Brett Favre blames NBA, NFL poor ratings in 2020 on leagues' persistent political messages

NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre is in agreement with US President Donald Trump that the current political stance taken by the premier sports league in the country is the major reason contributing to their poor ratings. Donald Trump has repeatedly used the low NBA ratings and NFL ratings to slam the respective leagues for supporting the anti-racism movement and allowing players to kneel during the national anthem. 

Brett Favre tries to explain with poor NFL, NBA ratings

A former Green Bay Packers quarterback, Favre recently joined Trump in the taping of a Presidential Town Hall for an episode of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s “America This Week." The three-time NFL MVP agreed to the fact that fans are disappointed with the leagues using sports as a mean to spread social justice messages. According to Brett Favre, the poor ratings of NBA and NFL can be directly attributed to fans not wanting their sports to have political agendas, something which has been frequently brought up the likes of Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and senator Ted Cruz. 

“The NBA and the NFL are struggling with lower ratings, as fans clearly do not want political messaging mixed with their sports,” Favre said.

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The 51-year-old did, however, fire a question back at Trump, stating, "So how should the leagues support and promote an anti-racism position without becoming political and alienating fans?”

While Trump did not answer the Favre question, he, unsurprisingly, emphasised Favre's point that the league's political stance is to blame for poor ratings. Trump said people are not interested in seeing politics during games, especially considering "They've got enough politics with me and with everybody else." 

"I think it’s had a huge impact on sports, a huge negative impact on sports. And I think that football ought to get back to football and basketball to basketball. And let politics remain separate," he told the host Eric Bolling. Trump further added that fans want to see players respecting the American flag by saluting, or at least standing, during the national anthem. 

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Since 46-year-old African-American George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, the NFL, NBA, MLB and MLS have allowed players to show their support for the Black Lives Matter by wearing jerseys and helmets with social justice messages. The leagues even allowed players to kneel during the national anthem, something which was previously banned in most leagues. 

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Earlier this month, Donald Trump took shots at the NBA, highlight the poor viewership numbers during the NBA Finals. Trump shared a report analysis from Breitbart, claiming there was absolutely no interest in the Finals as its numbers were easily beaten by a random game of Sunday Night Football (Week 5 game between Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings). 

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(Image Credits: Brett Favre Instagram)