Despite the overnight rating giving Major League Baseball and Fox hope that this year's All-Star Game would be an improvement in the ratings compared to last year's game, the final viewership numbers returned a 6.8 rating and 10.9 million viewers, which are the lowest of all-time for the game. The previous lows were 11 million viewers and a 6.9 rating set all the way back in 2011. 

Yes, that's correct: the All-Star Game has drawn record low ratings two years in a row now. Despite the influx of exciting young stars like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, and the farewell to baseball legend Chipper Jones (retiring at the end of the season), MLB just couldn't get more fans to watch the game. Of course the 8-0 blowout was likely one of the defining reasons for the low rating.

It seems odd though considering the huge uptick in social media activity during the game (up 257% with players tweeting, according to MLB), but at the end of the day, I think this reaffirms two things. One, Major League Baseball doesn't have nearly as much of a hold on the country as it once did, and two, fans are caring less and less about All-Star Games in any sport. The NBA All-Star Game was way down, Pro Bowl ratings were down, and the NHL All-Star Game was down too.  That's a definitive trend across sports no matter how you slice it.

On the bright side for Major League Baseball and Fox… their game was down by the lowest percentage in comparison to the other three major sports. That's a victory I'm sure that they're going to hang their hat on.

[h/t: Fang's Bites]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

Comments are closed.