NBC and the NFL had a night as bad as the New England Patriots for the NFL kickoff game. With 21.8 million NFL fans tuning in, the kickoff for the 2017 regular season was down 13% from last year's NFL and NBC opener between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos. League viewership continues to be on the decline; last season saw a double-digit dip, and this year's kickoff was the worst an opening game has done since 2009.
The defending Super Bowl champs took a big L with Tom Brady and company getting beat 42-27 by the Kansas City Chiefs. Last year's AFC West champs took some hits too, with cornerback Marcus Peters getting blowback on social media and more for sitting in protest during the national anthem, joining Colin Kaepernick's protest against racism, oppression, and police brutality against black people.
Some fans have decided to boycott watching the NFL, as Kaepernick remains unemployed. The offseason has seen several less qualified quarterbacks get picked up, which leads many to believe that the league has blackballed Kaepernick.
Whether it's the Kaepernick effect, Hurricane Irma evacuations, or the lopsided score, this is the first time in five years that the total audience of the kickoff game has fallen below 25 million. Though it's still the most watched network show in three months, even with streaming and other NBC platforms bumping things up to 22.2 million, the game still fell short of the 25 million mark.
Source: deadline.com
