For the last few years there has been talk about getting rid of the Pro Bowl. After last year’s abomination and embarrassment, the talk has become more serious.
In a town hall meeting sponsored by Sirius-XM Radio, Commissioner Roger Goodell said the Pro Bowl could go the way of the dinosaur.
“It’s really tough to force competition and after a long season to ask those guys to go out and play at the same level that they play is pretty tough,” Goodell said. “And I made it very clear last year because I really thought the quality of the game last year was way below standards and if we’re going to play like that we should just eliminate the game.”
On the surface is seems after a long season the players don’t want to play the game. Actually, it’s the opposite. The players do want to play the game. They seem to enjoy the free all-expense paid trip to Hawaii, an easy paycheck, and one last chance to play with their football brothers.
“The players asked if they could take another crack at it and they wanted to try to work to make the game more competitive.” Goodell said. “Obviously, I support that but if we can’t accomplish that kind of a standard I’m inclined not to play it any longer.”
The stars of the AFC have played the stars of the NFC after each Super Bowl since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970. Since 1980 the Pro Bowl has been played in Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii every year except in 2009 when they played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. 2009 was also the first year the game was played before the Super Bowl instead of after. With the change also came a rule that players from the Super Bowl participants that made the Pro Bowl would not play in the Pro Bowl.
After the last Pro Bowl game, Aaron Rodgers questioned the integrity of the game All-Star game itself.
“I felt like some of the guys on the NFC side embarrassed themselves,” Rodgers said. “I was just surprised that some of the guys either didn’t want to play or when they were in there didn’t put any effort into it.”
Will the Pro Bowl in 2013 be the last?
The TV ratings have always been good regardless of the product on the field and with questions surrounding the extinction of the game you can be sure people will tune in to see if the players will put more effort in the game to save it from going the way of the dodo bird.
