Desperate Pro Bowl Scheduling

For the first time the Pro Bowl will be played the week before the Super Bowl rather than afterwards. Having the Pro Bowl after the Super Bowl has proven anti-climactic and ratings have suffered. By moving it during the season, the NFL hopes that excitement for the Super Bowl will fuel ratings which have been bad for many years. This will be just another desperate attempt on the way to cancelling the Pro Bowl all together.

Ok cancelling it may seem dramatic, but I really don't see it ever really pulling good ratings. While I understand the rationale behind moving the Pro Bowl up this early, it is a dumb idea. A competition between the best players in the league will not include any of the players from the two best teams, Indianapolis and New Orleans. No team or player would risk playing a football game a week before the biggest game of their lives. That leaves 14 holes in the roster.

Putting it in between conference championships and the Super Bowl just highlights how unimportant and uninterested even the players are. Football is a game of emotion and no one has any in the Pro Bowl. No one wants to hit and when the big hitters try to hit, they are criticized. In the 2007 Pro Bowl, the AFC attempted a fake punt and Sean Taylor absolutely destroyed the punter. Everyone went nuts, including Taylor's victim who ran back onto the field to let him know what a great hit it was. Despite the fact that the punter had the ball, many people criticized Taylor for hitting the punter so hard. He's a punter and it's only the Pro Bowl. People watch football for the hits and the scoring. The NFL doesn't want people hitting in the Pro Bowl (even though it's football) and so they try to give you more scoring. There are all sorts of bizarre rules restricting the defense in an attempt to see more scoring. Certain coverages are not allowed, quarterbacks are closely watched, even jamming at the line is illegal. If you are a defenseman, why would you go to the Pro Bowl? You can't hit, which for some of these players is how they got a spot in the first place, the rules are stacked against you, and the league is hoping you will be embarrassed on national tv. You won't even get a trip to Hawaii this year as the game will be in Miami instead. There are a lot of reasons why defensive players wouldn't want to go.

Perhaps the biggest criticism comes over the fan voting. I hate fan voting no matter the sport. Fans are given far too much power in this process. They vote for their favorite players, not the most deserving. Players can lose money when they don't make the Pro Bowl. Many fans really don't know what they are talking about, but they are allowed to pick who's played the best this season? I guarantee you Jason Campbell received Pro Bowl votes this year and that alone discredits this system.

The new time for the Pro Bowl will ultimately be a failed experiment. The ratings may be a little better this year as the novelty of it could help, but the ratings will drop again next year and stay there. Having the Pro Bowl after the season is anti climactic, but having it during is stupid because a lot of great players won't go. Every new scenario takes away incentives for players. While a lot of contracts include incentive clauses tied to the Pro Bowl, this just isn't enough to save it. The NFL could announce an All-Pro Team and have no game and I think we will see this in the not-too-distant future. Announcing the team would probably provide just as much excitement as the Pro Bowl does now.