So How Did the Trump Supporters' NFL Boycott Go?

So how did that NFL boycott go? The one that Traitor Trump wanted, because a few players were kneeling during the National Anthem?

Columns: 1st, rank; 2nd, team name; 3rd, 2017 per-home-game regular-season attendance; 4th, increase or decrease from 2016.

1. Dallas Cowboys, 92,721, +182
2. Green Bay Packers, 78,092, -123
3. New York Jets, 77,562, -598
4. New York Giants, 77,179, -1,610
5. Denver Broncos, 76,355, -389
6. Washington Redskins, 75,175, -3,129
7. Kansas City Chiefs, 74,106, 778
8. Los Angeles Rams, 73,736, -385
9. Carolina Panthers, 73,617, -175
10. New Orleans Saints, 73,139, +30
11. Atlanta Falcons, 71,960, +1,961
12. Houston Texans, 71,774, -94
13. Baltimore Ravens, 70,588, -514
14. San Francisco 49ers, 70,144, -34
15. Philadelphia Eagles, 69,596, same
16. Seattle Seahawks, 68,976, -97
17. Buffalo Bills, 66,775, -1,734
18. Minnesota Vikings, 66,721, -65
19. New England Patriots, 65,878, -951
20. Tennessee Titans, 65,651, +1,092
21. Miami Dolphins, 65,228, -284
22. Arizona Cardinals, 64,217, -614
23. Detroit Lions, 64,137, +3,345
24. Cleveland Browns, 63,882, -429
25. Indianapolis Colts, 63,440, -2,109
26. Pittsburgh Steelers, 62,471, -1,841
27. Jacksonville Jaguars, 61,405, -510
28. Chicago Bears, 61,142, +774
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 59,952, -672
30. Oakland Raiders, 54,977, +393
31. Cincinnati Bengals, 53,242, -7,269
32. Los Angeles Chargers, 25,311, -31,713

First, let's take the Chargers out of the mix, because they willingly moved into a stadium that seats just over 25,000 people. But let's also note that Atlanta was coming off a Super Bowl appearance and moving into a new stadium. And that the Raiders announced they were leaving Oakland... and still gained almost 400 fans per game.

And, let's note that Cleveland finished with only the 2nd 0-16 season ever, and only the 3rd all-losses season since the NFL went to a schedule of at least 14 games... and still only lost 429 fans per game. And that the Giants crashed to 3-13. And that Indianapolis and Houston, both Playoff contenders the season before, both fell to 4-12... and Houston still only lost 94 fans per game.

But even if you include the Chargers' dropoff... NFL teams lost an average of 1,462 fans per game this season.

If you don't include it, they lost an average of... 486 fans.

Four hundred and eighty-six.

Yes, 23 of the 32 teams lost fans. But only half, 16, lost at least 1,000 per game. 10 lost less than 500. 4 lost less than 100. A quarter, 8 teams, gained fans.

9 teams averaged a sellout every game. 15, nearly half the League, averaged 99 percent of capacity or higher. Only 5 teams averaged less than 90 percent of capacity. Oddly, 1 of these was a Division Champion: The Rams. But then, they play in the Los Angeles Coliseum, current capacity 93,607, and their average home attendance of 73,736 was still 8th in the League. The others were Oakland, Cleveland, Washington, and Cincinnati came last, 81.3 percent.

So, how much did the Trump fans' boycott hurt the NFL?

Probably not at all. An average dropoff of 486 fans per game could be explained by any number of factors:

* Bad weather.
* A bad economy. (Whether we have one now is a matter of debate.)
* A large number of usually good teams having bad years.
* People being sick of the Patriots winning.
* A nearby college team doing well, which would certainly explain dropoffs in Ohio, Wisconsin, Los Angeles, Miami and the Carolinas (Clemson and South Carolina ).
* And, of course, Black Lives Matter also asked for a boycott. Maybe the liberal boycott cost the NFL more fans than the conservative one did.

Hypothesis: The Trump supporters' boycott hurt NFL attendance.

Results: Inconclusive. Insufficient evidence to confirm the hypothesis.

In other words, Trump and his fans failed again!