If President Trump thought he could hurt the National Football League with his endless comments about players who choose to kneel during the national anthem, the ratings are in, and it turns out Trump’s calls for a boycott of the NFL have boosted television ratings dramatically.
The Los Angeles Times reports that ratings for pregame shows were significantly higher than before Trump began his attacks on the league. NFL pregame ratings on both CBS and Fox were “significantly higher” on Sunday when compared to previous weeks. The NFL Today on CBS managed to score its highest rating since 2010, and viewership of the games broadcast seemed to depend on the teams playing and how competitive the game was.
For example, a game between the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals went to overtime, and CBS reported an increase in viewers for that contest. In contrast, the Sunday evening game on NBC which featured the Oakland Raiders visiting the Washington Redskins was down 11 percent over the previous week.
Trump, however, continues to claim that ratings for football games are “way down,” sending out this tweet on Sunday:
…NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
Poltifact rated that claim to be “mostly false.”
Rather than drop the subject and move onto to pressing matters such as the crisis in Puerto Rico, which is still reeling from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria, Trump again took to social media on Tuesday morning and posted this:
Ratings for NFL football are way down except before game starts, when people tune in to see whether or not our country will be disrespected!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017
Also, while TV ratings may be slightly down, Forbes notes that the increased popularity of streaming games online has also contributed to the downturn in viewers on traditional communications platforms. So while Trump may continue to pretend that he’s hurting business for the NFL, the facts contradict his assertions. As is the case with nearly everything Trump says, fiction outweighs fact.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org