RUSH: To the phones, Kokomo, Indiana. This is Bill. It\u2019s great to have you, sir. Hi.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yes, sir. Great honor. Like you, I\u2019m interested in the NFL ratings and how the politics plays into it, and so I was checking to see what the ratings were doing this year, and the first story I linked to on a Google search said that the ratings decrease this year was due to the protests started by the folks that were upset by Colin Kaepernick\u2019s treatment by the NFL. And I thought that was kind of funny because for like the last year, folks have been bending over backwards to try and tell us that the people who were boycotting the NFL because of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee, that had no effect.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/FB-090717-NFL.jpg\")
RUSH: Wait a minute. I want to be sure I heard this right. You went on a Google search and they threw at you a USA Today story which says the reason the NFL is losing audience is because people are upset, not at Kaepernick, but rather upset at the way he\u2019s being treated by the NFL?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yes, sir. I believe it was — the USA Today affiliate. And they went on to list how many Twitter followers he has and 30,000 people this and 300,000 people that. I thought it was really funny, because all I\u2019ve heard for a year was, well, everybody\u2019s watching because their cable is getting cut or they\u2019re cutting the cable, that Kaepernick had nothing to do with any of it.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You know, that last point, cord cutting, that\u2019s happening faster than anybody thought. I don\u2019t think I printed this. I saw it over the weekend as I was perusing the tech blogs. So cut me some slack if I don\u2019t remember the number right. But it\u2019s — oh, this can\u2019t be. It\u2019s something like 35 or 40 million people have canceled satellite cable over like a six- or eight month period, in order to go streaming and so forth. I\u2019m gonna have to find the story.<\/p>\n
But regardless what the number is, people cutting the cord, that is canceling cable or canceling satellite. It is happening fast. It\u2019s all Millennials, most of it, and it\u2019s happening much faster than anybody thinks. That obviously is gonna have an effect on live TV ratings. There\u2019s another aspect of this, that millennials are watching TV but not live. You know, they\u2019ll watch, let\u2019s say The Last Ship. The Last Ship\u2019s a TNT show that airs on Sunday. They\u2019ll watch it, but during the week.<\/p>\n
They won\u2019t watch it live as it is aired or broadcast live. And that\u2019s a ratings challenge. You know, find that viewer. Nielsen measures real-time viewing. They\u2019re trying to accommodate DVR, people that record programs on satellite or cable and watch \u2019em later, but streaming, that\u2019s a whole other challenge to get those. So it may well be that it\u2019s not that fewer people are watching, it\u2019s just how, and the ratings people are having trouble catching them.<\/p>\n
On Kaepernick, this is classic. I can assure you the NFL\u2019s ratings are not down because people are mad at the NFL over how they\u2019re treating Kaepernick. The media is treating it that way. The media is mad at the NFL. The media is trying to get you mad at the NFL. The media has made Kaepernick a champion. And they\u2019re trying to peddle this story that Kaepernick is a great player and a team would be eminently helped if he would be their quarterback, but the league is filled with racist white supremacist owners and they\u2019re not gonna have somebody who\u2019s gonna protest the country or the flag.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/650-091817-LA-Col-Rams-Crowd.jpg\")
They\u2019re trying to create that narrative, that viewers are actually in Kaepernick\u2019s corner. It\u2019s just the opposite. And I\u2019m gonna tell you something else now. These pregame protests that take place on the sidelines, they\u2019re now beginning to happen in the game. And that ain\u2019t going to help. “What do you mean it\u2019s happening?” Well, one instance yesterday. The Bennett brothers, Martellus Bennett plays for the Green Bay Packers. His brother Michael Bennett plays for the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n
Michael Bennett was in Las Vegas recently, before the season started. He was in a strip club or some other similar type establishment where gunfire broke out. The cops were called. Among the people fleeing the scene after the cops told everybody to stop where they were was Michael Bennett. So the cops, entering a scene like that, gunfire, everybody is worried about being shot, so they tell everybody to stop, hold your ground, put down your guns. If anybody doesn\u2019t and starts running away, they\u2019re gonna get chased.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s what happened, and Michael Bennett said they threatened to blow his F-ing head off and said they treated him like some third-rate citizen because of race. And his brother for the Packers, Martellus, who obviously supports him and a lot of NFL players support him. We don\u2019t know what really happened. I don\u2019t think he had anything to do with the event. It\u2019s just that he ran when they told everybody to shut up. Well, yesterday he tried to do the black power salute on the field after a play. I didn\u2019t see it. I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s an offensive lineman, defensive lineman. He made a sack or something.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re telling us he gave the black power salute, but his fist wasn\u2019t closed. His hand up in the air, like John Carlos and the other guy at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, he did the black power salute, and it looked like he was emulating that. Whether he did or not, it was reported that he did. And so it has been reported that a player has continued to protest the racism of the NFL actually on the field. He does sit down and take a knee during the anthem and he has two Seahawks players on either side with their hands on his shoulder offering support, one black, one white.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/RIH-083117-Kaepernick.jpg\")
