Football fans are experiencing different realities right now. If you’re in a solidly blue or red state, football for the most part is normal. You turn it on and it’s your normal football-watching experience perhaps with the possibility of one to two political ads spread out over 3 hours of football.
This is not the experience for fans in swing states that have tight races spanning the Presidential election, senate and house seats, and statewide issues. Billions of dollars are pouring in trying to sway voters, a trend that has continued to swell since the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling on Citizens United vs. FEC.
Now every two years, fall Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays watching football are overstuffed with political ads seeking to influence football fans. How bad is it?
In an attempt to count how many ads I was subjected to during an NFL game, I watched the full Cincinnati Bengals-Carolina Panthers game on Fox 28 in Columbus, Ohio. While Ohio isn’t a swing state in the presidential election, it features one of the most hotly contested Senate races in the country and a statewide ballot initiative that aims to end gerrymandering. I didn’t even get to the kickoff of the game before seeing a full minute of political ads. In fact, I didn’t even get to see the kickoff as a Bernie Moreno campaign ad on the local Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate played over the kickoff. Luckily it was just a touchback!
If you thought political ads during sports was getting out of control, Sinclair owned @fox28columbus actually missed kickoff of the Bengals vs. Panthers game for a back to back Bernie Moreno ads. pic.twitter.com/72hDBEZiDN
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) October 1, 2024
All in all, there were twelve commercials during the game totaling over six minutes of mostly negative attack ads that were convincing enough to make kids of Awful Announcing employees start to boo candidates whenever they came on screen. If only eight-year-olds could vote!
Going through other games on CBS, NBC, and ESPN was about the same experience. Over-the-top dramatic negative ads in high rotation. Unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse the next month. Even back in early September when the political ad load was much lower, the majority of Awful Announcing poll respondents said they would pay money to not be subjected to the glut of political ads.
And that’s why I found myself at peace and enjoying a mostly lackluster Thursday Cowboys-Giants game last week, even with the bad beat I endured.
Amazon does not allow political ads. Three hours of football and ads telling me a new type of pizza or a car’s new self-parking feature and not “MIGRANTS ARE STORMING THE BORDER AND COMING TO EAT YOUR PETS!”
Nobody likes commercials, but political commercials in both directions, especially the PAC attack ads, are generally jarring and in poor taste. Local television affiliates clean up airing these ads and yes they do influence some, but the VAST majority of people detest them. It’s jarringly disruptive to the football-watching experience and the frequency of it lessens the experience altogether.
After three blissful hours watching the Giants not score a touchdown and the Cowboys somehow not covering the spread, I reached out to Amazon to inquire how and why I was spared a single political ad as I failed to find much on the topic online.
Amazon pointed me to an official policy found on their prohibited content page.
“Political, such as campaigns for or against a politician or a political party, or related to an election, or content related to political issues of public debate. During an election year we prohibit media products about a specific political party, issue, or candidate.”
Bless you, Amazon. After a stressful four days of work, TNF (even with some meh games) has long been the escape and sports appetizer to the weekend I desperately need. The blockade on political ads, which yes, is easier for a streaming service to do (although Peacock jammed a ton of them down my throat this past weekend) elevates the experience above all the other NFL games. It doesn’t matter who is playing, what announcers are calling the game, or the quality of the broadcast or studio show. If you spare me five to ten minutes of political ads, you win.
If you’re reading this and nodding your head, it’s highly unlikely other networks and local affiliates are going to turn down that influx of money so you’re stuck with the status quo. If you’re really bothered by the glut of political ads your best bet is keeping tabs on the movement and candidates who are in favor of repealing the Citizens United ruling, which opened up the floodgates for the majority of these ads.
But for now, half a season of football every two years will be heavy on political ads. That is except for Amazon, who will subject you to Jacoby Brissett, Bo Nix, and Daniel Jones but at least will spare you Bernie Moreno, Sherrod Brown, Donald Trump, and Kamala Harris.
Citizens United Makes Football Absolutely Unbearable is responsible for the content of this blog. Paid for by Citizens United Makes Football Absolutely Unbearable and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Just kidding…..