History of the Pro Bowl
Another Pro Bowl has come and gone with a less than spectacular rating once again. The game did reach its highest viewership in the past five seasons at 8.6 million this past Sunday. That is not bad, but compared to the nearly 50 million viewers that watched this last championship weekend it is not that great.
The Pro Bowl was designed to pit the best players in the NFL against each other in a game to see which conference is better. Fans enjoy this game because they actually can vote on who makes the roster. Players love it as well. Many first-time selections get emotional like Denver Broncos pass rusher Bradley Chubb reportedly did when he learned he was chosen for this matchup. It feels like an honor to know the fans know you and recognize your hard work. That, however, is where the good parts about this contest ends.
The game itself is boring. You may have the “best” players from each conference playing against each other, but they do not play like that. The athletes tend to be more concerned about their physical and mental health at this point in the season. The NFL can fix this problem in several different ways.
Pre-game Contests
Let us for a moment focus on the pre-game festivities. Skills competitions during all-star weekends are some of the most fun events to watch. Sometimes those are even more popular than the games. Can you imagine an MLB All-star game without a home run derby in the days prior? I personally cannot. The NFL should consider creating something similar.
The league already has some big-name challenges such as precision passing, fastest player, and the always entertaining dodgeball games. These are all good, but more is needed. A group that is left out of this are the kickers and punters. A fun thing for kickers could be who can make the longest field goal. This may not be as much fun as the home run derby but could be fun regardless. What about the lineman too? They are some of the most underappreciated players on the field. Create a seven-on-seven match featuring just lineman and I would watch that all day long.
Something else that could make this more entertaining is showing it live. Part of the reason all-star games are so fun to watch is they are aired live. There is no reason in today’s society with technology as advanced as it is for stuff like this not to be shown in real-time. Put a delay on it if you are worried that something may not be suitable for the audience, but this would be a great way to improve its ratings.
Increase Competiveness in the Game Itself
A big reason the Pro Bowl has the viewership it does is because of the competitiveness of the game. People want to see these kinds of matchups where the players on the field are the best in the league. The problem is the athletes have no reason to play like we want them to. Playing a video game where you are either the AFC or NFC is fun, but that is because you are controlling how hard they play. This contest is in real life with real people and real risks to their health. Try telling a running back that he should lower his pads to break tackles who is still on his rookie contract. That player would laugh at you and probably tells his friends about it once you are out of his sight.
People have suggested playing a seven-on-seven game as I previously mentioned. This would eliminate the possibility of injuries. You would run into the same issues here as well. The lineman and specialists would be left out again. Football is fun because of the physical aspect of the game. You take that away and nobody wants to watch it.
My solution to this is expanding the rosters. The fact that one squad can have three quarterbacks and the same team can only have just as many total safeties is ridiculous. Do you want players to play harder? Make sure each position has at least one backup. This would ensure that the players are always fresh and can give it at least 85% of their all.
Icentives
You can tell the players to give 110% all you want, but until you give them a reason to they will not. An obvious way to do this is with money. A popular idea has been to pay players from the winning team twice as much as those from the losing side. I am fully behind this. This would give them a tangible reason to put themselves at risk.
However, that may not be enough. That may work for a few athletes, but nobody who is genuinely concerned about their future would consider a pay increase good enough. Maybe their teams feel the same way. Do you think the Kansas City Chiefs are going to ask their franchise quarterback Patrick Mahomes to give it his all after locking him down for a decade? Absolutely not. I think the athletes as well as their franchises want a little more in return for their risk.
I think some kind of insurance program is what is needed for this to work. Giving a player who is injured and may impact the rest of his career a payment seems fair to me. Award their team some kind of draft capital if this happens to one of their franchise guys as well. This would enable teams a chance at replacing that athlete’s production. This of course would have to depend on a scale and get many people involved, but it is one solution to increasing the popularity of the game. Also, it is not like the league cannot afford it. The NFL just signed massive TV deals a couple of years back. Giving a player $10 million and their team a second-round pick if something like this were to happen seems like a drop in an ocean to the league.
Closing Thoughts
This article was published on the Belly Up Sports website and specifically its NFL page. Belly Up Sports also has a Twitter page where you can interact with the network. I also have written for this outlet before so see my most recent story if you would like. If you would like to talk to me directly, feel free to chat with me on my Twitter as well. Try to keep it clean and proper. If you are incapable of doing so, ignore that completely and battle it out with me. Just a few warnings for those who dare challenge me. I am highly competitive and hate to admit when I am wrong. So be This article was published on the Belly Up Sports website and specifically its NFL page. prepared for a war of words.
