Pro Bowl

The Pro Bowl is being moved:

Look for this to be the last year the Pro Bowl is played the week after the
Super Bowl. As I reported on NBC last night, the league likely will announce in
the next few weeks the moving of the game to the weekend before the Super Bowl
-- either on Saturday night, Sunday, or Monday night, depending on network
preference -- as part of the pre-Super Bowl buildup. In addition, I look for the
league to play more than half of future Pro Bowls on the mainland instead of
Honolulu, mostly at the same site of the Super Bowl to maximize attention and
focus on an all-star game that has become totally irrelevant. Next season the
Super Bowl is in Miami. I expect the rotation to begin then, with the Pro Bowl
quite possibly at Dolphins Stadium either eight, seven or six days before the
Super Bowl.

I am, for the most part, in favor of this idea. the NFL is the
greatest of american professional sports and yet its all-star game has
consistently been the worst. something needed to change, hopefully this will
give the game more juice. my only problem is that if it is before the super
bowl, then the players of the two participating teams won't play in the pro bowl
since they'll have a big game to prepare for. you might say " well, playing in
the super bowl is a good enough prize" and you'd be right. but there are two
problems with that: 1) a good portion of the players in the pro bowl are likely
to come from those two teams since they are the best. the game will be robbed of
some of its star power. and 2) its a big deal for the players to get to play in
it. its a bonus for all the hard work they put in. some even have contract
bonuses built in if they make the team.

i hope they find ways to get around the problems....