Over the past few years it has been clear to almost every sports fan that the interest level in the National Football League has been dwindling at an alarming rate, but this season in particular has seen a larger drop in ratings than years past due to many different reasons.

According to the Denver Post, for the first time since the 1990’s. The NFL’s dominance in the world of televised sports has faded. Ratings through the first nine weeks declined by double digits and ratings for ‘Monday Night Football” are down by more than 20 percent.

Although the game of football is constantly evolving, with better players, flashier uniforms and more entertaining plays, the game is not nearly as appealing to fans as it should be.

The NFL has every necessary piece that it needs to be the most entertaining sport on earth, so why on earth are people becoming less interested?

Let’s begin with the man in control, the puppet master, the wildly unpopular commissioner of the league: Roger Goodell.Goodell is mostly to blame for the chaos that is the NFL. Under his control, the league has become a fan’s worst nightmare, with an increase in penalties, ridiculous fines and unnecessary suspensions, the typical NFL fan is turning their  back on the league week after week due to these changes.  

Another big part of the league’s decrease in ratings is the fact that there are simply more interesting things happening. For example, a new president has been elected and shows like “Stranger Things” and “American Horror Story” are grabbing viewers attention more than ever.

Frankly, it’s easy to see why, arguably the most interesting story line in the NFL right now is who is and who isn’t standing for the National Anthem, and that just isn’t a good enough reason for a person to sit down and watch a three-hour game where the referees seem to play a bigger role than the players, and the off-the-field antics are more intriguing than the game itself.

Hopefully the NFL will come to surprise sports fans the rest of the season and make an effort  to make the games more appealing to their audience.

However, due to the way that Roger Goodell has performed as a commissioner, and the fans disgust towards his performance, change seems unlikely unless Goodell is replaced.