Tom Brady's penalty costs the NFL another perception drop

Ted MarzilliCEO YouGov Direct
May 13, 2015, 1:43 PM GMT+0

The NFL’s four regular-season game suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for “Deflategate” appears to have sacked the league’s consumer perception for the third time in nine months.

The timing is unfortunate for the NFL, as its perception had been on the rise these past few weeks, perhaps aided by the annual draft, to its highest point since just before the original Deflategate playoff game in mid-January. In fact, the NFL’s perception was slightly higher in its off-season last week than Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, the latter two in the middle of their playoffs.

To measure consumer perception, YouGov BrandIndex used its Buzz score, which asks respondents "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?"

Buzz score can range from 100 to -100, with a zero score equaling positive and negative feedback. All measurements are for adults 18 and over.

In the past seven days, the NFL’s Buzz score has dropped 31 points – from a 19 score to -12. By comparison, the NFL took a 41-point fall after January’s Deflategate broke, and a 68-point descent in the aftermath of the Ray Rice crisis during last September. The NFL’s lowest Buzz score was -42 last September 24th.

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