PRO BOWL
NFC All-Stars vs. AFC All-Stars
Sunday January 31st
6:20pm
TV: ESPN
Line: Who Cares
Ok so I'm going to be completely honest... I hate that the Pro Bowl is a week early. I've never been a big fan of the Pro Bowl anyway. Look at other All Star Games. In the middle of the Season. Plenty of time to heal if they get injured. Off season isn't looming. Not the Pro Bowl. It's always been after the season had ended, and that only really affects the amount of viewers that watch the game. College Football ended a month earlier, Super Bowl over, and now even Arena Football isn't even going on anymore. Hardly anyone is thinking about football anymore. If they are they are thinking about NEXT season. No one cares about a meaningless game that doesn't affect the season or the Super Bowl. Its just hard to sell. Unless you're A) bored B) have a friend in the game C) have family in the game or D) are an NFL nerd you are more than likely not going to watch this game. All this game proves is one conference is better than the other. But no one cares about a All conference game. What they care about is the Super Bowl. Moving it one week ahead of the Super Bowl will get more viewers who are still aware that the Pro Bowl exists but will it be enough to save this over hyped all star game? doubtful..
But even if this wasn't for the viewers this game could have been for the players. Before players were getting an all expenses paid trip to HAWAII. I mean I realise with all the money that professional athletes make they could go there whenever they want in the off season, but this time everything was paid, they could go there with teammates, friends, and family and have a week of fun. Now they're going to Miami. Miami. When they stepped off the plane they got leis. When you step off the plane in Miami they have warnings about which neighborhoods to avoid. Not to mention how often during the season do players have the opportunities to go to Hawaii? During the regular season 8 different teams get to go to Miami. Plus 2 more during Preseason. And that's just this season. I mean the other teams in the AFC East travel there at least once a year. EVERY year. And WHAT ABOUT THE MIAMI DOLPHINS PLAYERS??? Who wants a paid vacation to the CITY THEY ALREADY LIVE IN?? This was a terrible idea. Not just dealing with location but what about timing? Yes more people will watch the game because it is before the super bowl but what about the players that just went through a grueling 16 game, 17 week season? What about the ones that just got done with the playoffs? Who has time to rest for a game that is meaningless? And than there are the players who are playing IN THE SUPER BOWL. When I think Pro Bowl QBs I like to think that Peyton Manning would be in the AFC side and Drew Brees on the NFC roster. Nope. They are playing in the Super Bowl. Go figure. So we've added maybe a few more viewers but we've pushed the players away from the game. Which by the way will turn away viewers...
The Pro Bowl has the best system of voting among all of the professional sports all star games. 2/5 of the vote comes from players, 2/5 comes from coaches, and 1/5 comes from fans. Essentially fans don't OWN the vote like they do in the rest of the All Star games. Players like Allen Iverson and Nomar Garciappara don't get to start despite playing less than half the season. This is the best system as far as voting goes. They get the players right but with all of the negative factors this turns its almost irrelevant if a PRO BOWL RECORD 30 players pull out of playing in the game. The Pro Bowl is supposed to be an honor. They're giving out more honors than normal this year.
I guess the real question is how do you fix this? To be honest in a game like football where you can really only play once a week, needing a bye week to keep yourself rested enough to be able to make it through the season, it's going to be tough to convince players to play during or right after a season. Look at the Senior Bowl and the East West Shrine Game for college football. They play a month after the last bowl game. Meaning that some players get over 3 months rest. But only die hard football fans really watch either of those games. And really they only watch the Senior Bowl (I watch both). What they might be able to do is use as much advertising as they've put into this year's pro bowl and move the Pro Bowl a month after. AND BACK TO HAWAII, there is an NFL team located near every state. Except Alaska and Hawaii. No one wants to Alaska. Sorry guys. But everyone wants a vacation to Hawaii. Advertising might get more people to watch it, moving it a month after the Super Bowl would allow players to be rested, and moving it back to Hawaii would attract players to come play. They might also give an added incentive to the game that might affect the season the following year somehow. I have never liked the way Major League Baseball has done their All Star game where the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series. But as dumb as it is it might be what is necessary to keep the Pro Bowl around.
As of now talks have already begun about getting rid of the Pro Bowl altogether. If they want to keep it around moving it to Miami and a week before the Super Bowl has only hurt its' chances of survival.
