The NFL is a brand. Has its brand equity diminished?

The NFL is a brand.  Has its brand equity diminished? 

Week 2 Questions:  The NFL is a brand.  Has its brand equity diminished? 

Ratings for NFL games have recently declined.  Greg Cote in the Miami Herald shared his thoughts in his opinion column “NFL’s declining TV ratings a needed slap in face for sport that has itself to blame.”

Link to his column which appeared on 11/2/16: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/greg-cote/article112127422.html

1. To what do you attribute the ratings decline?  Why?Support your ideas with evidence from the articles (or what you would need to gather to confirm or disconfirm your beliefs.)  

It appears that there are several solid reasons for the ratings decline. From the Kaepernick national anthem controversy, Tom Brady's delflategate scandal, the world series having 2 teams that have not won a pennant in so long playing against each other, the presidential debate, and the basketball playoffs. All of these issues together indicate a reason for such a decline.

2. What could or should the NFL do differently in the future to improve ratings? 

Maintain better control of their players, work with the cable/satellite providers to offer games that the areas want to watch. They could advertise more but given the other events that were taken place during the same time frame, it would probably be a waste of money. I stopped watching because these guys are supposed to be role models and yet they are allowed to break the law or cheat and nothing happens.

3.      …Satisfy its advertising customers who expect millions of viewers?

  

How can anyone guarantee viewers, sure they did not meet the expected ratings but like everything else in business there are no guarantees. If the advertisers felt strongly about the controversial issues with the player’s, then they would pull their funds. However, in real life gossip and scandal sells stuff.

4.      Is the problem something the NFL can control and change (controllable such as players’ behavior on and off the field, bad matchups) or external factors outside of the NFL’s control (i.e. TV viewership in general is down)?

Yes, the NFL has the ability to control their players. They should be held to higher standard given their position as role models to our young people. The emulate their idols and by allowing this to continue they get the idea that there are no consequences for wrong doing. As far as the other events, the rating drop was out of there control. With that being said, they could have investigated the idea of changing the days the games aired.

5.      You have just been hired as a consultant to help answer these questions.  What strategies or tactics do you recommend to improve the situation?

Watch the ratings and identify any and all significant television events that may or may not hinder viewers from following their teams. Once these have been identified then approach the cable/satellite providers to air the games on different days. Roger Goodell obviously needs to either deal with the controversies with a press conference and start making examples of these players. Kaepernick has a valid point and this may or may not have had an effect on the rating decline. Another area that they need to look at is collecting data, lots of data to see who is watch and who is not. Survey more people and advertisers to get their view points, the more information the better. This would give Goodell the information he needs to understand the effects that these controversy’s are having on rating and advertisers.