NFL ratings, which have been down significantly this season, have improved slightly since the U.S. presidential election.While viewership is down 10 percent overall through the first 14 weeks of the season compared to that time span in 2015, thats four percentage points better than the collective broadcasts were down a little more than a month ago.Its an encouraging rebound, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN on Friday. I think it proves that the election was certainly a factor.For the first nine weeks, NFL games averaged 15.5 million viewers, which was down 14 percent compared to 2015. But following the Nov. 8 presidential election, which took place two days before the start of Week 10, viewership has increased. During Weeks 10-14, NFL games averaged 18.1 million viewers, off just 2 percent compared to those weeks in 2015.As Goodell noted in a memo sent to NFL teams in October, the league has been affected by the presidential election before. In 2000, the memo said, Fox games were down 4 percent, and ABCs 7. Even worse, CBS and ESPN were down 10 and 11 percent, respectively.Goodell told ESPN that he doesnt blame all of the viewership woes this season on the political news cycle, saying he and the leagues executives have for years looked into various ways to make the game more digestible to fans.The average length of an NFL game is about 3 hours, 8 minutes, which hasnt changed substantively in the past several years, though the game might seem slower as the attention span changes due to the media landscape and social media.Im a big believer that its about the pace of the game, not the length of the game, Goodell told ESPN. If you have a great game, no one is talking about the games length. But pace is something weve been working on.One of the first experiments the league will conduct, in cooperation with its television partners, is different times and lengths of ad breaks within every Week 16 games. ?We want to re-evaluate what commercial pods should look like, Goodell said. Commercial breaks have been 2 minutes and 20 seconds for our entire history. Well, what happens if we try shorter breaks and put them in different places. It might be better for us, our fans, our television partners and even the advertisers. And its not just a media exercise, its about making it feel right to the fans in the stadium, as well.?Goodell says the average time spent for instant replay -- approximately 15 minutes per game -- also could be lessened soon.Weve had instant replay reviewed in our central office for two years now, Goodell said. In the beginning, there was a sense that it might be hard for us to have an integral role in all the games going on at one time, but theres more confidence now that were in a position where maybe instead of the official coming to the sideline, we could have a (Microsoft) Surface tablet brought out to him and we could get in his ear and make the decision quicker.As for the notion that games arent competitive enough, Goodell says the facts dont back up that assertion.?Were having our most competitive season since the early 1930s, Goodell said.The league says the average margin of victory through Week 14 is 9.83 points per game, which would be the lowest for a full season since 1932 (9.13). Some 69.2 percent of all games played this season have been within seven points in the fourth quarter (144 of 208), which would be the highest percentage for a full season since 1935 (71.7 percent), according to the league.Addressing those who say the decline in ratings is a product of too much football, Goodell says he doesnt see an issue with the quantity of games, including Thursday Night Football.I dont think weve seen anyone who wants less football, said Goodell, referencing the recent Dallas Cowboys-Minnesota Vikings game as the most watched Thursday Night Game ever.In fact, its the rise in the Thursday Night viewership that partially helped the league rebound. Those games from Weeks 10-14, which also included a highly anticipated Kansas City Chiefs-Oakland Raiders matchup, were up 35 percent compared to 2015.?Big games certainly have helped ratings rebound from the 15.5 million average seen from Weeks 1-9, as have the success of the Cowboys, who at 11-2 are tied with the New England Patriots with the best record in football.?The Week 10 Sunday game on Fox featuring the Cowboys versus the Pittsburgh Steelers drew 28.9 million viewers. Two weeks later, the Cowboys versus the Washington Redskins pulled in 35.1 million viewers on Fox. And last week, the Cowboys game against the New York Giants on NBCs Sunday Night Football was watched by 26.5 million people.Through the first 14 weeks, the biggest declines have been for ESPNs Monday Night Football and NBCs Sunday Night Football, which are down 15 and 13 percent, respectively, compared to 2015. Thursday Night Football, which is shared by the NFL Network, CBS and NBC, as well as with Twitter, is down 17 percent.Networks that air Sunday day-time games have had the narrowest drops. Fox is down 4 percent in viewership, while CBS has seen a 7 percent decline.?While the league wants to provide fans with a way to see the best moments of games on social media, executives have been weary of letting them do too much, so as not to discourage fans from watching at all. This year, the NFL put limits on what teams can put out editorially within the games and required that highlights be pulled from the leagues server.Said Goodell: You have to prepare to cannibalize yourself to deliver what the consumer wants. But we want to make sure to have the right balance. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys USA . