The Pro Bowl will no longer exist as we know it. The NFL announced that it will now be replaced by skills competitions for a whole week and the main event will be a match of flag football, o tochito, as they also know it. Similarly, the entire event will have the participation of the most outstanding players throughout the season.
The traditional of NFL All-Star Game it ends as we know it after 71 years of existence. At the same time in which he always enjoyed insignificance and null expectations, the only thing he has raised, in addition to a few millions that only the players who participate in the match enjoy, has become a parade of complaints, most of them because they run several risks in the least important match of the whole year and that only serves to lengthen the calendar.
To begin with, this is the All-Star Game that takes less relevance among all sports fans in the United States. While the NBA maintains the attractive contest of dunks and triple shots and the MLB the Home Run Derby and they are played in the middle of the season when the players are in better physical shape, the NFL maintains the skill games, the same ones that nobody remembers who won, contrary to those of the winners in the other disciplines. That’s how irrelevant they are.
In addition to this, television audiences were in decline. According to data obtained by The Economistthe The Pro Bowl ranked second in terms of average viewership for its past five editions. The same media noted that the MLB ranked first in 2017 with 11.7 million viewers, after there is the NFL, with 10.5 million people and in third place is the NBA, with 7.4 million viewers. In relation to the Pro Bowl, from 2012 to 2016 its audience decreased by one million per year.
Many players wish to no longer participate. But those who were still active in the Pro Bowl manage to win good sums of money. According to AS diary, the players on the winning team in 2022 earned $80,000, while the losing team had to settle for $40,000. In addition to this, the league made donations of up to 20 thousand dollars to the foundations of the players awarded as the best offensive player and the best defensive player. He also gave 10,000 to the foundations of the players who get the longest field goal, the most passing yards, the most receiving yards and the most carries. In addition to awarding $2,500 for each interception and each touchdown.
The point is that, as long as the prizes were maintained, the game could continue to be carried out. But for some money is not everything and there are exceptions for guests at such a meeting. In the latest edition, Dak Prescott was one of those players who decided not to participate. The Cowboys QB was coming off a rough season after overcoming a broken ankle in 2020 and claimed he just wanted a break. Another case of refusal was that of the former tight end of the Cincinnati BengalsTyler Eifert, who suffered an ankle injury during the 2015 Pro Bowl that required surgery, accompanied by a sore back and that left him without preseason and without appearing in the first six games of the following season. “It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, but it’s just not worth it,” Eifert said after his involvement.
In 1999, Robert Edwards, who was a rookie running back for the Patriots, damaged a ligament in his knee during one of the pregame events and required surgery that kept him out for the entire following season. In the most recent edition (2022) Tyreek Hill He was also one of those singled out because he had been recovering from an ankle injury that he suffered in the last week of the regular season and that kept evolving and played until the American Conference final that his team lost. However, during one of the games of skill he showed resentment and, therefore, his performance was not satisfactory at all.
The decision to withdraw the All-Star Game from the NFL was made thanks to the comments and requests of the owners, players and the fans themselves. The American football organization will maintain the confrontation between both conferences and the players will continue to be selected through votes from their fans. Looking to the future, the NFL stepped up.
