NFL television ratings were down in 2016, experiencing significant drops across the board. One way to address that decline, according to commissioner Roger Goodell, might be shorten the length of games.
And the idea, Goodell says, could be carried out in a number of different ways.
"...We obviously want to take as much, what we call 'dead time,' non-action out of the game," he told CNN. "So that we can make the game more exciting, so it's all action. Can we do instant replay quicker than we've done in the past? Should we look at ways to maybe take some commercialization out of the game? Either in less ads or maybe have the ads come in different ways than the traditional, what we call 'pods' which are two-minutes and 20 seconds."
One thing that had a significant impact on television viewership in 2016 was the presidential election. On average, an NFL game was reportedly viewed by 17.9 million households in 2015 compared to 16.5 million in 2016, a decline of roughly 14 percent. After the election was over, that decline fell to eight percent.
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Brian Rolapp, the NFL's executive vice president of media, said the league was prepared to experience a dip, which it did during the first nine weeks of the season, then a subsequent rebound once the election was over.
Presidential elections have always had an impact on our ratings so we were prepared for a dip this season," Rolapp said. "We're pleased at how our viewership rebounded after the election and are looking forward to what should be a very exciting and competitive postseason."
But, in all of that, is that little tidbit about shortening games. There's nothing wrong with more action and less dead time.
