By Emily McLaughlin
The 2024 NFL Pro Bowl, which occurred his past weekend at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, left many wanting more. Many speculations have occurred about whether the Pro Bowl was worth watching and spending money on this year.
The Pro Bowl is the annual event hosted by the NFL for the best of the best to play. Two honorary captains in the Hall of Fame get picked through voting polls from the fans who lead the players also chosen by the fans.
Since beginning in 1950, the Pro Bowl has changed from formatting to location in many ways. To start, the name initially used for the NFL All-Star festivities has now become the Pro Bowl Games. More recently, the NFL changed the game to a non-contact flag football game instead of traditional football and began doing skill competitions such as dodgeball, kick-tac-toe, and precision passing, which have become the new Pro Bowl competitions.
The Daily Free Press has reported that Roger Goodell publicly claimed “the league needs another way to celebrate their players.”
With fewer and fewer people watching the Pro Bowl because of these changes, the question arises as to why they even made changes in the first place. One of the main concerns with playing tackle football was the injuries that could come with playing, so they decided to switch to flag football.
Additionally, changing the time the Pro Bowl takes place was another area of considerable change. Originally from 2010 to 2022, the Pro Bowl was played the Sunday before the Super Bowl. Since 2023, it has been played on the first Thursday and Sunday of February. The NFL changed this because the league wanted to ensure a game between the conference champion games and the Super Bowl.
The lack of interest overall in watching the Pro Bowl has dropped its ratings lower than regular season games. Even the best of the best cultivating the AFC and NFC players still needed to show a considerable watch base.
Renwick Review said, “Last year, the Skills showdown got 880,000 viewers, their best since 2018.”
Improvements have started to be in question for the years to come for the Pro Bowl. Some suggested getting rid of dodgeball, bringing back old competitions that were done in the past, or getting rid of the Pro Bowl altogether.
“There are about a dozen other events and challenges that the NFL could have these guys participating in that would make more sense than a dodgeball game.” Said ChiefsWire.
Some suggest replacing dodgeball with players playing out of position. Having passing challenges that have either Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen is a consideration people think would attract fans more.
Options that are brought up to change the way the Pro Bowl is by not even allowing the fans to pick who they want to see play. Not letting the fans favor who they want to see would help depict who was the best during the season. One of the ideas done in the past was the strongest man competition back in 2006. These options may attract many people if the NFL decides to start making these changes for the next season.