Last week, I railed on the 2011 Pro Bowl for being unwatchable. I could only stomach the "football" game for a play or two before turning it off because it was obvious from the start that not much effort was being put forth by the players (not that I blame them). I wasn't the only one that felt this way, as a quick look at Twitter revealed countless complaints about the Pro Bowl and how bad the action on the field was.
Apparently Twitter doesn't represent the opinion of most football fans, because the ratings for the 2011 Pro Bowl ended up being the highest in 14 years, according to a press release from the NFL. An average of 13.4 million people viewed the game, the highest such total since 1997.
The ratings for this year's Pro Bowl went up nine percent from last year and a whopping 53 percent from 2009. Playing the game the week before the Super Bowl seems to have had a very positive effect on the ratings (the game was moved last year), and in general it's clear that the NFL's popularity is at an all-time high. The ratings during the regular season and playoffs were out of this world, and if that many people were willing to watch the Pro Bowl, I guess it just speaks to how popular the NFL is right now.