re: NFL Ratings are up!

One big reason MNF is up is because this time last year it was absolutely trounced by the estimated 80,000,000 people that tuned into the presidential debate. So by comparing against the artificially low numbers last year, it results in this year's numbers being artificially increased. In statistics I believe this is called an outlier. The trend, however, appears to be down. It is down for a variety of reasons including cord cutting, but anecdotally it does seem that the flag issue is hurting them too.