Let’s recap this year’s Pro Bowl…
Feel the excitement!!!
After pretty much everybody turned down an invite to the game, the NFL somehow found enough professional players willing and able to participate in the increasing sham of an exhibition game. In case you were wondering (or had money wagered on it), Team Irvin beat Team Rice 49-27. For all you know, Irvin and Rice could have played a game of one-on-one with Neil Lomax playing all-time quarterback and you probably wouldn’t know the difference.
Predictably, ratings appear to be continuing to slide for the game, with SBJ’s Austin Karp reporting a 5.0 overnight. That number could lead to the lowest rated and least watched Pro Bowl on record.
Pro Bowl drew 5.0 overnight rating on ESPN. Likely lowest ever. Down sharply from ESPN's 5.6 in 2015 and NBC's 6.7 in 2014
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) February 1, 2016
By all intents and purposes, the Pro Bowl should be on life support. This year’s highlights featured guys playing on both sides of the ball and an attempted RKO. Yea….
Let’s put this in proper perspective though – there are many other sports leagues and television properties that would give almost anything to have that kind of rating for any of their programming, let alone an exhibition game.
The only justification right now for keeping this game in existence is not from the players, nor the coaches, maybe not even the league. Right now, the only thing keeping the Pro Bowl afloat is its television audience and America’s propensity to watch anything with an NFL logo slapped on it. Although it’s shrinking, even the Pro Bowl is still a sign of the NFL’s dominance over everything else. Even the PRO BOWL DRAFT is beating other major pro sports head to head.
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