Ratings don’t suggest Steelers fans boycotted the Super Bowl as many proclaimed they would

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ fan base is global, we all know this, but for those who live in the Pittsburgh area, you represent the heart of Steelers Nation.

With that said, it was apparent there was a large majority of the fan base who stated they weren’t going to be watching Super Bowl 52 for one reason or another. Some suggested they were sick and tired of the Patriots getting all the calls. Others went the route of being disgusted with football after the Steelers were knocked out of the playoffs in the divisional round.

Whichever way you slice it, the overnight ratings for the big game show the fans in Pittsburgh didn’t just care a little bit, they cared a lot!

This per Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Roughly 55 percent of households in the Pittsburgh market tuned in for the broadcast of Super Bowl LII, just a tick below the 56.2 percent that were watching in Philadelphia, according to overnight ratings released Monday by The Nielsen company.

The Boston market received a 55.9 rating.

So it is pretty clear those in Pittsburgh watched the Super Bowl, but the other narrative has been the league’s viewers dwindling throughout the season, especially after the National Anthem protests, the President’s ongoing thoughts on the league, and, most recently, the league not allowing a commercial to run for veterans who want players to stand during the anthem.

Politics aside, viewers were indeed down compared to previous seasons.

An estimated 103.4 million people watched the Eagles’ 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots, the event’s smallest television audience since 2009.

Last year’s Patriots-Falcons game reached 111.3 million viewers. The all-time Super Bowl record — and record for any television event in the United States — was the 114.4 million who watched the Patriots against the Seahawks in 2015.

The NFL certainly has some issues, and the lack of viewers just shines a spotlight on those issues, but the fans in Pittsburgh certainly were glued to their television sets. After all, fans had to watch Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and James Harrison all come up short in the biggest game of the year!