They\u2019re making a spectacle of this, and it\u2019s growing, these protests are growing, they\u2019re not being cut back. Certain owners like Jerry Jones and Clark Hunt, Cowboys and Chiefs, are asking their players not to do this, to respect the country, to respect the flag because it\u2019s a respect for the fans. It\u2019s respect for the people who are paying to enter the stadium and watch the game. The owners are asking, “Please respect them, if you don\u2019t think you can respect the flag or the country.” I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s been any protest of the Cowboys or Chiefs players.<\/p>\n
But the idea that NFL viewership is down because fans are mad at the NFL because Kaepernick doesn\u2019t have a job is folly. It\u2019s absolute insanity. It\u2019s hilariously incorrect. But if they want to lie to themselves — and the left does this a lot — if they want to lie to themselves about what\u2019s really going on, if they want to lie to themselves about public opinion, if they want to lie to themselves about what the majority of people in this country think on any given issue, go right ahead.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re gonna continue to lose elections. You\u2019re gonna continue to support candidates who are gonna lose elections. You go right ahead. You purposely want to misread the majority thought on culture, morality, patriotism, whatever it is, if you want to misread it in the sports media, in the Drive-By Media, you go right ahead. Be my guest.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
\nRUSH: Kyle in Berryville, Virginia. Hi.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Great to talk to you.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Thank you, sir. How are you doing?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Good. I\u2019m doing good. I\u2019ve been enjoying your show for a long time. I appreciate what you do.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I appreciate that, sir, very much. I really do.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NFLLiberalismPenaltyPIX-1.jpg\")
CALLER: So I wanted to give you a little bit of fuel for this NFL issue. I believe also that if you are lucky enough to be a professional athlete, it\u2019s only because you live in this country where you have that ability, and it\u2019s really a shame that some want to disrespect that. And I\u2019m really glad to see that the attendance and everything has gone down and the people watching TV has gone down because of it. I heard you weigh in on that during your first hour. So I was eating lunch during your second hour, and the TV at the restaurant was on ESPN, of course, and they were also talking about the statistics of the poor attendance in LA. They attributed that, the very first reason, to the stadium being old, broken down, and in need of replacement, repair, whatever to get the attendance back up.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Which stadium? The LA coliseum?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Correct.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, there\u2019s no doubt it\u2019s a rat trap. I mean, there\u2019s no doubt that it\u2019s old, but that excuse doesn\u2019t hold water because the day before, 81,000 people streamed in the place to watch USC-Texas.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Exactly. And it was an awesome game, too.<\/p>\n
RUSH: It was. A bunch of Texas people were staying at the hotel I was staying in in Beverly Hills. Those people, you know \u2019em when they get out of their limos. You don\u2019t need the big long horns on their hood. And it\u2019s not the ten-gallon hat. You know the Texans when they\u2019re walking around the hotel. You just know that they\u2019re there for — look, the LA Coliseum\u2019s been around a long time. It\u2019s not the best neighborhood. But USC doesn\u2019t have any problem. I\u2019ve heard people say, “Rush, that\u2019s a different thing. You\u2019ve got students who are there on the cheap. College fervor is much different than a capitalistic enterprise.”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/310-USC-vs-Texas.jpg\")
I don\u2019t care. They still sell tickets. You still have to drive there. You still have to party, buy the beer, the popcorn — well, beer at college games may not be allowed; I don\u2019t know. But still, you gotta buy the concessions. You gotta put up with all of it. You gotta sit on uncomfortable bench seats and all that stuff. You sit out in the sun, if that bothers you. It\u2019s the same circumstances the Rams or any other pro team has to deal with. You think about this, the NFL — you would think an enterprise this big would want be to honest when people are not watching on TV as much and not going to stadiums, you\u2019d think they\u2019d want to really know what\u2019s going. And by the way, did you see pictures of the crowd at the LA Coliseum on Sunday?<\/p>\n
CALLER: I did.<\/p>\n
RUSH: And the Stub Hub down in Carson where the Chargers were playing, 27,000. That wasn\u2019t filled. Last week the 49ers, brand-new state-of-the-art stadium, WiFi better than anywhere in the league, it\u2019s not filled. They\u2019re empty seats all over the league. The NFL is concerned about studio show now. There aren\u2019t any blackouts, every game\u2019s on TV, home games and so forth. I would want to know why people aren\u2019t watching or attending. I\u2019d want to know the real reason so I could change it. And if they\u2019re lying to themselves, if they\u2019re thinking people are staying away because they\u2019re mad at the way the league is treating Kaepernick?<\/p>\n
A sportswriter went to a game as a fan, figured the average cost, and I forget where, $500 to take a family to a football game. Now, given that\u2019s leisure dollars and that\u2019s a discretionary, you don\u2019t have to spend that. That\u2019s a lot of money to go to a football game where you might have to watch the flag being protested or you might have to watch the country being protested. If I were the NFL, I\u2019d want to know what the truth is, wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yes, absolutely. It\u2019s just amazing to me how fast the excuses come out other than the real reasons we know they are.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, ESPN, they\u2019ve got a financial interest. I mean, they\u2019re paying over a billion dollars a year for one game a week. Monday night game. And they don\u2019t even get the best games on Monday Night Football. Those go to Sunday night on NBC, which doesn\u2019t pay as much as ESPN does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSH: I can assure you the NFL's ratings are not down because people are mad at the NFL over how they're treating Kaepernick. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":247509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n