The Sunday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals drew in more viewers than Game 5 of Major League Baseball’s World Series.
According to TV ratings from Nielsen.com, the Week 7 match up between the Seahawks and Cardinals drew in more than 13 million viewers. Game 5 of the World Series on Fox between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays saw a little over 8 million viewers.
With over 13 million viewers, the viewer count from Week 7’s Sunday Night Football game is up from last week. In Week 6, the Los Angeles Rams played against the San Francisco 49ers. That game attracted a little over 11 million viewers.
The dip in NFL ratings has been one of the biggest storylines of the 2020 season.
With that said, the NFL once again had to compete with another marquee game in sports for viewers. The Week 6 Sunday Night Football game competed with Game 7 of Major League Baseball’s National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves.
Similarly, the Seahawks and Vikings game from two weeks ago was broadcast at the same time of Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat.
Viewer Count for Sunday Night Football:
- Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals Week 7: 13.8 million
- Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers Week 6: 11.4 million
- Minnesota Vikings at Seattle Seahawks Week 5: 15.1 million
- Philadelphia Eagles at San Francisco 49ers Week 4: 15.1 million
- Green Bay Packers at New Orleans Saints Week 3: 16.6 million
- New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks Week 2: 17.7 million
- Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Rams Week 1: 19 million
It’s important to note that the viewership numbers will be higher once the official numbers are in. Figures from the West Coast come in later.
Brett Favre Says ‘Political Messaging’ Causing Drop in NFL TV Ratings
While the competition for viewers has surely led to a dip in numbers for overall NFL viewership, some people believe that the drop comes from the league mixing sports and politics.
NFL Legend Brett Favre blames the recent drop in NFL TV ratings on the league mixing in of politics in the game. He says fans don’t want to see political messages in sports.
The Hall of Famer is in agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump that the current political stance taken by the NFL is the major contributing reason for their poor ratings. President Trump has repeatedly taken shots at the league for allowing players to kneel during the national anthem. He’s also uses the low ratings for NFL and NBA slam the leagues for supporting the anti-racism movement.
