It’s been a rough year for commercial business owners and entertainment houses. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to multiple complications with respect to handling expenses and maintaining budgets. Sports networks have seen a drop in viewership numbers for sporting events in the past year. The NFL was no different.
Despite Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers putting on a show in 2020, Super Bowl LV ratings were some of the lowest they’ve been in years. The trend continues to follow in the 2021 NFL preseason as all eyes are on the Dallas Cowboys.
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Dallas Cowboys Hard Knocks series suffers from poor ratings in 2021
Dak Prescott and his Cowboys teammates are being covered by HBO this year. This season’s Hard Knocks series by the popular Hollywood production house centers around the rebuild project in Texas by coach Mike McCarthy. America’s team is having the preseason of a lifetime as they worked towards getting back to peak fitness ahead of their season-opening game against the defending champions.
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However, as per Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, HBO is averaging 295,000 viewers through the first two episodes of Hard Knocks in 2021. A report in ProFootballTalk earlier today reiterated that this was a 14-per cent rise from the numbers that reflected from last year’s Chargers/Rams series.
But it was also 59 percent below the 719,000 average from the first two episodes in 2019. Arguably, that season saw a significant bump in ratings due to the whole Antonio Brown controversy. The Cowboys’ preseason is nowhere near the same level. Although Dak Prescott’s recovery story is worth a mention, it’s not spicy enough for primetime television.
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Maybe all that can change in the next three episodes of the series? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
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