Pro Bowl TV ratings take another hit

Interest in the NFL's annual All-Star Game is still trending in the wrong direction.

ESPN's broadcast of the Pro Bowl on Sunday evening, when Team Irvin came away with a 49-27 win over Team Rice, drew a 5.0 overnight rating, according to Austin Karp of SportsBusiness Daily.

The underwhelming audience marks yet another drop off from the rating of 6.7 on the NBC broadcast in 2014, and 5.6 on ESPN in 2015. As Karp adds, the latest ratings are likely the lowest the game has ever experienced.

While it's unclear whether the NFL will look to make any significant changes in advance of next year's game, the relative lack of interest could certainly become a concern for league officials going forward.

Football is already nearly impossible to play with anything less than 100 percent effort, and a record number of players opted to decline their All-Star invites this year.