The NFL pulled off its grand experiment with the Manning brothers and flag football — but it didn’t entice more fans to watch.
Sunday’s Pro Bowl Games broadcast across ABC and ESPN attracted 6.2 million viewers for a 3.35 rating, per ShowBuzzDaily.
While that was still good enough for the most-watched sports program of the week, it represents a stark 7.5% decrease from the 2022 Pro Bowl’s viewership of 6.7 million — which was already the game’s lowest since 2006.
The league brought in Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions to revamp the all-star festivities, hoping to create a more competitive environment while promoting its flag football initiatives. Eli’s NFC defeated Peyton’s AFC 35-33.
“Flag football is a huge part of the league strategy overall,” the NFL’s VP of event strategy & integration Matt Shapiro told FOS. “To put 88 of the league’s best players on this stage … gives flag football a different level of spotlight as we’re all continuing to focus on the growth of flag.”
The idea is that players would be able to put more effort into playing a flag football game while avoiding injury — but that didn’t even go according to plan: Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett reportedly suffered a dislocated toe while playing in the Games.
