The Pro Bowl is unquestionably the worst all-star game on the planet. Stop trying to fix this disaster and instead just get rid of it.
Nothing written here is going to be new or revolutionary. You know the Pro Bowl is awful and a waste of time. Perhaps generations ago, the all-star contest was a useful exercise, one that allowed fans who didn’t have access to hundreds of television channels to see their favorite players face off against each other in a meaningless exercise disguised as a football game meant to serve as an advertisement for the NFL.
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We all know better now. The traditions that come with every Pro Bowl week have become as tired as the actual contest. Sports talk radio shows, national television pundits and fans embrace conversations regarding ways to fix the event and make it more interesting. Some come up with downright ridiculous ideas, supposed improvements that wouldn’t make the Pro Bowl any better in reality, and wouldn’t increase television ratings for more than a single year.
Removing punts from the Pro Bowl wouldn’t make it any better. Turning the game into two-hand touch isn’t getting me to watch. Having former players or celebrities pick Pro Bowl squads won’t work, as we’ve already seen. Just let it go, already.
Admittedly, there are plenty of fun aspects about Pro Bowl week. Players, coaches, team executives and fans can take January vacations to a warm climate. Skills challenges, such as having players try to catch footballs dropped from drones and dodgeball games featuring Pro Bowl squads playing against each other, make for entertaining TV. These variety-show contests bring back memories to generations ago when famous athletes participated in wacky competitions for our amusement.
It’s the Pro Bowl game itself that’s now useless.
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Talk to any players off the record, and they’ll tell you their real feelings on the Pro Bowl. Those players like the bonus checks that come with being named to the roster. They love the parties that occur during Pro Bowl week after they’ve played a grueling NFL schedule. Being able to spend a few days in paradise serves as a consolation prize before they have to watch peers play for a Super Bowl title. None of that has to go away.
The NFL, obviously, can afford to offer the same bonuses to players without forcing those guys to pretend to play football for an additional three hours. You could still host the gatherings and create the goofy challenges and dodgeball games good for laughs. Taking the Pro Bowl away wouldn’t cause us to ignore these events any more than the game existing makes us watch those tape-delayed programs.
It’s hardly a secret casual fans gave up on the Pro Bowl long ago. The game has been relegated to cable TV. A top-tier NBA contest featuring two of the best clubs in that league would pop a better rating. Truth be told, I’ve grown to enjoy spending the weekend between Championship Sunday and the Super Bowl away from the NFL. It’s the January football vacation I never knew I needed!
There’s one thing, in particular, I never hear in discussions about fixing or eliminating the Pro Bowl. Maybe, just maybe, taking the game away would make us miss it. Perhaps those of us who take the Pro Bowl for granted and instead choose to watch the WWE Royal Rumble every last Sunday of January would find we actually missed the ceremonies, in-game interviews and carefree nature of the all-star game… Okay, we probably wouldn’t, but we can’t know for sure, NFL, until you give it a shot.
Instead, the NFL removing the Pro Bowl from our TV schedule for even one year would probably go unnoticed for the most part. As Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk explained, the 2016 Pro Bowl drew a historically-low rating, and there’s little reason to believe that won’t again be the case for the contest played on Jan. 29.
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Some things can neither be remedied or saved, and that appears to be the case for the Pro Bowl. If, however, the NFL insists on continuing on with this tradition, here’s an idea: Play the game overseas.
Players, their families, fans and league executives would still get vacations to a different part of the world. Maybe people in London or Paris would fill a stadium for the game. The game airing earlier on Sunday may even help its TV rating in the States. It’s better than going on as is, but eliminating the Pro Bowl entirely is the best possible solution.