NFL losing core audience, only 51% of men follow closely

After seeing its television ratings drop for the second consecutive season, the NFL received more bad news on Friday as a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed that the league's core audience is rapidly losing interest. NFL games remain among the most watched programming on television, but ratings took another significant dip during the 2017 regular season amidst controversial player protests and criticism over the league's handling of concussions. Many blame the peaceful protests for the league's ratings decline Samaje Perine and Chris Carter of the Washington Redskins hold hands as they stand and kneel in unison during the national anthem before playing against Oakland The average audience was 14.9 million viewers per game, down 9.7 percent from 16.5 million viewers in the 2016 regular season, according to Nielsen. A fan holds a sign protesting the kneeling by players during the national anthem before the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Arizona Cardinals on September 25, 2016 NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN pay more than $1 billion a year apiece for NFL TV rights, with ESPN spending the most - $1.9 billion for 'Monday Night Football.' NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appears to have succeeded in spite of the league's declining ratings as 21st Century Fox and CEO James Murdoch reportedly agreed to pay over $45 million a game for five years of broadcast rights to Thursday Night Football