One of the more interesting nuggets to come out of Tuesday’s meeting of NFL owners in Atlanta is that the league is considering changes to the Pro Bowl.
It’s an all-star game in name only, because the actual Pro Bowl produced is a watered-down product that isn’t all that fun to watch. Players don’t want to risk injury, and football isn’t fun when it’s played at half speed and with only half-hearted attempts at defense.
Advertisement
Indeed, it’s time to rethink the entire event. Here is my five-step process to fix the Pro Bowl and turn it into an event worth watching:
1. Start with a skills competition
Think field day, but bigger, stronger and faster. Elements of this are already baked into Pro Bowl week, with dodgeball, a one-handed catch competition and a quarterback accuracy challenge. Those events, held in the days before the Pro Bowl, are just as entertaining as the game itself.
Insanely competitive athletes playing kids games? Yes, please. The NFL should just ditch the auspice of actual football and lean into the fun.
Keep the dodgeball, for sure, as well as the quarterback passing competition. Add a three-legged race, a game of HORSE and a 40-yard dash to finally determine just who is the NFL’s fastest man.
Who doesn't love Dodgeball at the Pro Bowl?
📺: 2022 #ProBowlSkills Showdown — Thurs. Feb. 3, 7pm ET on ESPN pic.twitter.com/do7Bx8F1Vn
— NFL (@NFL) January 27, 2022
My kid’s elementary school had something called Noodle Wars. Four teams, each with a different color noodle. Whack opponents until you are the last team standing. The kindergarteners loved it, and if you think I wouldn’t spend 15 minutes watching Aaron Donald, Trent Williams and Josh Allen smack the crap out of each other with pool noodles, you must be new here.
Could we add an “American Ninja Warrior”-style obstacle course? Incorporate some football elements — footwork drills, pushing a sled, catching and throwing — make it a race and see how quickly 250-pound edge rushers can scale a 14 1/2-foot warped wall.
How many times have you heard anecdotes about how wildly competitive NFL players are? That they hate to lose in checkers or pool or table tennis or Connect 4?
Here’s a chance to prove it.
2. Turn it into a telethon
We know people are watching the Pro Bowl. Even with a significant ratings dip in 2022, the game still drew about 6.7 million viewers.
Advertisement
So if fixing the Pro Bowl starts with making it fun, next is doing something good with it, and the league doesn’t have to dig too far into its history to see how it could work.
When the coronavirus pandemic forced the league to hold a virtual draft in 2020, the NFL used one of its broadcast channels for “Draft-a-Thon,” and wound up raising $7 million for COVID-19 relief.
The NFL might not be able to match that level of donations during the Pro Bowl, but this event would provide a large platform to raise money for any number of charitable organizations, large and small.
Players will certainly want to be paid for their appearance at the Pro Bowl — the only thing that motivated players to even try to tackle in the first place was the larger check for the winning team. But what if they could also raise money for their favorite causes or for their own foundations?
3. Let the Manning brothers host it
I don’t believe there is anyone in NFL history who loved and appreciated the Pro Bowl more than Peyton Manning. He viewed it as an honor to be selected, sure, but he used the week as time to bond and talk football with coaches and players from around the league. It was one of his favorite places to pull pranks, enjoy a few Bud Lights (league sponsor, of course) and pick the brains of other smart football people.
Now, let him bring that enthusiasm to a “Pro Bowl-a-Thon” telecast.
ESPN discovered magic by pairing Peyton and Eli Manning for a “Monday Night Football” simulcast last season. That informal format, with a mix of analysis, celebrity interviews and brotherly banter, would be perfect for a non-traditional Pro Bowl broadcast.
We’d love to see Peyton’s disappointment when the quarterbacks struggle in the passing challenge, and look forward to Eli’s dry humor while breaking down the dodgeball game.
Advertisement
And they have the cachet to bring in major guests, from retired NFL stars to actors like The Rock or musicians, to assist in the fundraising efforts.
4. Get the fans involved
Who wouldn’t love a good old-fashioned Pros vs. Joes-style affair?
NFL Pro Bowlers will make all these games look easy. But let’s allow some fans in to remind us all how freakishly strong, fast and skilled these players are.
So before we watch Russell Wilson attempt to defend his precision passing title from the 2022 skills challenge, let’s see a 34-year-old accountant from Denver try.
Want to see Tyreek Hill and DK Metcalf in a 40-yard dash? Let’s line up a 28-year-old math teacher from Miami and give him a head start.
The NFL might have to take out quite a hefty insurance policy, but let’s throw a few fans into the Noodle War or dodgeball, just to see what happens.
5. Let us bet on everything
Let’s assume the NFL wants to keep the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas. (And it should, for the weather alone.)
Now, make every element of the Pro Bowl something we can gamble on, from pre-event prop bets for dodgeball MVP to the winners of every skill position challenge to live odds from the Noodle War. Let us bet on how many Bud Lights Peyton Manning will drink or how many times Eli will accidentally curse live on television.
Even if the NFL opts to keep more of the traditional elements of the Pro Bowl, whether that’s a scaled-down version of a real game or a flag-football tournament, the league needs to find a way to incorporate live gaming into it to keep the millions of fans who do tune in engaged.
(Top photo: Jeff Speer / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
