NFL Pro Bowl Games Take 8.5 Percent Ratings Nosedive
The Ravens sent an AFC-high seven players to the 2023 season Po Bowl, and less people tuned in to see them.
Safety Kyle Hamilton, linebacker Roquan Smith, and kicker Justin Tucker were all voted in as starters. Quarterback and new NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, center Tyler Linderbaum, defensive tackle Justin Madubuike and linebacker Patrick Queen were all named to the AFC All-Star squad.
But somehow, at a point where almost every viewership number across the NFL is rising, it looks like no one cared about the Pro Bowl Games. Per Sports Business Journal, this year's Pro Bowl Games drew a combined 5.75 million viewers on Sunday, an 8.5 percent drop over last year's first edition of the new format.
When you consider the Pro Bowl Games include mostly everything except a football game, the number shouldn't be surprising. It's largely a skills competition and flag football game now, and not everyone will tune in for that.
It's likely that last year's numbers were high because of the curiosity of the event as it happened for the first time. But now that NFL fans have seen it once - or in some cases twice - numbers could continue to fall in future seasons.
If that's the case, the NFL will have to think of something else. Again.
Regardless of what the viewers think, Hamilton still finds it an honor to be there, "It's an honor, honestly, this early in my career to see success like this. I feel like it's a confidence booster. I feel like I have a lot more room to get better, and that's a good thing. I feel like I haven't reached my peak, and I'm still getting better each and every day, but being included in a group of people like all of the past Ravens Pro Bowlers, it's an honor," Hamilton said in a statement.
