Brett Favre tells President Trump: 'Fans clearly do not want political messaging mixed with their sports'



Brett Favre has an idea why sports leagues are experiencing historically low TV ratings — politics.

President Donald Trump participated in a presidential election town hall event for Sinclair Broadcasting this week. During Wednesday's Q&A event that was hosted by political commentator Eric Bolling, Trump was greeted by his friend and golfing buddy Brett Favre.

The former Green Bay Packers star quarterback said it would be for the best to keep politics out of professional sports.

"The NBA and the NFL are struggling with lower ratings, as fans clearly do not want political messaging mixed with their sports," Favre said during the town hall, then asked, "So how should the leagues support and promote an anti-racism position without becoming political and alienating fans?"

Trump agreed with the Hall of Fame NFL QB.

"People don't want to see all of the politics," Trump replied. "They've got enough politics, with me and with everybody else. And they don't want to see it with football or sports, on Sunday or whenever they happen to be watching."

"I think it's had a huge impact on sports, a huge negative impact on sports," the president said. "And I think that football ought to get back to football and basketball to basketball. And let politics remain separate."

Trump noted that the NBA's ratings are "down 70%, more than that."

In September, Trump commented on the poor TV ratings that the NBA was experiencing.

"People are tired of watching the highly political @NBA," Trump tweeted. "Basketball ratings are WAY down, and they won't be coming back. I hope football and baseball are watching and learning because the same thing will be happening to them. Stand tall for our Country and our Flag!!!"

The NBA went hard in the paint with social justice messaging once the basketball league returned to after the suspended season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During its bubble format regular season and playoffs at Disney World, "Black Lives Matter" was painted on the court, and players wore approved messages on their jerseys, such as "Power to the people," "I Can't Breathe," and "Anti-Racist."

The NBA Finals averaged only 7.45 million viewers during the six-game series this year, easily making it the least-watched Finals on record.

In the first week of the 2020 NBA playoffs, ESPN, ABC, and TNT averaged just 1.875 million viewers per game, TV ratings were down 20% compared to 2019.

Following the poorly-rated NBA Finals, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that "Black Lives Matter" messages will likely not be displayed on the court or on players' jerseys next season.

NFL ratings were down 10% through the first four weeks of this season.

Game 1 of the Rays-Dodgers World Series had the worst TV ratings of all-time.

Gallup: Americans' opinion of the sports industry has plummeted in the past year



Americans' opinion of the sports industry has plunged in the past year, according to a recent Gallup poll. Of the 25 U.S. industry sectors examined, only the federal government (-20) and the pharmaceutical industry (-15) had a worse net negative rating than the sports industry (-10). In fact, more people had a very positive or somewhat positive view on pharmaceuticals (34) than the sports industry (30).

A two-week polling sample from August 2019 was compared to a two-week sample in August 2020, and Americans' opinion of the sports industry declined drastically. There was a drop of 15 points in people who had a very or somewhat positive view of the sports industry, which edged out the travel industry that fell 11 points for the bottom spot.

Based on the recent survey of 1,031 American adults, only 30% of people view the sports industry in a positive light, compared to 40% of Americans who have a negative point of view. In 2019, 45% of Americans held positive feelings for the sports industry and only 25% viewed it negatively.

The nosedive in favorability comes as sports leagues have embraced social justice movements, including Black Lives Matter. The backlash is evident in political bases with positive views from Republicans crashing from +11 in 2019 to -35 in 2020, a devastating 46-point drop. Independents are also shunning sports; going from +26 in 2019 to -10 in 2020, a significant 36-point decrease. Democrats saw a slight decrease from +16 positive rating to a +11 rating.

Non-whites Americans' positive opinions of the sports industry plummeted from +51 last year to only +16 this year, a 35-point decline. White Americans went from +4 in 2019 to -22 in 2020, a 26-point drop in positive outlook.

"Sports has been acutely affected by the twin events steering news and culture in 2020: the pandemic and the renewed movement for racial justice," Gallup wrote. "The sports industry's relationship with fans has been disrupted by the need to shrink its seasons and schedules and play to empty venues as a means of keeping fans and players safe."

"At the same time, the greater social and political activism of players and, in some cases now, coaching staffs and entire leagues appears to have turned off Americans who disagree with their messages or the way they express them," the article read. "The net effect at this point has been negative for the industry's image."

TV ratings also show fans' frustrations in sports this year. The NFL suffered a double-digit ratings drop for its season opener that featured an overwhelming amount of social justice activism.

NBA ratings are down 20% during the playoffs. One poll found that 38% of fans are not watching the NBA because it's "too political."

NBA ratings down 20%; poll finds 38% of fans not watching the NBA because it's 'too political'



After months of no sporting events, many believed that fans would be flocking to their televisions in droves to watch live sports. However, that has yet to be the case, especially for the NBA, where its TV ratings are actually down during the pandemic.

Over the first week of the 2020 NBA playoffs, ESPN, ABC, and TNT averaged 1.875 million TV viewers per game. As of Aug. 25, the NBA playoffs were down 20% compared to 2019, according to Real GM. Ratings were down 28% for the coveted 18-49 demographic for the first week of the playoffs, according to ShowBuzzDaily.

The NBA has played some weekday afternoon games, which have hurt ratings, but even prime time night games are not attracting viewers like they once did.

"Compared to ABC's first playoff game last year, Clippers-Warriors Game 1 on a Saturday night, ratings fell 23% (from 3.0) and viewership 21% (from 4.83M)," Sports Media Watch reported. "The Lakers' win ranks as ABC's least-watched playoff opener in five years (2015 Pelicans-Warriors: 3.49M)."

Last week, the NBA postponed three days of playoff games to give time to players and fans to reflect on the police shooting death of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Saturday's elimination Game 5 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers managed to only attract 2.92 million viewers and a 1.8 rating. On the same day, more people watched NASCAR than the Lakers' series-clinching win. The NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona drew 3.87 million viewers and earned a 2.4 rating.

"Versus the comparable window last year, ratings fell 35% and viewership 30% from Game 1 of a Sixers-Raptors semifinal (1.95, 3.08M). Keep in mind last year's game aired exclusively on TNT," according to Sports Media Watch.

President Donald Trump noticed the ratings drop in the NBA and voiced his opinion on the topic on Twitter.

"People are tired of watching the highly political @NBA," he tweeted. "Basketball ratings are WAY down, and they won't be coming back. I hope football and baseball are watching and learning because the same thing will be happening to them. Stand tall for our Country and our Flag!!!"

A new poll found that President Trump could be right about mixing political and social justice issues with sports. A new Harris Poll found that 38% of sports fans say they're watching fewer games because the NBA has "become too political." Republicans were more likely to turn off the NBA, as 57% said the NBA was "too political," compared to 22% of Democrats, according to Forbes.

The survey of nearly 2,000 people from over the weekend also found 28% of respondents were watching fewer sports because it was "boring without fans." The poll discovered that 19% of people were not watching the NBA because of the league's friendly association with China. Broken down by party lines, 36% of Republicans said they weren't watching the NBA because of close ties to China, versus 8% for Democrats.