Okay, a lot of you are probably asking the question right now. Why should I care about the Pro Bowl moving from Hawaii to Miami? It was announced a couple weeks before the Super Bowl that the Pro Bowl would be leaving Hawaii in 2010 so that it could be played in Miami, a week before the Super Bowl.
To be honest, most fans care little about the game itself, but in the end it is to reward the players who have a good season. The location of Hawaii has a mystique that very few locations have in the world, and I understand why players would be irritated that it would be taken away from them. Why would you not like going to a tropical paradise where you can sip mai-tai’s and listen to Don Ho?
To put it lightly, the Pro Bowl is like summer camp for the players. They live for a week in a fancy hotel and receive the special treatment that the Hawaiian Islands have to offer. Then, they get to play an exhibition game against an opposing team from the other conference. Old friendships get renewed and new ones can be created from that little trip out to Hawaii to play a game.
While most of you are probably asking right now, why should I care about some spoiled athlete getting a free trip to Hawaii? My issue is with the game being taken away from Hawaii and being played on the mainland. The Pro Bowl is one of the very few all-star games that have a specific location and once you move it out of that location it just becomes another all-star game. The Pro Bowl is also a revenue-generator for Hawaii since it will bring in tourists who want to watch the game and the players who will spend money when they are there.
Many people would say that I should be at issue with game being played one week before the Super Bowl. To be honest, I think this is actually a good idea since it would provide the possibility for the Super Bowl to be the final game. The one argument against this is that the participants who make it to the Super Bowl would not be able to attend the Pro Bowl. To be honest, the players who do not attend the pro bowl for personal reasons or nursing injuries are in the same boat.
I can see the reason why NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would try to cut costs and create some additional revenue for the city for where the Super Bowl is going to be played. To be honest, the Pro Bowl originated in Los Angeles and only moved to Hawaii in 1980. However, the Pro Bowl is more than just an exhibition game, it is a chance for players who play on different teams to relax with one another in a tropic location and provide a show for the folks of Hawaii.
There are some things that need to be changed in the NFL; this is not one of them. Maybe Terry Tate should have a word with him.
