Says the Washington Post:
Viewership of major sporting events is down across the board, including in leagues with no social-justice messaging to speak of.
According to data compiled by Sports Media Watch, golf’s U.S. Open was down 42 percent. The Kentucky Derby: 43 percent. The Stanley Cup finals: 61 percent. The vaunted NFL is down 13 percent early in its season. MLB’s division series were down 40 percent. A World Series between, potentially, Atlanta and Tampa Bay isn’t likely to change the tide.
Here is what sports viewership looks like right now: pic.twitter.com/JzbKn1pKIz
— Sports Media Watch (@paulsen_smw) October 14, 2020
Several factors are fueling the drop, according to viewership data and interviews with TV executives and industry observers: the intensity of the political news cycle, a glut of sports on TV and viewers’ lives being upended by the pandemic. A new survey shows some Republicans say they’re tuning out over social-justice messaging, but the data tells a different story.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/10/16/sports-ratings-down-pandemic-politics/