The NBA All-Star Game came and went with little fanfare.
So little fanfare, in fact, that the broadcast marked a new record low for the event's TV ratings.
Judging by recent trends, though, it should come as little surprise.
For years, all-star games across all the major pro sports leagues have been nosediving in ratings and overall fan enthusiasm.
For instance, the MLB All-Star Game's viewership has seen an astonishing freefall in the past decade alone, declining by nearly half in those 10 years, according to Awful Announcing.
As that nugget suggests, this isn't a new phenomenon. All-star games have now probably been in decline for longer than they were ever considered important events. Futile attempts have been made to resuscitate these games over the years, to mostly forgettable results.
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Of course, the pandemic has only further intensified the downward trajectory for all-star contests, and in my opinion brought about the appropriate conditions for their total demise.
After all, in the age of quarantining and social distancing, it's hard to justify the risk of a potential super-spreader event -- however minimal that risk may be -- in the name of a game that many players and fans couldn't care less about.
And, as it turns out, the risk may not be so minimal after all.
Philadelphia 76ers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were made to sit out the All-Star Game after they came in contact with a barber who tested positive for the virus.
Both players later tested negative, but they also missed their team's first game after the break in accordance with the league's mandatory seven-day quarantine. Not exactly a square deal for the Sixers or their fans, most of which couldn't give a hoot about the All-Star Game.
While that situation could have been much worse for the league than it actually was, the close call underscored the seriousness of the stakes.
Many players have now tested positive over the course of the season, and an unnecessary All-Star Game -- one which was publicly resisted by players -- nearly backfired in catastrophic fashion.
Some players expressed this sentiment publicly leading up to the game, including LeBron James, who said he had "zero energy and zero excitement" for this year's affair, and said forging ahead with it was a "slap in the face."
James scored just 4 points in a meager 13 minutes, apparently preferring to catch a breather and serve as player-coach for Team LeBron.
It seems like his heart wasn't in it, which is understandable given the circumstances.
Why then do these zombie affairs continue?
The obvious answer, as always, is money.
Despite the relative collapse in ratings, all-star games still perform better than the average midseason regular-season contest, according to Awful Announcing. It makes sense, given the star power on display, and the variety of markets with a viewing stake in these nationally televised broadcasts.
So while players and fans increasingly tune out, the league, its broadcast partners, and their advertisers have a big stake in seeing that the festivities go on. The divergence in interests between these groups and the audiences whose viewership they covet couldn't be starker.
While this calculus -- the ultimate expression of "rational" market-driven decision making -- was previously seen as permissible before the pandemic, or it at least went largely ignored, it is no longer tenable.
"I don't even understand why we're having an All-Star Game, but it's the agreement," James said prior to the event.
"We're also still dealing with a pandemic, dealing with everything that's been going on, and we're going to bring the whole league into a city that's still open," he added. "Obviously, you guys can see I'm not very happy about it, but it's out of my hands, and I'll be there physically if I'm selected. I'll be there physically, but not mentally."
Kings star De'Aaron Fox was even more blunt.
"If I'm going to be brutally honest, I think it's stupid," Fox said. "If we have to wear masks and do all this for a regular game, then what's the point of bringing an All-Star Game back? But obviously, money makes the world go 'round, so it is what it is."
Against the backdrop of the devastation wrought by the pandemic, the game was exposed as a thoroughly meaningless exhibition, stripped of any "energy" and "excitement," as James incisively observed, and staged solely to enrich a select few.
Where's the fun in that?
The rules of the games have changed, no matter how much the powers that be wish for a "return to normal."