The two most successful sports leagues in the world, bringing in billions of dollars in revenue, the biggest corporate sponsors and mammoth audiences every game day, are now sharing an altogether different experience: The National Football League and the English Premier League are seeing startling, double-digital declines in television viewership this season.
Viewership through the first seven weeks of the N.F.L. season is down by 12 percent, while the audiences for E.P.L. soccer matches this season, which began in August, are down nearly 20 percent.
All the trends that drove viewers away from other programs on broadcast television in recent years, including cord-cutting and DVRs, never punished the N.