MLB All-Star Ratings Were Pretty Terrible

* 2011: 11 million, 6.9 rating
* 2010: 12.1 million, 7.5 rating
* 2009: 14.6 million, 8.9 rating
* 2008: 13.3 million, 8.6 rating
* 2007: 12.5 million, 8.4 rating
* 2006: 14.4 million, 9.3 rating
* 2005: 12.3 million, 8.1 rating
* 2004: 13.9 million, 8.8 rating
* 2003: 13.8 million, 9.5 rating

While not a precipitous decline, it obviously isn’t good news, especially when coupled with declining World Series ratings (don’t think Selig isn’t praying for a Yankees/Red Sox vs. the Phillies/Cardinals World Series). Here’s a jarring stat – an estimated 24 million people watched the All-Star game in 1991 (the number was 34 million in 1981). In 20 years, the number of people who watched the MLB All-Star game has been cut in half.

The weird thing about the All-Star game is that it felt like it mattered more when I was a kid, in the late 80s/early 90s. Now that the game actually matters – home field advantage in the World Series – it feels irrelevant. I caught maybe 10-15 pitches while rocking my kid to sleep. I read online about Joe Buck calling an awful game, but I didn’t hear one word he said.

But hey, all is not lost – MLB made sure to tell the business journals that on the advertising front, the game was incredibly lucrative, generating $50 million in advertising revenue!