Sharp Decline in Steeler Viewership and Attendance Declining

[steelhurt]

I heard on 93.7 The Fan this morning Ron Cook and Joe Starkey talking about local viewership for Steeler games has declined 10% and that attendance continues to go down as well. People calling in to the show were pretty much all universal on why the decline. The product is not the same as it had been in the past. Undisciplined, poorly prepared, not aggressive, not the tough physical team they once were. People just feel like its the same old same old so why invest any time and money.

I will add this and this is just my opinion to be clear. When attendance continues to dwindle and now they say viewership declines, this hits Art II in his pocketbook and that is what I think will bring change. And you add in interest in the team fading somewhat, that should get his attention.

 

[Djfan]

Money talks. Let's hope Rooney is listening.

 

[MTC]

I heard on 93.7 The Fan this morning Ron Cook and Joe Starkey talking about local viewership for Steeler games has declined 10% and that attendance continues to go down as well. People calling in to the show were pretty much all universal on why the decline. The product is not the same as it had been in the past. Undisciplined, poorly prepared, not aggressive, not the tough physical team they once were. People just feel like its the same old same old so why invest any time and money.

I will add this and this is just my opinion to be clear. When attendance continues to dwindle and now they say viewership declines, this hits Art II in his pocketbook and that is what I think will bring change. And you add in interest in the team fading somewhat, that should get his attention.

Sports in general seem to be losing interest. Pro sports anyways. I’d have to look at if certain markets do better than others, but the younger generation is not interested in spectating

 

[TDX27]

This is what I said in another thread. When their investment starts to decline is when the other owners of the Steelers will speak up and tell Rooney to do something. Declining viewership and attendance also affects Rooney's wallet. He must know these numbers and you would hope he will address them with Colbert, Tomlin, and whoever will be the new GM. Maybe he will force a change as he did only once before.

 

[Badcat]

The NFL in general and the Steelers aren't concerned about this because they have a false narrative to fall back on..."COVID". You see this excuse for everything from supply chain issues to the price of crude oil. It's going to be several years before the veil of Covid is slowly removed and the true nature of this **** product of a team is revealed.

 

[Steeltime]

The NFL in general and the Steelers aren't concerned about this because they have a false narrative to fall back on..."COVID". You see this excuse for everything from supply chain issues to the price of crude oil. It's going to be several years before the veil of Covid is slowly removed and the true nature of this **** product of a team is revealed.

I agree with the fact many are using the built-in excuse, but disagree that the excuse goes away any time soon. The @#$%ing virus has more variations than Rocky had movies.

 

[Steelr4evr]

This is definitely the lowest enthusiasm I've had for the team in my lifetime. Other than the colors,history and other fans, I don't see the distinction between Pittsburgh Steeler Football and any other mediocre team. It boils down to culture and tradition. Both are poof.

 

[JMM]

I'd bet viewership across the league is down...The product is **** compared to what it once was...Yes it's more entertaining than Wide World of Bowling but not by much...If it wasn't for the Steelers, I probably would have only tuned in a couple of the playoff games this year.

Not sure how much longer the Steelers are going to keep me tuning in every week... Sorry.

 

[Drink IRON City]

This is definitely the lowest enthusiasm I've had for the team in my lifetime. Other than the colors,history and other fans, I don't see the distinction between Pittsburgh Steeler Football and any other mediocre team. It boils down to culture and tradition. Both are poof.

Absolutely agree, I'm definately at my lowest point with this team as well. I've been to the top with this team, 54+ years but these last 3-4 years have sure eroded the summit.



Salute the nation

 

[Hypocycloids]

Bring him and they will come!

 

[Djfan]

To me the fall off came when the league decided that rules need to be changed to make marsha the mohammed of the league. When competition is removed, it doesn't matter how good your team is.

About that time we got stuck with Tomlin. It's just not a passion for me anymore. It's more of a tradition.

 

[Drink IRON City]

I'd bet viewership across the league is down...The product is **** compared to what it once was...Yes it's more entertaining than Wide World of Bowling but not by much...If it wasn't for the Steelers, I probably would have only tuned in a couple of the playoff games this year.

Not sure how much longer the Steelers are going to keep me tuning in every week... Sorry.

I don't even have regular TV. I do get CBS through Paramount + so if game was on there i watched. I also have PRIME so I got thursday night game. I followed and watched high lites & radio game here and there.

I did go to my faous sports bar for the last two season games and then the playoff game so there was that.

I'm just not nearly as excited as in the past. Don't get me wrong I'm still a STEELERS fanatic but just more tame. No fire in the team seems to have taken the fire out of me.

SOFT would be my one word answer.




Salute the nation

 

[Drink IRON City]

To me the fall off came when the league decided that rules need to be changed to make marsha the mohammed of the league. When competition is removed, it doesn't matter how good your team is.

About that time we got stuck with Tomlin. It's just not a passion for me anymore. It's more of a tradition.

B-I-N-G-O




Salute the nation

 

[stuntmanmike]

New GM has a tough job ahead it will be like trying to repackage hamburger and calling it steak. I think with Ben, Colbert, Butler all going so should tomlin. Give new GM a chance. 15 years is just a long time it’s ridiculous not to look a new fresh start when the last 10 have been a joke. we all know what the next five years under Tomlin will be… we just do. why pay money to watch something great reduced to ruble.

