LeBron James: Don’t take fun away from the NFL

The league's ratings are down, and the Cavs star offered a guess as to why.

Everyone’s talking about the NFL’s declining ratings—even Cavs star LeBron James.

At pratice on Monday, James was asked about the reason as to why fewer people are watching the league this season and couldn’t totally figure it out. He did offer one guess as to why, though: fun.

“I’ve heard some of the comments from some of the players, as far as the game, the fun part of it is kind of being taken away. And I know when I played football, I played it for that reason,” James said, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “For the competition, one, and for the fun of it ... I’ve seen a couple of the main guys talk about how the game is not as fun. It's all political, things of that nature, at this point. You definitely don’t want to take the fun away from the game. That’s why we all fell in love with sports in general is because you have fun with it at the beginning.”

• Even Bill Belichick watches MNF only when there’s nothing better to do

Seahawks corner Richard Sherman came out and said the “league isn’t fun” because it suppresses its players’ personalities. Several of the NFL’s biggest stars—including Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham—have been fined for excessive celebration.

– Kenny Ducey