Two years ago after the Pro Bowl, I wanted to track down a player. I stood between the locker rooms and had no idea where to find him.
Was he on Team Irvin? Team
Carter? How would I even know? I had just watched the NFL's all-star
game and couldn't figure out who was on which team. Why would anyone
watching at home know either? Now that is a poor way to market a game.
The NFL has seemingly figured out that holding a game in which no fan can possibly understand who to root for is a bad idea. Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay said in an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio the game is going back to the old AFC vs. NFC format. The NFL later confirmed it's returning to the AFC vs. NFC format.
That's still not the magic
answer to all that ails the Pro Bowl. But it's at least better than
having old legends pick teams from a mixed pool of teams, creating a
situation in which nobody cares which team wins. Picking players like it
was a sandlot game was a concept worth trying, and it didn't work.
The NFL is struggling to figure
out a way to save the Pro Bowl. The game still does the kind of
television ratings that make it an attractive three-hour commitment for a
network on a random Sunday evening in January, but those ratings are
sinking fast. The game is moving to Orlando, Fla., and McKay talked
about making it a week-long event to celebrate football. That's fine,
but there's is still the matter of the football game at the end of that
week.
It's hard to get around the basic problem: Players don't want to play full speed in a violent game and get injured during a game that means nothing. There's probably no way around that either.
"It has been a game that's
bothersome at times," McKay said. "I think it's great we celebrated
those players, but I think in the end the game has got to have a
competitive aspect to it to make sense long term."
I do know that having a game in
which no fan can possibly have a clear rooting interest in either team
is dumb. At least when you have the conferences play each other, a Dallas Cowboys
fan will naturally understand who is on the NFC's team and have a minor
reason to root for it. It's not the magic solution, but it's better
than the awful format of the last few years.
The Pro Bowl might be beyond repair at this point. But it won't go away without the NFL trying to figure out a solution.
"I'm concerned about the long-term viability of the game," McKay said. "But we've got to give it every chance."
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