The NFL got some really bad news but one sport defied the media and Americans rewarded them.
Usually, as the NFL season gets closer to the playoffs ratings begin to go up. However, after a year of the NFL becoming a megaphone for Black Lives Matter fans aren’t tuning in.
In a year with rolling lockdowns all over the country, Americans were forced to stay home, one would think ratings would be up but they aren’t.
With two weeks left in the regular season, ratings were down 11% from last year. The free fall comes at a bad time for the NFL because media deals will expire after the 2021 and the 2022 season. Over the past two years, the NFL has grown 10% in viewership and they use those numbers to charge media partners like ESPN, CBS, NBC, and FOX billions.
However, audiences have fallen almost 10%, two years of growth went out of the window because the NFL went woke. TV executives who make money off the advertising shown during the games are starting to worry. If the free fall continues the league and teams are going to lose millions.
On the other hand, another sport defied the media and stuck to the experts and it resulted in a record year.
Trump supporter, UFC (Mixed Martial Arts Fight League) President Dana White defied everyone and refused to shut his business down.
Only to be stifled by Gov. Newsom for a few weeks, UFC President Dana White was the first sport to create the bubble and get things going. Experts claimed he was going to kill all his fighters, that he was only lining their pockets. In response, White said he has enough money to stay at home but his 600 fighters, 200 plus employees, and multiple contractors didn’t.
Dana White even secured an island in Abu Dabi, created a bubble so that his international fighters could work. There were no BLM commercials, BLM wasn’t painted inside the octagon, fighters in press conferences talked about the fights, not political matters.
Matter of fact most of them attacked the media.
Middleweight interim champion Israel Adesanya told MMA Journalists attacking the UFC that they need to remember, “You guys wouldn’t have a job if we don’t step in that f–king cage.”
As a result, Americans rewarded the UFC viewership was up 33%, Pay Per View events shattered records, and UF store sales increased 135%. Dana White said they’ve broken every record in 2020 except for gate sales because fans aren’t allowed to attend events.
Dana White hasn’t forgotten the naysayers either and the press is furious over a video he released calling them out.
As we roll into 2021, I just wanted to remind everyone there’s ALWAYS a solution to every problem! So, cut through all the bullshit, and don’t let these people that don’t matter tell you how to live your life. pic.twitter.com/HPMbtojjJx
— danawhite (@danawhite) December 21, 2020
MMA may not be your thing, it’s a rough sport, but I would rather watch fighters (who aren’t entitled, whiny NFL/NBA millionaires) compete. In some ways, the UFC is a great example of the American dream. A lot of fighters (in the UFC) are legal immigrants who have moved to the US (with their families) to train. They’ve come to the US in hopes of an opportunity to succeed. Fighters are not whiny NFL players pushing their woke liberal agenda on people.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Dana White:
“It’s up to YOU to take care of your business, your family, your employees, and those you care about!!!”
