Earlier on Tuesday, a report broke that the NFL Pro Bowl game could be replaced with powers that be believing it just isn’t working in the modern era.
The Pro Bowl itself has been seen as somewhat of a joke over the years. That’s been magnified recently with the two Super Bowl teams in a given year not sending players to the otherwise meaningless exhibition. Remember, it wasn’t too long ago that the Pro Bowl was held in Hawaii on an annual basis one week after the championship tilt. Stars showed up for it.
Either way, the Pro Bowl will likely come to an end at some point soon. At a press conference later on Tuesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pretty much confirmed an end to the Pro Bowl game.
“The (Pro Bowl) game doesn’t work. We need to find another way to celebrate the players.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on the future of the Pro Bowl
Below, we take a fun look at what could replace the game itself during Pro Bowl week. There’s a ton of ideas floating around. Here are some of the best we’ve come up with.
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Madden Tournament consisting of Pro Bowl players
This wouldn’t be your typical Esports thing. It wouldn’t take place on a live stream through Twitch or in a crowded convention center. No, it would be the most epic of Madden tournaments we’ve ever seen.
The idea would be to have Pro Bowl players take part in a tournament using their current teams. Said games would be aired on big-screen monitors throughout every NFL city. Outside of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, MetLife in New Jersey and Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
It would be a whole party to get Pro Bowl weekend started. We’ll recommend it take place Friday evening with each team holding their own events outside of the stadiums. The weekend would close Sunday with a championship battle.
Young stars flag football game
One of the best events of NBA All-Star Weekend (a three-day event that’s been much better than the Pro Bowl) is the Rising Stars game. It includes first and second-year players going up against one another to give fans a first-hand glimpse of the future of the league. In recent years, the likes of Luka Doncic have appeared.
If the NFL were to do this, it would have to be a flag football game. Teams won’t send their youngsters to a game with actual contact for the fear that a serious injuy could derail a career.
How fun would a seven-on-seven flag football game be? Last year’s event would’ve seen CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson catching passes from the likes of Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert. They would’ve gone up against a team led by the likes of Trevor Lawrence, Mac Jones, DeVonta Smith and Ja’Marr Chase. Who wouldn’t pay to see this?
Legends vs curent stars game
Again, this would be a flag football game. Just imagine the scene. Joe Montana and Dan Marino quarterbacking one team with the likes of Jerry Rice and Randy Moss catching passes from them.
On the other side, who wouldn’t watch Tom Brady throwing passes to Rob Gronkowski with Deion Sanders in coverage? We’ll leave this here. There’s not much more that can be said.
Players vs fans skills competition
You know the mean tweets we’ve seen players read around the sports world? They are actually fun segments on late-night television. Just check out this YouTube video. It’s absolutely hilarious.
Now, wouldn’t it be a blast if the players actually went up against the trolls in a skills competition to show who the alpha really is? Sure NFL veterans would absolutely destroy their counterparts. But it would be an absolute blast.
Other competitions would include fans winning an ability to go up against stars in specific skills competitions. A lucky winner taking on Patrick Mahomes in a modern vesion of the punt, pass kick contest. Come on. This would be so much fun.