It’s clear the NFL Pro Bowl needs fixing. Of all the top professional sports leagues, it’s fair to say the NFL has the worst “All-Star Game,” which is sad considering it’s the top league. So, for fear the Pro Bowl may be scrapped altogether, the NFL is willing to listen to changes to make the Pro Bowl better.
Share this article so those inside the NFL see it. If you’re with the NFL, you’re welcome. Here are five ways to fix the NFL Pro Bowl.
5 Ways to Fix the NFL Pro Bowl
Increase the Winning Prize
From the NFL’s perspective, the reason to go to the Pro Bowl and participate is essentially solely because of the honor of being voted to the Pro Bowl. Clearly, that’s not enough. Money motivates.
Last season, players on the winning NFL team won $80,000 while the losers got $40,000. The NFL isn’t short on money, so jack that prize pool up!
Whether it’s a regular game or a skills competition, we need to have more money at stake. Even if the winners get $100K, that round number carries a much larger weight than 80. Take the extra $20,000 from the losers, and players will try a bit harder.
Bigger, Better Skills Competition
Currently, the only thing worth a damn is the skills competitions. Even with other sports leagues, competitions like the Dunk Contest are talked about way more than the actual game.
I want to see linemen doing a contest, whether it’s bench reps, an arm-wrestling contest or flipping tires. We should have kickers and punters trying to make tricky kicks or land the ball on a target. We need more quarterback and wide receivers contests, and we even could have contests to see which defender tackles the hardest or who the fastest player in the league truly is.
Again, make the prize worth trying for. With the NFL betting money that would be created from these events, it would be easy to make it worth the players’ while.
Move the NFL Pro Bowl Back to Hawaii
Who gives two damns about going to Arizona? Yeah, back up the van and we’ll drive to the Pro Bowl. No, bring it back to Hawaii where it will feel like a true destination. Dammit, we need Andy Reid in a Hawaiian shirt walking around making bad “laid” jokes.
Bring Back Former Stars
To add to the week of festivities and competitions, we should have a flag football game between the stars of today and yesterday. We need Chad Johnson and Darrelle Revis playing against Justin Jefferson and Jalen Ramsey. Even with it only being flag football, seeing players like Michael Vick and Chris Johnson with the football in their hands once again will be worth it.
Pros vs Joes
We need the television show Pros vs Joes to come back, and what better way than to have a live version during the NFL Pro Bowl? Yes, the regular fan who still brags about their high school records is going over the middle to catch passes while Budda Baker hits him as hard as he can.
We can make it a multi-sport affair, much like the actual show, and have basketball and baseball events as well. Let the “Joes” win Super Bowl tickets if they actually win, while the “Pros” team could win money for a charity of their choice.
