The No Bowl

In an effort to create a product that people are actually interested in seeing, the NFL has moved the annual Pro Bowl to the weekend between the Championship games and the Super Bowl.  While I don't believe this is the perfect solution, it is a good step forward.

The true Pro Bowl began in 1951 after a lay off of seven years since the last NFL All Star in 1942.  From 1951 - 1970, the game was played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  Starting in 1971, the venue changed each year but found a permanent home in Hawaii in 1980 ...permanent until this year.

Due to waning player and fan interest, the NFL decided something had to be done to save their version of the All-Star game.  The baseball All Star game is known as the "Mid-Summer Classic".  In my mind, and that of many others, this is the all star game that all other sports look to for a barometer of success.  The NBA really pumped up interest in their game during the Michael Jordan era when they brought in the slam dunk contest, the three point contest and more recently, the All Rookie game.  The quality has suffered in recent years but they've still created a fairly entertaining All Star Weekend" that draws enough interest.

The NHL has taken a cue from the NBA and added skills competitions to their weekend event and while it has a long way to go in hopes of generating that level of interest it does pretty well for what some consider a niche sport.  That brings us to the floundering NFL Pro Bowl.

I believe the biggest problem the Pro Bowl has is that it follows the ultimate over-hyped sporting event in existence, the Super Bowl.  By the time the Super Bowl is over, even the most ardent football fan has had enough football and needs to take a break. 

Another problem is football relies on teams working together to get in sync and workout a lot of timing drills.  That is while the pre-season lasts so long.  The Pro Bowl then brings together guys who in most case haven't played together but are expected to put on a competitive game.  It's not going to happen.

Next up is the players themselves.  They have been playing a very violent sport for seven months and they are beaten up.  Most sports only take off a few months.  The NFL season ends at the very start of February and is off until the end or July/start of August.  The player's bodies just need it.

There are probably plenty of problems with staging this game and these are just a few.  The main problem is not just fan disinterest but the player's disinterest.  In the 1980s and early 1990s, a league paid for trip to Hawaii might have been a big deal but contracts are so big now, that just buying a house in Hawaii for the off-season seems a large possibility.

So the league has taken a first step to create interest in their dying all star game.  As stated above, it is now held the week before the Super Bowl at the same venue.  Players from the two Super Bowl teams will not play.  Fair enough.  They deserve the rest but that can hurt fan interest.  Moving it before the Super Bowl has not helped players dropping out.  They're still injured or beat up from the season.

So what else can the NFL do to save this game?  Maybe move it even earlier in the season?  Players would be fresher.  Still, there would be player interest.  I can't imagine they could make non-injured player's participation mandatory.  Maybe they replace the Hall of Fame game, which I believe is no longer, with the Pro Bowl game.  The game was held at the beginning of the pre-season so the players not knowing what's going on would be okay. 

I'm not sure that the game can be saved but given the popularity of the NFL, allowing it to die off would be a bit of a black eye.