The Pro Bowl will be moved to a week before the Super Bowl and will be played at the site of the game beginning in 2010, the Associated Press reported today. This move comes after years of speculation and is a clear attempt to reinvigorate a game that barely registers with hardcore NFL fans, let alone the general sporting public.
Moving the game to a week before the Super Bowl will make the Pro Bowl more relevant than before, but still not relevant enough to turn the game into a must-see event. Nobody really cares about the Pro Bowl and that's unlikely to change unless they replace the players with cheerleaders.
Football isn't a game that lends itself to disinterested play at half-speed. The players don't seem to want to be there (as evidenced by the large number who decline invitations the game, claiming various injuries and obligations) and those who do go are justifiably concerned about getting injured in a meaningless exhibition.
The most logical way to build interest in the Pro Bowl is to set-up a skills competition, a la the NBA and NHL (and, to a lesser degree, MLB). There's not too many people who can tell you who won the NBA or MLB All-Star Games this year, but everyone remembers Dwight Howard's Superman dunk and Josh Hamilton's Ruthian display at the Home Run Derby.
If the NFL developed a 'Pro Bowl Saturday' that featured events like the return of the NFL's fastest man race, a longest throw competition, an obstacle course, kicking challenges and anything else that would have some entertainment value, the Pro Bowl could become a meaningful event. Until then, it's just a bunch of guys in ugly uniforms trying to run the clock out on their season.
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