The REAL All-Star problem for the NBA

Television ratings for the league's All-Star Weekend events continue to trend in an alarming direction, but those weren't the key figures coming out of Salt Lake City

The basketball itself was indeed unwatchable.

The raw ratings numbers from Sunday's 72nd NBA All-Star Game likewise make for rough, rough viewing.

As conveyed this week by Dr. Jon Lewis via his excellent Sports Media Watch website, last Sunday's showcase in Salt Lake City lost nearly 30 percent of its television viewership from last season's All-Star Game.

With an average audience of 4.59 million Sunday, there is a worrisome seven-figure gap between what the NBA pulled in and what the most recent NFL Pro Bowl attracted with a revamped format (6.2 million). The current leader of the All-Star pack, as Lewis notes, is Major League Baseball's midseason classic from July that drew millions-with-an-S more (7.5 million).

Sports Media Watch @paulsen_smw

NBA All-Star Game ratings, viewership *easily* the lowest ever. Plus: -- All-Star Saturday Night and Rising Stars also down to new lows -- Celebrity Game bucks trend of record-lows with an actual increase over last year

sportsmediawatch.comNew record-low, by a wide margin, for NBA All-Star GameThe NBA All-Star Game was an airball in the ratings, falling to easily its smallest audience on record on TNT and TBS.

However ...