in ratings cannot be blamed on this issue alone. So what is this extraneous factor?

Concussions have been and still are a huge issue for the NFL and football on all levels. The NFL is constantly changing the rulebook to promote players’ head safety. Players are now penalized for “targeting,” or going in for a tackle by leading with the helmet. “Roughing the Passer” was a penalty created by the NFL to keep the quarterback safe from injury. The rule was designed to encourage athletes not to tackle the player above his chest after he throws the ball. The NFL also changed the touchback line, moving the initial starting spot from the 20 yard line to the 25 yard line after kickoffs. This rule was made to give return specialists the desire to kneel the ball for a touchback on the kickoffs. Despite these precautionary steps, hefty fines and large in-game penalties are just not getting the job done. Currently, the NFL is making an attempt to limit concussions by introducing a new type of helmet – the “Vicis Zero 1.” This helmet is designed to be more flexible and a better absorber of contact than the ordinary football helmet. Russell Wilson, Alex Smith, and Richard Sherman are some NFL players sporting the advanced helmet, but the majority of players choose not to try it. Consequently, gruesome head injuries will continue to occur, and fans will continue to be turned off by big hits and scary concussions.

The NFL ratings drop is nothing substantial when compared to what is going on with the rest of television. Through Week 9, the NFL is down five percent overall from the same point last year. That may seem like a troubling drop for the biggest ratings powerhouse on TV, but it seems less dire when we consider that the four major networks are down an average eight percent in prime time. The fact is people are watching TV differently now and cord cutting is a major issue for all broadcast entities. Younger fans tend to be more tech-savvy than elders and may be more apt to quicable or satellite TV. A whopping 22 million consumers are expected to cut the cord by the end of the year. In addition to this, illegal streaming offers a cheap and easy alternative for younger fans.

Viewers are not happy that several once-proud franchises like the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers have fallen on tough times, and because these teams are located in the first and sixth largest media markets in the country, respectively, it has certainly reflected in the ratings. While the 49ers’ struggles are nothing new, the Giants franchise and its fans had Super Bowl aspirations coming into the season. After losing the first five games of the season, these aspirations proved to be short-lived. Junior Cody Lavian chimed in on the team’s struggles and injuries across the NFL: “After the Giants lost [Odell] Beckham, [Brandon] Marshall, and [Sterling] Shepard in the same game, a lot of fans gave up on the season. I think the main reason ratings are down is because so many good teams know their season is basically over due to franchise players losing their season to injury.” The loss of Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson for the remainder of the season has certainly doomed two Super Bowl-caliber teams to nothing more than below average rosters. Even the New England Patriots have fallen on harder times due to many injuries on the defensive side of the ball. While injuries are also nothing new to NFL football, the loss of multiple franchise players on these teams has ruined the enjoyment of watching football for many fans.

Ultimately, the drop in ratings cannot be pinpointed on one specific issue, but blame must be assigned to multiple problems challenging the NFL. While some issues cannot be resolved, better days are in store for fans of the league. The incoming 2018 draft class is expected to be one of the most talented in recent memory, and aging NFL rosters will be injected with loads of exciting talent. Hang in there, Giants fans, better days will come.