The NFL is here to save TV, again. But it’s going to get harder every year.

But those trends should still worry both the NFL and the TV networks that pay it many billions of dollars every year.

Sure, the NFL can argue that younger people are engaging with the sport in ways that don’t show up on TV ratings — like sports betting, or watching highlights on Instagram, etc. But to state the obvious: TV networks pay the NFL many billions of dollars because the NFL delivers TV eyeballs, not because it delivers Instagram eyeballs.

And if younger viewers are starting to tune out of the NFL — again, like they have tuned out of everything else on TV — that’s going to be a problem for the league and the TV guys.