Comments on: League racks up biggest ratings since 1987, and all that that implies

By: jj jones

jj jones — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:42:13 +0000

“SDW2001 says:
September 16, 2010 2:59 PM
I don’t agree with that at all. The NFL is far more popular than it was then. ”
The NFL as a whole is more popular than it was then. But a large part of that is because of the parity that exists in the league. In 1987 the best teams were Chicago(Ditka, Payton, Perry), New York(Parcells, Simms, LT), Washington(Gibbs, The Hogs), San Francisco(Walsh, Montana, Rice), Denver(Elway) and Miami (Shula, Marino). Big markets, big stars, big ratings.

By: LAEaglefan

LAEaglefan — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:37:03 +0000

If it comes down to it, maybe they can get Obama to declare a lockout illegal. Let’s see if he can handle it better than he did with the oil spill.

By: liquidgrammar

liquidgrammar — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:05:34 +0000

Okay, so the players take the brunt of this because they’re million dollar athletes. Huh?! What about the BILLION DOLLAR owners??!! They’re just as culpable, if not more so!! I don’t want to here BDO’s, as the owners will heretofore be referred as, crying and whining about money, either!! I do believe that the BDOs were at the bargaining table as well when this contract went into existence! And, speaking of contracts, this is the ONLY sports industry where a contract isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on!! So the BDOs don’t have to honor player contracts or the CBA, but the players should take less and shut up??? I’ll go out there and hold up a finger to the BDOs, all right!!!!

By: NYMets

NYMets — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:59:50 +0000

Miami Dolphins welcome a lockout. This way their team is always tied for first place.

By: SDW2001

SDW2001 — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:59:05 +0000

jj jones says:
September 16, 2010 1:38 PM
The NFL in the mid-late 80′s had more star power than at any point in the league’s existence. And the top teams had the most recognizable players and coaches.
___________________________
I don’t agree with that at all. The NFL is far more popular than it was then.

By: Saintsarebest

Saintsarebest — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:52:15 +0000

@vikingprincess
come on down, bow, kiss our ring and cry out WHO DAT!!!
If our team makes the playoffs? child please, the siants are going back to back! and farve is going back to the farm. we have breesus and a ring. how many rings do the viking have? answer that before you run your mouth.

By: wferg1121

wferg1121 — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:49:42 +0000

“League racks up biggest ratings since 1987, and all that that implies” is that a lot more people are at home watching, because they cannot afford to go to the games, and are sitting on their ass because they cannot find a job.

By: stetai

stetai — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:48:50 +0000

You’re wrong Florio. Baseball lost an entire season and the crappy American sports fan completely forgot about the strike as soon as they had a steroid fueled home run race to follow, and every MLB player since has laughed their way to the bank.
The players screwed up years ago when they accepted the crappy deal and they need to be willing to sacrifice a season for the long term. The fact that so many NBA, MLB, and NHL guys make so much more money than the top NFL guys is a travesty.
Don’t be scared NFLPA, Baseball showed how fans will still show up like sheep when the bell is rung.

By: wd40

wd40 — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:47:32 +0000

Obama and his BS Administration have taken all our disposable income. No choice but to stay home and watch football.
Soon the rating will tank since we’ll have to go out and work off the debt.

By: VikingsPrincess

VikingsPrincess — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:39:43 +0000

@SaintsAreBest
You said, “everyone had to tune in to see the siants demolish the vikings, stand over there carcus and scream who dat!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me know when your team actually “demolishes” the Vikings. You haven’t yet, as you well know. An OT field goal is not “demolishing” and neither is a 5 pt spread. If your team makes the play-offs, we’ll see you there and show you how one team “demolishes” another. You can ask the Cowpokes about their experience in being demolished in the divisional round last year.

By: liquidgrammar

liquidgrammar — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:37:31 +0000

@ Chapnasty – “It’ll never happen with the players using the bully approach.”
I liken that to Iraq complaining of war atrocities as they threaten to nuke all of the Sunnis! You’ve got to be kidding, right?! I believe it was the OWNERS who opted out of an agreement they made with the players, and have been threatening lockout for the last two years!! Now, all things considered, this is like two Kennedy’s fighting over $1000! But calling out just one side is ludicrous!

