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The NFL wants to make the Pro Bowl relevant, and it has a surprising way of doing it: Move it to the week before the Super Bowl.
Peter King of SI.com reports that this will probably be the last season that the Pro Bowl is played the week after the Super Bowl.
Per King, the league likely will announce the moving of the game to the weekend before the Super Bowl, either on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday night, and make the Pro Bowl part of the week of hype leading up to the Super Bowl. The Pro Bowl will also most likely be played in the same stadium as the Super Bowl most years, instead of in Honolulu.
That means that the 2010 Pro Bowl will be played on either January 30, January 31 or February 1 at Dolphins Stadium. It also means that no players from the two teams in the Super Bowl will play in the Pro Bowl, which means less star power for the league’s all-star game.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Wake me up when it’s over… zzzzz
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Rating: 3.3 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Wouldn’t having the Pro Bowl players from the two SB teams not playing make the Pro Bowl *less* relevant? (If that’s possible.)
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Rating: 4.6 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
dumb
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Does the conference who wins the pro-bowl get home field advantage in the Super Bowl? And can we rain delay the Super Bowl after 3 quarters and resume it on a Tuesday??
Sincerely,
Bud Selig
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Rating: 4.1 / 5 with 15 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Dumbest idea i’ve ever heard of. Naturally there are going to be some star talent that will miss the game due to the superbowl. He Goodell , stick to fining players and leave the system alone
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Less star power is debateable. THe Pro-Bowl is a popularity contest…
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Rating: 4.5 / 5 with 8 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Great move. Now I’ll watch it. Besides the guys playing in the Super Bowl won’t mind not playing in the Pro Bowl and it won’t stop them from being honored. Now there will be even more Pro Bowlers because some alternates will have to be added for those missing because of the Super Bowl.
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Rating: 3.6 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
So they make it even less relevant? Nine times out of ten the best players are on the Super Bowl teams. And what guys want to play after just losing in the AFC/NFC Championship game.
Keep it the way it is, move it to Miami. No one wants to sit on that 8 hour flight is the problem.
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Rating: 2.8 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
stupid!!! nuff said!
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
don’t agree with this one bit and haven’t wanted it since talk of it started, yes after the super bowl, players from the losing team tend not to play anyway but it was always a big thing to go to hawaii because many people hadn’t been there before and the weather and stuff…i just don’t like this move
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
What about moving it to a couple of 2-3 weeks before the season kicks off? Get rid of the preseason. Add in 2 extra games and a Pro-Bowl. The Pro-Bowl should just be a fun game anyways. It will get all the fans hyped up for the game and you can see all the stars from the past year compete in a pick-up game.
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Rating: 1.45 / 5 with 9 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Chris from MD nailed it. cincyeaglefan, I disagree, there are a lot of great players whose teams don’t make it to the Super Bowl but they make the Pro Bowl. I think this will generate more interest in it since it will be tied in with the Super Bowl.
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Rating: 4.5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The pro Bowl is a joke. No one watches it any way’s I’m sure that the league could just cancel it and no one would notice. Besides the players getting a check that would equal 5 years of my pay. Just to screw off for a quarter and bath in the sun. God my life is lame.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
What a terrible idea. If they want to make it relevant, have one pro bowl team play the superbowl winner. That way, everyone will have something to prove.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
real nice idea here…if you’ve ever looked up a pro bowl vacation package it is surprisingly cheap in comparison to any regular vacation to hawaii, so instead of allowing for an affordable means of seeing most of the best in the game, lets move it to a place that undoubtedly already contains 20lbs of $hit in a 3 lb bag and a hotel room will cost 4 bills a night MINIMUM…nice job NFL.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Great idea. I think it generates way more interest and it’s rare that SB players play in the Pro Bowl nowadays anyway…they’re usually too tired from the week before to give a damn about practice.
Make it a primetime game cause we hate to have 2 weeks between the playoffs and SB. I really hope they do this cause once the SB is over, I shut down until draft time.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Good idea. The Pro Bowl is less relevant now than the NBA and MLB all-star games. I support trying anything to generate interest. There is nothing to lose at this point.
Plus it will give the media something else to focus on to break up the two weeks prior to the SB.
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Great. I only wish that could’ve gotten this done sooner so we would have had a Pro Bowl in Detroit?!
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Actually, I think this is a good idea. After the super bowl I don’t even bother watching football, and the week inbetween of nothing but hype drives me nuts.
While I was at first reading, I was thinking “Hey, what if one of the players from the SB teams gets hurt?” but then I saw they won’t be in the PB game, which also makes sense. Most of the players who play in the SB don’t even bother playing in the probowl afterwards anyways, especially if they lose.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Take the fan vote out of the Pro Bowl and it will might make it relevant. If it’s played before the SB I’ll watch it. Because after to SB I’m out until the combine.
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
“It also means that no players from the two teams in the Super Bowl will play in the Pro Bowl, which means less star power for the league’s all-star game.”
So basically, nothing will change??
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
FWIW…I like JuicyMelon’s idea…do it like a “pick up game” the last week of the preseason at a neutral site(keep HI as an option).
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Are the moving the slam dunk competition too????
PS, this idea sucks ass.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
How does this change anything? Does the NFL really think that moving a game, that’s boring as all get up to another week will add viewers? Really? C’mon.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
ParkerFly,
While that’s true. There is a three week gap currently in what you’re talking about. Now your talking about a one week gap. I think that would make a huge difference. And again, the biggest draw is the guys just celebrating a Super Bowl win, showing up for the game.
Not to mention…what coach wants 7 days to do that game. Remember the coaches of the losing AFC/NFC Championship games coach those games. There is a 3 week gap for that. Now down to 7 days.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)