The myriad of companies which spent billions of dollars to purchase the television rights for NFL football every week are feeling downright giddy about their investment decisions after Week #1.

Thursday night’s opener featured an NFC East match-up between America’s most beloved and hated team (Dallas) at the defending Super Bowl champions in Philadelphia.

The Eagles won the game 24-20 as neither team was able to score any points after more than a one-hour weather delay during the second half.

Many of us watching the game on NBC hoped that the network would finish-up its commercial allotment during the weather delay so that we could watch the final quarter without significant interruption.

Nope!

The scoreless and sluggish fourth quarter still had NBC taking its usual commercial breaks (though some felt a bit shorter).  This game dragged on for well over four hours as Philadelphia’s slim 24-20 lead remained in jeopardy until the end.

You couldn’t have scripted a better ending – for television and in Las Vegas.  Philly won the game, but Dallas covered the 8-point betting line.

An average of more than 28 million people watched the season-opening game on NBC.

The NBC prime time weeknight line-up over this past summer captured just 10% of that number. That’s right!  NBC drew less than three million viewers to its weeknight line-up from mid-June through August.

ABC and CBS had a similar fate.  All three networks drew fewer weeknight viewers than a cable news network (Fox News) this summer.

My, how times have changed!

A mere 50 years ago, the big three networks featured TV programs like Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, MASH, Three’s Company, and All in the Family drawing 20-30 million viewers every week.

ABC’s new Monday Night Football program lagged far behind the top ten rankings every week.  Fall 1975 television ratings showed ABC’s Monday Night Football in 22th place.

The show was able to draw a 21% ratings share of the TV audience, though.  That meant Monday Night Football’s audience in 1975 amounted to about 15 million Americans (21% of the 70 million TV households).

We have observed how fragmented and fractured the television pie has become in the last 50 years. Cable television led in adding new competitors beginning in the 1980’s.  Additional competition from online streaming competitors has grown significantly in the past decade to further fragment the television market.

Even Friday night’s YouTube TV game from Brazil drew 16 million viewers!

I don’t pay to watch online streaming provider YouTube TV.  Most people don’t.

That didn’t stop 16 million people from watching Friday night’s NFL game from Sao Paulo, Brazil between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers on YouTube TV.

Friday nights are generally considered a TV wasteland.  Many weeknight viewers hit the town for dinner, a movie, or some other entertainment options instead of staying home to watch television.

That makes last Friday night’s NFL game ratings for YouTube TV even more impressive.

NBC’s Sunday night football match-up between Baltimore and Buffalo pulled-in 25 million viewers

Two of the NFL’s likely Super Bowl contenders put on a whale of a show on NBC’s Sunday Night Football debut.

The Buffalo Bills rallied from 15 points down in the fourth quarter and won the game 41-40 on the final play on a field goal by 41-year old kicker Matt Prater.

He wasn’t even on the Buffalo roster until Thursday last week after the Bills’ regular kicker (Tyler Bass) severely injured his groin and was unable to play.  Matt Prater had been helping coach his son’s youth league football team on Tuesday and ended the week by booting the winning field goal for the Buffalo Bills just five days later.

It was that kind of a game for football fans to watch in the stadium and at home.  NBC’s television advertising staff must have been jumping for joy.

The NFL had delivered yet another thriller on national television in Week #1.

Football is the only television product with the power to attract so many viewers

The ratings giant called football (primarily NFL and, to a lesser extent, college football) serves as a beacon which pulls millions of Americans back together to watch a game on one primary source/network every week.

The NFL’s Super Bowl game averages well over 100 million viewers while being carried on just one television network each February.

Conversely, last summer’s 2024 Presidential debate between incumbent Joe Biden and Donald Trump drew less than half of that number (51 million).  That debate was carried across a myriad of networks and online platforms for home viewers.

Accordingly, the NFL (by a 2-1 margin) is more popular with Americans than politics.

Perhaps that may be a very good thing!

Why is NFL Football so popular with TV viewers?

In a word, it’s addiction.

Let’s begin with fantasy football.  More than 30 million Americans are playing in a fantasy football league this fall.

Accordingly, that means that 30 million people (like me) are investing some time every week to keep up with the top players and teams.  They must draft players and try to improve their roster in weekly matches against friends, co-workers, or someone else.

Monday night’s Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears game had me checking the television a few times to keep tabs on the outcome.

My top Fantasy Football receiver (Justin Jefferson of the Vikings) needed to score just a few points on Monday night for my team (called SwampGas) to secure a Week #1 victory in a friendly Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football league.

It took until midway in the fourth quarter for the Vikings (and Justin Jefferson) to catch fire.  The former LSU wide receiver scored a touchdown in Minnesota’s 27-24 win over the Bears and to deliver an unexpected victory for my fantasy football team.

Some fantasy football leagues (like mine) are played purely for fun with no money involved on the outcomes.  However, millions of people are playing in cash leagues for (hopefully-for IRS purposes) relatively small amounts.

Having a little money wagered on your fantasy football team definitely creates an addictive property leading more people to watch weekly football games.

Another football-related addiction has been the growth of online sports betting

More and more states are approving online sports wagering as governmental agencies want to tap into every possible source of new revenue.

More than 15% of the wagering on pro football occurs online.  Nearly half of the 50 US states have approved online sports wagering and more are likely to follow.

Those who regularly plunk down their dollars on weekly wagering are more likely to watch the games on television every week to learn either good or bad news.

Finally, the seasonality and weekly nature of football lends itself to regular viewing

September brings somewhat cooler temperatures for much of the country.  The more moderate temperatures tend to bring Americans back outside for a few months before winter settles in.

The weekly cycle of football games brings fans together at high schools, colleges, and professional stadiums to enjoy the improved weather conditions and an exciting game.

Football (unlike baseball and basketball) is only played once per week.  It allows the players a chance to rest from a very physical sport which takes quite a toll.

That same waiting period serves to allow millions of fantasy football players and online betters a chance to regroup for a few days ahead of the next week of games.

From September through January, football serves as a weekly habit as it attracts like-minded people to watch an action-packed sport filled with increasingly familiar names.

The 32 NFL franchise owners are riding this lingering wave of pro football’s popularity.

The owners are smiling all the way to the bank while watching the value of their franchises rise by billions of dollars over the past decade.

The good ship NFL is delivering – for the owners, the fans, and the growing number of people who are earning a living off the league.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell earns about $64 million per year.

Admittedly, he seems quite overpaid for what he actually does, but the results of his sports league remain impressive.

Roger Goodell’s 32 billionaire employers have given him positive job reviews for his work over the past decade.

It’s good to be the king!

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