The Pro Bowl is returning to its roots. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up for interpretation.
Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay announced on SiriusXM NFL Radio that he expects the NFL to return to the AFC-NFC format of old. If the change does happen, it would put an end to the fantasy draft format which was implemented in 2014. The league used the newest format to give a bump and more meaning to the game, but like the National Hockey League, the NFL’s draft format was put on ice after only a few seasons.
The NFL might have realized that it’s impossible to make the Pro Bowl interesting. Football is a contact heavy sport filled with injuries and as Pro Football Talk mentions, players don’t want to risk getting hurt to play in a meaningless game. All of the best players who are selected for the event ultimately don’t want to attend. What’s billed as an All-Star game turns out to be a bunch of replacements giving minimal effort. There’s little entertainment value in watching it.
Will moving the format back to an NFC-AFC format change much of anything? Probably not. It means fans don’t have to suffer through a draft, but the on-field product largely remains the same. The Pro Bowl might be the most useless, uninspiring single game in pro sports. There’s no point.