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Stitched . 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Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said. SAN JOSE, Calif. -- She knows she is constantly described as the rare sure thing in a sport that doesnt usually allow sure things. But after her last workout before the U.S. Olympic womens gymnastics trials begin Friday, Simone Biles wasnt willing to let anyone tell her shes a lock to win this two-day meet or to get to the Rio Summer Olympics. It doesnt matter to her that she has won three consecutive world all-around titles, or that she beat her nearest American rival by 3.9 points at the U.S. national championships two weeks ago.Biles instead smiled Thursday and told a story about a recent dream she had about finally arriving at this, her first Olympic trials.I cried before the start of every single event, Biles said with a laugh. That was my dream. Hopefully that doesnt really happen to me tomorrow.It almost certainly wont.But Biles knows it cant.Biles is only 19, but she is fully aware that as preposterously great as her last three years have been, the Olympics are the only place where she can truly cement her place in history and in the public imagination.If Biles does not go on to dominate as expected and win gold medals next month in Rio -- as many as five golds are possible for her -- it wont matter that she is already closing in on passing three-time Olympian Svetlana Khorkina as the most decorated female gymnast ever, or that longtime gymnastics observers say Biles has already eclipsed two-time Olympian Nadia Comaneci in the discussion about the greatest female gymnast of all time.Comaneci was the sports standard of perfection -- until the 4-foot-9 Biles came along displaying more power and greater degree of difficulty than Comaneci did at the 1976 and 80 Games.I do think of history and [gymnasts who came before] because they all paved the way for us, Biles said, sitting in a directors chair setup at a team press conference after Thursdays workout. If it hadnt been for them, we wouldnt be here doing such strong gymnastics. Were just trying to carry the legacy on.Biles, with the exception of the rare anxiety dream, seems to have found a few ways to chop the pressure bearing down on her into manageable pieces.When asked again and again Thursday about being a prohibitive favorite here, Biles shrugged and said, Its just labels. What does it do for me if I walk around here saying, Im the favorite?Told that her journey toward Olympic fame is a Hollywood story -- shes risen to greatness after being adopted at age 5 by her paternal grandparents because her estranged mom struggled with drugs and alcohol use -- Biles amiably pushed back a little again and said, Well, they [outsiders] turn it that way, but I honestly thought everyone was adopted until I spoke up. People would say to me, Youre adopted? And I would say, Arent you?Biles smiled. And everyone laughed.America has the best womens gymnastics team in the wworld, yet Biles could probably fall twice in the four events -- balance beam, floor, vault and uneven bars -- and still win these trials.ddddddddddddThe difficulty and amplitude she packs into her routines is that much higher than anyone elses. Anywhere.Even for a gymnast, she has freakish strength and an amazing ability to pick up new skills. Aimee Boorman, Biles Houston-based coach since Biles was in elementary school, often says Biles has the uncanny ability to know exactly where she is in midair, even when practicing tricks that other gymnasts are afraid to try because they fear gravely injuring themselves. Plenty of heart-to-hearts with Boorman over the years, along with seeing a sports psychologist beginning in 2013, has also helped convince Biles that she doesnt need to listen to conventional thinking or other peoples expectations for her once shes at a competition.Other people do enough thinking for me, she said Thursday with a smile.Gymnasts are all better when they dont think and just do what theyve trained to do, national team coordinator Martha Karolyi agreed with a laugh.And so Biles bounces along, doing things her way. She had a lot of fun throwing out the first pitch at a Houston Astros game on Tuesday by doing a handspring off the mound and then coming up throwing. Team veteran Aly Raisman said here Thursday that she had to move to a different room at the U.S. teams training center, farther away from Biles and Gabby Douglas room, because Biles and Douglas were often laughing so loudly Raisman couldnt sleep. And I can fall asleep sitting right here if I just shut my eyes, Raisman said with a laugh.These Olympic trials are expected to be yet another coronation for Biles. She is expected to be the breakout American star of the Rio Games, along with Katie Ledecky, U.S. swimmings female successor to Michael Phelps. Again, its not something Biles is eager to linger on.But what can you do? she sighs. If I walk around here saying Im the favorite, how does that help me? Nothing is set in stone until its set in stone.Biles did concede once Thursday that she does perform better when she goes out before a mind event, such as the 4-inch-wide balance beam, and tells herself Im the bomb before she begins, instead of dwelling on what might go wrong.Were all a little nervous and jittery right now [about making the Rio team], Biles said, so we all try not to talk about it because its such a touchy subject.We just try to live in the moment.At the moment, Biles is the best gymnast in the world. 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