NFL Ratings Down: Donald Trump Attacks NFL for Disrespecting Flag and National Anthem

NFL Ratings Down: President Donald Trump took to twitter earlier today to give his take on the reason for the drop in NFL TV Ratings.

The TV ratings for the NFL have been down by alarmingly high percentages across the league in week 1. The sole matchup which performed well in TV viewership was the Brady-Brees SNF game, which was reportedly up by 7%.

President Donald Trump predicted this slump in ratings early on, citing the increased involvement of politics in the sport. Obviously, after he was proven right, it didn’t take him long to voice his opinions on Twitter.

Also read: NFL Viewer Ratings 2020: How much did TV ratings drop for Chiefs-Texans season opener due to Black Lives Matter protest?

Trump’s Attack On the NFL

Trump held nothing back in a tweet where he responded to a report of the fall in TV ratings for the NFL. He claimed that the ratings “cratered” because of the league disrespecting the American flag and national anthem.

Players and coaches either didn’t leave the locker room or kneeled during the national anthem in week 1, and it looks although they will continue to do so.

This has led some fans to boycott the NFL, and according to Trump, it is the culprit for the low week 1 ratings.

“Cratered”. We have plenty of politics to go around without disrespecting our great American Flag or Anthem. I thought the NFL learned their lesson two years ago. The people will not put up with this (again). Just not worth it, hard to watch! https://t.co/iNNGG1maW7

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2020

Also read: NFL Ratings down 2020: Black Lives matter protest and ‘kneeling’ to affect NFL Viewership

How Bad Were the NFL Ratings in Week 1?

There’s no sugarcoating it. The TV ratings for week 1 paint a grim picture for the NFL.

The prime-time Sunday Night game between the Rams and the Cowboys attracted just 18.94 million viewers. Unfortunately for NBC, this is a massive 15% drop from the same slot in week 1 of the 2019 season. This was apparently the lowest audience for a Sunday night opener since 2008.

The Monday Night games didn’t’t do much better. The Steelers-Giants game only managed to bring in 10.8 million viewers. Even worse, the second game between the Titans and Broncos had just 7.7 million people watching, the lowest since ESPN got the rights to MNF in 2006.