Neither Murdoch nor Lockhart addressed the national anthem protest issue, but the growth of protests have coincided with a massive loss of ratings since 2015. With the protests against the country starting in the 2016 season, this year’s numbers are down up to 20 percent or more depending on the game from the ratings earned in 2015.
Not everyone is discounting the effect the anthem protests are having on the league.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently spoke about the anthem protests which have spread throughout the league and said that the NFL is suffering “negative” consequences over the continuing protests.
“There is no question,” Jones said last week. “There is no question the league is suffering negative effects from these protests.”
The falling ratings may also be cutting into the networks’ earnings.
In a recent report, financial agency Credit Suisse, CBS’ consistently plummeting game ratings will have a direct impact on the company’s earnings with the financial service warns that the ratings could cut CBS earnings by as much as five percent.
Credit Suisse isn’t alone in warning that the NFL’s fall from grace is bad for the TV networks’ bottom line.
In September, another report claimed that CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC could take a $200 million hit to their estimated $2.5 billion in NFL advertising earnings if fans continue to turn away from their football habit.
Article Appeared @http://www.breitbart.com/sports/2017/10/26/fox-boss-james-murdoch-blames-bad-nfl-ratings-saturation-not-anthem-protests/