Sports Bar Traffic Was Way Down On NFL Sundays In 2016, Study Finds

If you frequented sports bars during the 2016 NFL season, you might’ve noticed there were a few more open seats than usual.

Well, there’s a reason for that.

Foursquare, an app that recommends places you should visit and also provides data on who goes where and when, published a study Thursday that shows sports bar traffic on Sundays during the 2016 NFL season dropped from 2015. Specifically, cities without NFL teams saw a 13 percent dip in foot traffic, while cities with NFL franchises witnessed a 12 percent decrease.

Perhaps the most interesting detail from the study, though, is that it didn’t matter whether a given city’s team was winning or losing. Take a look at this graphic:

Although this data is pretty alarming, particularly for bar owners, it’s not much of a surprise.

The NFL saw one of its worst ratings dips in recent memory last season, as total viewership dropped 8 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to USA TODAY.

Now, there are more than a few reasonable explanations for that drop, with Americans’ collective focus on the 2016 presidential election perhaps being the biggest culprit. Still, it’s hard to argue that the country’s interest in football hasn’t begun to wane.

Thumbnail photo via Flickr/Ryan Harvey