NFL’s core fans rapidly losing interest in league: poll

The NFL is taking a big hit among its core audience, according to a poll released Friday.

A survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News revealed that adults who say they follow the league closely have dropped 9 percent since 2014. And strikingly, men aged 18 to 49 — the league’s core demographic — who say they follow the NFL closely are down from 75 to 51 percent over the same period.

The results come two days before the Patriots and Eagles clash in Super Bowl LII, which will wrap up a turbulent NFL season that included a lengthy spat with President Donald Trump over national anthem protests, declining TV ratings (9.7 percent after an 8-percent drop last year), trouble among owners, injuries to key players, and continuing controversy over what constitutes a catch.

The poll, conducted from Jan. 13-17, did not ask its 900 participants why they are following the league with less interest. But another section of the survey suggested that injuries and concerns over head trauma are also part of the issue.

Fifty-three percent of mothers polled say they would push their child to play a sport other than football due to the threat of concussions, up from 40 percent in 2014. Of the survey respondents without children, 49 percent say they would encourage their child to play another sport, which is a six-percent increase from four years ago.

Additionally, only 47 percent of people who follow the NFL say the league has taken meaningful action to reduce and prevent concussions, down 12 percent from 2014.

This is far from the only poll conducted this season that has reflected a negative outlook for the league.

A Gallup survey released in the midst of the league-wide national anthem demonstrations in October showed that the NFL’s popularity had dropped 10 percent from 2012, when two-thirds of U.S. adults said they identified themselves as pro football fans.

The bleak results for the league have even extended to the Super Bowl. A Seton Hall poll released Thursday revealed that 54 percent of Americans plan on watching the big game, down from 68 percent two years ago. And of those who said they “closely follow” the NFL, 16 percent said they won’t be tuning in at all.