NFL Pro Bowl: Lack of Compeition, Viewers Shows Game Needs Change
By Joe Serpico
The NFL Pro Bowl is an embarrassing game of football, and the decreasing number of viewers show that the NFL must make a change.
The Pro Bowl was exactly what everyone expected: a game with no tackling and not taken seriously. It makes you wonder why they even play the game.
The Baltimore Ravens were represented by Marshal Yanda and Sam Koch on Team Irvin, while Morgan Cox and Elvis Dumervil played for Team Rice. Team Irvin won the game, 49-27, but no one seemed to truly care about a winner and a loser. Unless you care about the money.
The winners of the Pro Bowl received $58,000, while the losers get $29,000. Yanda and Koch were the recipients of the extra $29,000 for being on the winning side, but judging by the play on the field, you would not think they care. If the money can’t get you to play hard when most of the people watching would do anything to make that kind of salary, just save everyone the trouble of playing the game. It is not like many of us are watching.
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The Pro Bowl needs a change. It’s the worst of all the all-star games in professional sports. The NHL All-Star Game was played on the same night, and that was much more exciting than the Pro Bowl. At least there was some drama in the hockey game. The NFL has none. There is nothing exciting about watching running plays in which the ball carrier wasn’t even taken to the ground. Wide receivers playing cornerback and vice versa. Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett scored on a 57-yard run and not one person even tried to tackle him. This is not football.
The numbers show that the amount of viewers each year is dropping. According to ProFootballTalk, “the Pro Bowl drew a 5.0 overnight rating. That’s down from 5.6 last year and significantly down from the 6.7 rating the Pro Bowl got in 2014 when it was on NBC.” The NFL must realize that it has a problem and it’s because no one takes it seriously. Not the league. Not the players. And now, not the fans.
The Pro Bowl has become just another cash grab for the NFL. They know people will still attend the game and watch on tv despite what is being presented on the field. Some people cannot get enough football especially since we are down to just one more game before a long offseason without it. After the Super Bowl next week, most people will tune out football until August and September.
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I understand that the point of the game is to have fun and stay healthy. But if the NFL is charging fans admission to the game and paying the players to show up, make it a competitive game. Otherwise, just get rid of the Pro Bowl.