Falcons-Saints Monday nighter earns record low ratings up against debate

A high-scoring, prime-time matchup of two NFC South foes didn't stand a chance against the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Monday night's game between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints pulled in an overnight rating of 5.7, likely making it the lowest-rated broadcast in the history of "Monday Night Football," according to Sports Media Watch.

Ratings are determined by calculating the percentage of American households with a TV that were watching a given program.

By comparison, the highly anticipated debate earned a rating of 46.2 across the many networks on which it was shown, breaking an event record with over 80 million viewers tuning in.

A prime-time game playing second fiddle to the Trump-Clinton showdown was to be expected, and that should once again be the case when the two nominees next meet Oct. 9 and clash with a New York Giants-Green Bay Packers game scheduled for the Sunday night slot.

But the presumed record-low ratings for the Monday night broadcast still stand as yet another concerning development for the NFL at a time where television interest appears to be heading in the wrong direction.