By: palewook

palewook — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:29:13 +0000

lock out the players and watch what happens to your next round of tv contracts. the nhl is still rotting on the VS network after its lost season from a lock out.
the nfl won’t be thrown off the major networks for a lockout but they will lose millions in the next tv contract for a work-stoppage though

By: _ROCKSTAR_

_ROCKSTAR_ — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:28:15 +0000

also doesn’t hurt that no one is going to the games and staying at home and watching them.

By: Dman33

Dman33 — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:23:44 +0000

I would think that more people watching from home is directly connected to the stadiums being empty. I don’t think they should be seeing that as a good thing.

By: Bordner

Bordner — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:20:15 +0000

Plus there was no DirectTV, so probably not as many sports bar options to go to watch your favorite team. If you were out of market, you had no choice but to watch the local team and hope for updates.
But I was nowhere near addicted to the NFL as I am today. I weathered the stoppages in ’82 and ’87 with little discomfort – now would be different.
I need my weekly fix!

By: AllThat

AllThat — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:19:51 +0000

HDTV in a bar or at your home. No news here.

By: southpaw330

southpaw330 — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:15:50 +0000

What a stupid post. The NFL opened the season on September 13th in 1987. Was a Google search too much?

By: CowboysFansAreAllBandwagonFans

CowboysFansAreAllBandwagonFans — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:11:38 +0000

“And through the league’s justifiable trumpeting of that fact, the league possibly is overlooking the fact that the numbers still fall short of the last season-opening weekend before the last work stoppage.”
–
I’m no English Major, but that has to be the worst sentence ever.

By: titlesong

titlesong — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:10:35 +0000

I understand your point MF, but if you are mentioning the Labor Day weekend, fairness would dictate that you also account for the # of programing options today compared to 1987.
200 plus channels today vs. an average of 4 in most US homes circa 1987.
Also, the # of sports on those channels has increased the competition…
Just trying to be fair and balanced….

By: Hap

Hap — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:08:47 +0000

I actually agree with Florio. Shoot me.

By: philbirds

philbirds — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:08:24 +0000

^^^ yeah, well back then everybody had 1 runningback and 2 receivers that is why there may have been more star. casual fans may not know devery henderson, but players like him help teams win. also players fizzle out a lot quicker now because there is always somebody younger better. lol @ brian urlacher.

By: grandavenue

grandavenue — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:01:19 +0000

But the players are 1!!
1 over paid group of cry babies.

By: Saintsarebest

Saintsarebest — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:56:45 +0000

everyone had to tune in to see the siants demolish the vikings, stand over there carcus and scream who dat!

By: wintertonka

wintertonka — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:54:39 +0000

Completely different media environment today. The ratings from this past weekend are far more impressive than the higher ratings in the 1980s and you clearly know that, Florio.

By: sacdaddy

sacdaddy — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:47:19 +0000

1987 NFL had players fueled with blow and steroids, I’d be watching that gladiator free for all too.

By: _ROCKSTAR_

_ROCKSTAR_ — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:47:11 +0000

That is because the Saints had a good season that year!!!
And look at them again…

By: EverybodyGotAIDS

EverybodyGotAIDS — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:45:54 +0000

In 1987, I was 3 years old. Not only could I not drive, I also had little to no disposable income and my friends also had neither the ability to drive nor disposable income. Now, I have many more options as to how to spend my Sunday. While I always watch at least 1 NFL game, I do not watch more than 2 very frequently, like I used to. I will say that having a bedtime after 7pm does allow me to watch night games with far greater regularity.

By: CHIEF ZEE

CHIEF ZEE — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:45:52 +0000

Bring on the replacements…worked for my skins years ago.

By: DC_Bengals_Fan

DC_Bengals_Fan — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:40:58 +0000

“It’s taken 23 years since the last work stoppage to come close to the total Week One viewership enjoyed in the last Week One before football went away for a while. ”
That’s also when people had about 5 channels on their TV. I hate to let facts get in the way of a good rant, but ratings for everything have declined over the last 3 decades.

By: wrekOgnize

wrekOgnize — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:40:51 +0000

It’s because people can’t afford to buy tickets to a game, so they watch it on TV