Hawkeye21 said:
You're telling me that you can talk about the flag or military without any politics getting involved? Why are people boycotting the NFL because of politics getting involved if the flag and military have nothing to do with politics? Why is Trump using it towards his own agenda? It's all politicized.
They, by themselves, are not political. It is only political when someone makes it political.
It has been the accepted normal level of decency to stand for the anthem for as long as I have been alive. I remember the very first baseball game I went to as a kid at Dodger stadium and they play the anthem. Everyone stood up. I don't know the long history of it all but it has never been political to have the anthem play at a sports game and that everyone stands in respect for the nation and by extension our military.
It has only been the last couple of years that it has become "political". Why?
Because some schmoe millionaire decided he would kneel and when asked why he said it was "blah blah politics blah blah" and then that caused a bunch of people to get angry and in response more schmoe millionaires did the same in solidary with the first schmoe millionaires which really pissed those people off more. Now you have people on one side who are always inclined to poo on things like national pride and our military standing up saying it is about free speech (while they simultaneously attempt to squash free speech as much as they can when they don't like it) and then you have a lot of people who take things like national pride and respect for our military upset. They in turn say you want to boycott the anthem and poo on my deeply held feelings of respect? Well, Mr schmoe millionaire, I will not support you or the organization that pays you those millions. And NOW it is political.
There ARE other reasons for decline in viewership but there is no doubt that this is the driving number one reason for the sharp decline.