This is the crux of why viewership is declining. Who in their right mind these days has 3+ hours to watch a game that has only an hour of play time. And realist

This is the crux of why viewership is declining. Who in their right mind these days has 3+ hours to watch a game that has only an hour of play time. And realistically speaking, the average "actual" play time is sub-15 minutes [1]. Just because this has been the case, doesn't make it the template for the future. The league knows it has a problem but inertia, greed and a clueless front office are impediments to change. Let's call it like it is: The league has become greedier with every passing year. And please don't believe the hype: They don't care for the players health and safety either, despite the rule changes [2]. Having been in the stands at a number of games, it's obvious that the players want to go and dislike the commercial breaks because it breaks their flow. To summarize, players aren't happy, fans aren't happy; no surprise then that ratings are falling. The path forward is to rein in game time (2-2.5 hours a game) and make more games available on interactive, online platforms like Twitter. Additionally, it is time that the league revise their monetization strategy for game broadcasts. What works for soccer might not work for the NFL given that a season is 16-weeks, but what's in place today isn't future-friendly. The league needs to evolve with the changing milieu or perish. Fortunately for a fan of the game like me, the league has shown that it can change its spots. 1. https://www.google.com/search?q=average+actual+play+time+NFL&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.google.com/search?q=average+actual+play+time+NFL... 2. http://www.theplayerstribune.com/richard-sherman-nfl-player-relationship-pov-video/ http://www.theplayerstribune.com/richard-sherman-nfl-player-...