Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has a suggestion to boost Pro Bowl interest.
The NFL’s All-Star exhibition game is arguably the worst of the four major professional sports. Players are barely interested in competing, largely out of fear of injury. The exhibition game takes place after the season or during the week between conference championships and the Super Bowl, when interest in a game that doesn’t count is low.
The Pro Bowl has been such a bad game that it’s not even a real game anymore. In its current form, the event is a flag football contest around which skills competitions are built.
That may not change. Players will probably never want a full-contact, no-opponent competition that doesn’t pay like a regular-season game and doesn’t count for anything. But Burrow’s idea could generate more interest in Pro Bowl festivities.
Appearing in the “Sorry for my opinionOn a podcast, Burrow was asked what he thought about the NFL expanding to an 18-game season. Burrow responded that there would need to be two bye weeks. He expanded on that idea and proposed that the first bye week be a regular part of the schedule like it is now, spread out among all 32 teams. However, the second bye week would be the same for all teams.
“Just like Week 13, you have a break for the Pro Bowl, where you play 7-on-7 and all the skills challenges, like the NBA does,” Burrow said. “I think that would generate more qualifications for the Pro Bowl and also give everyone a week off before the final six games.”
Another benefit of the expanded schedule with an extra game and a bye week would be that the Super Bowl could be moved to the Sunday before Presidents’ Day. With it being a Monday holiday, many fans would have the day after the big game off, something many fans and media outlets have suggested for years.
Players may not be thrilled about spending their week off with Pro Bowl festivities. Many might skip the event to take a vacation or just get away from football. But they would get a break from an actual game and a chance to do something fun that lets them show off their personalities.
There would be no restarting a game, especially if it was scheduled to be played during the season. But that’s something the players have probably already decided. You have to be creative and fun. You have to let the players blow off steam. You have to let the fans see more of these guys without helmets and show their camaraderie with each other.
It’s notable, though, that Burrow is thinking about the NFL’s interests and not just the players (although when it comes to the Pro Bowl, perhaps making the event more fan-friendly would benefit both sides). Placing the All-Star game midway through the season would provide more opportunities for broadcasts to promote the event and keep fans engaged with voting.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this hypothesis is that Burrow should be considered for NFL commissioner once his playing days are over.