 

[JMM]

I don't even have regular TV. I do get CBS through Paramount + so if game was on there i watched. I also have PRIME so I got thursday night game. I followed and watched high lites & radio game here and there.

I did go to my faous sports bar for the last two season games and then the playoff game so there was that.

I'm just not nearly as excited as in the past. Don't get me wrong I'm still a STEELERS fanatic but just more tame. No fire in the team seems to have taken the fire out of me.

SOFT would be my one word answer.




Salute the nation

Back in the day I bought the NFL Ticket every year. I definitely wanted to see the Steelers but I enjoyed watching football basically all day on Sunday and caught the pre and post game shows religiously. These days catching the Steelers game is good enough but I'm not paying anything extra to see it.

 

[JMM]

Bring him and they will come!

Blasphemy....

 

[SojournerSteel]

Bring him and they will come!

I want to give it a "like," but struggling!

 

[Free Agent]

I've always said, once Ben goes, I go unless, Tomlin gets his walking papers. Replace the head coach and I'll be interested again. 15 years is enough. Never a losing just isn't enough for me. I want World Championships. Some playoffs wins would be nice.

I've always tried to make one game a year and would buy apparel regularly. That hasn't happened in 5+ years.

 

[JMM]

I've always said, once Ben goes, I go unless Tomlin gets his walking papers. Replace the head coach and I'll be interested again. 15 years is enough. Never a losing just isn't enough for me. I want World Championships. Some playoffs wins would be nice.

I hear you FA...

 

[Ike Kelly]

I heard on 93.7 The Fan this morning Ron Cook and Joe Starkey talking about local viewership for Steeler games has declined 10% and that attendance continues to go down as well. People calling in to the show were pretty much all universal on why the decline. The product is not the same as it had been in the past. Undisciplined, poorly prepared, not aggressive, not the tough physical team they once were. People just feel like its the same old same old so why invest any time and money.

I will add this and this is just my opinion to be clear. When attendance continues to dwindle and now they say viewership declines, this hits Art II in his pocketbook and that is what I think will bring change. And you add in interest in the team fading somewhat, that should get his attention.

Yeah, this came up during Dale Lolley’s Q&A session. I believe Cook mentioned PIT was ranked 29th. It’s behind a pay wall at DKSports

Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, Pirates News, Live Coverage | DK Pittsburgh Sports

Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, Pirates News, Live Coverage | DK Pittsburgh Sports

www.dkpittsburghsports.com

Lolley shot it down. I’m paraphrasing but basically PIT is one of only two teams (NYG is the other) that counts attendance by turnstile body count, and not tickets sold. In fact, all games have been sellouts for some time. For 2021 the numbers indicated PIT attendance was the highest in team history (approx 544,400). Obviously, there is one more game included for this year. But, the last year they had attendance (2019), they didn’t even break 500k. Their average for 2021 was 60,488, whereas there average in 2013 was 57,323. (Before they enclosed the open end IIRC).

I will add this notion that viewership collation is different than it was two years ago because of streaming services. So the traditional calculation is obsolete. More people use streaming and will continue to do so once the cable/Satellite mediums control of the networks expire. Fox and CBS already have their streaming services showing games and NBC and ESPN has had theirs up for a year now. AmazonPrime will carry games too. SundayTicket will be leaving DirecTV after 2022 and it’s pto able it will be through the NFL’s own streaming platform as well.

If anything, NFL Football viewership is INCREASING because of the saturation into other types of markets. I mean they are showing the games on Nickelodeon live in the format for kids. UK viewership is huge and Germany has had a huge following since NFL Europe.

 

[steelreeling]

I want to give it a "like," but struggling!

It was that year Green Bay beat the Steelers, or maybe it was the year before when they changed the rule that you HAD to give receivers the chance to catch the ball. THAT changed the game into the NBA.

Since then it's been 3rd and Welker or 3rd and Renfrow. Not particularly exciting after all this time - regardless of the last second heroics this past weekend because well... i've seen that exact same **** o many, many times before.

 

[Black & Gold Bleeder]

I'd bet viewership across the league is down...The product is **** compared to what it once was...Yes it's more entertaining than Wide World of Bowling but not by much...If it wasn't for the Steelers, I probably would have only tuned in a couple of the playoff games this year.

Not sure how much longer the Steelers are going to keep me tuning in every week... Sorry.

I bet viewership isnt down in buffalo, tampa, cincinatti, tennessee, Kansas city and LA.

 

[slashsteel]

I bet viewership isn't down in Buffalo, Tampa, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Kansas city and LA.

All of them competitive, even in loss. That really is what most Steelers fans desire. A chance. Too many times this team isn't competitive. A plethora of bad decisions. Got rid of the Bell but still plenty of dumb.

 

[JMM]

I bet viewership isnt down in buffalo, tampa, cincinatti, tennessee, Kansas city and LA.

No doubt but are your general football fans watching who used to plunk themselves in front of the TV all day watching those games or just the bandwagoneers from those cities?


I have no idea... Maybe it's just the group of people I got old with, we found other things to do or other responsibilities came along.

With respect to attendance at Heinz, I saw more empty seats this year than I ever have. Guessing part of it was Covid Fear or the product didn't draw them in.

It will be interesting to see how things flush out when Covid is not a factor and something else has taken it's place like rabid mosquitoes.

 

[Gildong Sack]

Blasphemy....

Why is it blasphemy? Was Bettis drafted by Pittsburgh.....Rodgers won't happen anyway. Wilson is our best shot at accomplishing anything.