The NFL Pro-Bowl took place this last weekend, along with a multitude of lesser events to kill time until Super Bowl Sunday. Orlando replaced Honolulu as the site, but one thing stayed the same -— television ratings dropped for the sixth straight season.

The 4.6 Nielsen rating is the lowest for the event since 2006. Rating-wise this put them above the NBA All-Star game (4.6) and below the MLB All-Star Game (5.4). All three of which have seen a steady decline over multiple years. The one exception being the NHL All-Star Game which increased their rating from 1.2 to 1.6; they are still the lowest, but are growing.

While the numbers are good for comparison, they are a result and not a cause. What could be the cause for such low ratings? First and foremost, a lot of people feel like the game is meaningless and therefore the players don’t play as hard.

With the exception of baseball no all-star game has true meaning; it’s a weekend of fun backyard competition that lead to a game between the most liked and talented players in the sport. Baseball uses it to decide a possible Game 7 in the World Series.

As for not trying hard, it’s true across most of the all-games. Every sport is now offense-based, so the scores are going to be high because there are fewer great defensive players around.

I don’t blame players for not going 100 percent in all-star games. It’s them or their buddy’s job on the line if they go too hard and end up getting hurt or hurting somebody. I don’t want to see a torn Achilles or a broken bone in a meaningless game.

Another major point I’ve noticed is that the game is held on ESPN, which can limit your viewing audience as most people can get the network stations, but not necessarily the cable stations. That’s aided by the NHL which switched to NBC this year and had the best ratings since 2004.

As the older generations become the only ones watching the games, 60 percent of the MLB All-Star Game viewers were 50 or older, they will be less likely to have cable. Some of the other reasons are that all but two fan bases are waiting for next year since it’s held a week before the end. Well, the football season is the shortest season and after the Super Bowl has the same problems.

While the Pro-Bowl has problems, it’s still fun to watch great players do great things. Plus with the new bonuses for winning, I saw more players try. I saw hits and quarterbacks running down people. The important thing to remember is: this isn’t football, this is the Pro-Bowl.