The NFL’s Super Bowl has come and gone, a new champion has been crowned, and now we North American football fans wait the long, quiet wait until September when the helmets and pads begin colliding yet again. However, one NFL tradition is in jeopardy of immediate elimination, and that might not be such a bad idea.
The 2012 NFL Pro Bowl was a television ratings disparagement for NBC settling at 7.9, a significant drop from last year’s 8.6, which happened to be lower than the 2010 game. This is a sports-wide dilemma as TV ratings for each major sport leagues all-star excursion has experienced an annual decline these last few years. The primary reason for this pattern could be pointed to the lack of effort by these superstars during the game. The all-star games are meant to be an entertaining display of the best athletes in their respective sports league. The NFL’s Pro Bowl is a showcase of the statistically best players of that season competing against one another, yet the players have no real incentive for going forward with a competitive attitude. The winning division isn’t rewarded with any kind of advantage in the regular season or the playoffs. The game is held in Hawaii, which as luxurious as it is, as pristine as the climate may be, players can take their family there during the offseason any time they’d like. Why should the players put their health on the line for a meaningless game?
One suggestion – The NFL has been attempting to break through the international markets, particularly in London, England – and by attempting, I mean force feeding the British a product that the majority of them do not care for. Their football, soccer, is the only kind of football as far as many of them are concerned - but since 2007 two NFL teams have traveled to London to play a regular season game and to be fair, those games have not exactly represented the NFL at its best with lackluster offense and dull defensive conversions. If Commissioner Goodell is adamant about tapping into the international pipeline, move the Pro Bowl to London and make it an entire weekend’s worth of festivities, much like the NBA all-star game. The biggest names in the NFL would be there to show off for the curious newcomers and the few friendly familiar fans. There could be punt, pass, and kick competitions involving the players and fans as their interaction and increasing player notoriety are key factors in gaining greater accessibility to foreign hearts which in turn provide a direct line to their wallets.
The downside to this idea is that in climate comparison, Hawaii and London are as ridiculously opposite as one could imagine. The NFL players and crew would trade in the blissful serenity of Hawaii’s blessed sun, cool air, and relaxing beaches for London’s dour and drab environment consisting of a perpetually gray horizon accompanied by freakish amounts of the most bizarre rainfall conceivable. You will believe that rain can fall sideways.
Even if the players agreed to go to London, would the NFL want to pay the enormous price for travel and shipping that would come with this function? – Highly unlikely. For the actual Pro Bowl game, would the players be willing to increase their intensity level for the English crowd? Why? Their only motivation would be pride, which is completely honorable, but when the commissioner spends a copious amount of time preaching on the side of player safety, why would he want them to put their careers in further jeopardy for an ultimately pointless contest? Then again, if he is so concerned about player safety, why is he trying so hard to push the regular season schedule to 18 games instead of 16? Money, obviously; everyone knows that. The question just seems more rhetorical at the moment.
There doesn’t appear to be any way of making the NFL Pro Bowl important to the players, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Quite frankly they put their minds and bodies through enough beastly wringers throughout the season that the sooner they can call it a done season the better. Personally speaking, I am a die hard football fan; I will watch any kind from ten year olds to professionals and even I don’t care about the Pro Bowl. If Goodell does in fact abolish the Pro Bowl, I say good; let the players begin healing so they can be ready for next season. The traditionalist in me will be sad to see it go, but the fan in me will become even more anxious for the Super Bowl.
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