Next year’s Pro Bowl likely headed to New Orleans

Posted by Mike Florio on February 5, 2012, 12:24 PM EST
Reuters

The report regarding possible cancellation of the Pro Bowl reminded me of something I’ve heard consistently this week from sources who are in the know.

Next year’s Pro Bowl likely will be played in New Orleans, site of Super Bowl XLVII.  If it’s played.

And the players won’t like that.  The one-week boondoggle to Honolulu provides the biggest attraction for the men invited to the game.  Two years ago, when the Pro Bowl was played in Miami a week before Super Bowl XLIV, players privately groused about the location and the accommodations.

As Rosenthal pointed out earlier today, a total cancellation of the event seems unlikely, given that more people watched this year’s edition of glorified two-hand touch than watched the 2011 MLB all-star game.

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36 responses to “Next year’s Pro Bowl likely headed to New Orleans”

  2. I usually flip back and forth to the pro bowl and end up losing interest towards the middle of the 2nd quarter and stop watching altogether. Im pretty sure that im done with watching this game, it is just too boring and the players give no to minimal effort… the only sports that actually entertain you during their allstar games is the NBA and the NHL…

  4. It should be held in Hawaii after the Superbowl so anyone who wants to be there can. The players clearly enjoy the trip to Hawaii.
    Dont play the game, just announce the rosters and then have competitions. I used to LOVE the QB challenges they had.

  7. Honestly, I have had enough with having to hear about New Orleans. My heart does go out to the families that had their lives torn apart by Katrina. But I am getting tired of having it shoved down my throat every time I have to watch a sporting event in that town. Move on or move out.

    Lets face it, with the exception of one little area that place is a giant ghetto. You take a wrong turn in NO and your not the right color and you’re either getting shot or stabbed.

    -RRB

  8. Everyone is saying that last weeks pro bowl was a “glorified two hand touch” game. The League should make it exactly that. Take the pads off these guys and make it a flag football game. The players would enjoy it more, and so would the fans.

  10. It shouldn’t be played anywhere. Just announce the Pro Bowl roster and cancel the game. The players don’t care and most people think it’s pathetic anyways. If the players want money like they usually get when participating in the Pro Bowl, just have it so every player on the roster (both NFC and AFC) gets the same amount of $, no winners or losers.

  11. Sooo…take away the one thing players like about the game and you take that away and you want more effort?

  14. Not even close RRB. New Orleans has been and always will be America’s most unique city. Sure there are problems, but name one city where there isn’t crime and blight. I used to live there but was forced out by Katrina. I was just there three weeks ago and New Orleans is slowly but surely fighting back from Katrina. If I could live there again I’d do it in a heartbeat.

  15. @rooneyruleblues Then obviously you haven’t been to New Orleans before, the majority of it is not ghetto. This story has absolutely nothing to do with Katrina, you are the one bringing it up. If you don’t like to hear about New Orleans then don’t read the story nobody is forcing you to. It will be a great joy a year from now when I will be pointing and laughing at stupid tourists like you at the Super Bowl, IN NEW ORLEANS.

  17. I’d rather watch cheese bubble than watch the Pro Bowl, but if you’re gonna have it leave it in Hawaii.

    The players deserve the trip and many won’t show up if it’s changed to the Super Bowl cities.

    Either cancel it or leave it in Hawaii.

  18. This, right here, is how some real scrubs end up playing in this game. Go ahead, take the last tiny bit of incentive away from these guys, & you’ll see Colt McCoy leading the AFC to a 84-77 win over Alex Smith & the NFC.

  19. Soon, it will be only the backup players going…everyone else will decline. Hawaii is the only reason to go.

  20. @cullenand99 well said

    IMHO the probowl shoul be canceled and replaced by the formerly cancelled skills competition. I would rather watch 3 hours of obstacle courses and long ball throws than that HUGFEST.

  22. RRB,you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Im sure you’ve never been to NO and your opinion is gathered from the inside of your @ss where your head permanently resides.

  25. Take away Hawaii and the players will join the fans and have little if any interest in the Pro Bowl. Instead, keep it in Hawaii and back to two weeks after the Super Bowl and change the winner’s award so it’s a real football game.

  26. rooneyruleblues, they are talking about putting the pro bowl in New Orleans next year because the Super Bowl is in New Orleans, genius – same as the year it was in Miami a couple of years ago.

    And by the way, tour name explains all we need to know about your REAL problem.

  27. The Pro Bowl should be in Hawaii or cancelled, and should be moved back to the week after the Super Bowl so the new Hall of Famers can be celebrated for the first time as well, as they used to be. For those not old enough to remember, the game was moved to Hawaii in the first place because it had been rotated among various NFL cities and the players stopped coming because they did not want to bother with such a trip – to New Orleans or anyone else.

  28. Heaven Forbid the players actually enjoy the Probowl …

    roger goodell can not even do the SIMPLE thing and leave the probowl in Hawaii so the players can actually ENJOY the honor of being selected to go to the Probowl.

    The event failed in Miami, so lets go and screw it up again and have it New Orleans.

    Leave it in Hawaii, millions of dollars are pumped into the local economy every year with the probowl.

  30. Different competitions like QB challenge, Fastest man, Obstacle course ala ‘Wipeout’, balancing stuff…

    Make it more like a gameshow. Fun to watch, doesn’t have to be live so you can film over the Probowl week and air it for 2 hours or three and let everyone have fun.

  31. It don’t matter where it’s played I’m not going to watch it. The game is a joke just put it to rest.

  32. I find that most people who gripe about Katrina, do so without any prompting. Who brought up Katrina in this article? No one. Yet the griping continues. Fact is, New Orleans is probably the best “big event” city in the country.

  33. New Orleans? If nothing else, maybe they can set a new record for drunk and disorderly arrests.

  34. Amen, ascensionparish – there’s no where else in the country (not Miami, not Glendale, etc.) where you can find world class restaurants, bars, entertainment and hotels all within a mile or so of the game venue.

    rooneyruleblues – have you ever actually left the CBD or FQ in NOLA? Like any city, there are some bad areas in NOLA – but there sure are alot of great ones too outside of that “one little area.”

  35. Hawaii has world class restaurants, world class bars, world class shopping, some of the best beaches and the hiking trails are awesome. I have been to nearly every state and Hawaii has more variety of things to do then any other state………..Brought to you by Hawaii’s Tourism Bureau.

    All kidding aside though. I think it just might be politics playing here. Hawaii’s Tourism Bureau wants the Pro Bowl here in Hawaii in a very bad way but the governor went on record saying that he will not let the NFL bully Hawaii around by making Hawaii pay 2 mil to host the game. The governor got a lot of criticism because the Pro Bowl brings about 24 mil to the state. So that gave the NFL leverage. With the players saying they won’t play unless the game is in Hawaii now has given the state some leverage.

  36. This is what needs to be done: either move the Super Bowl to Hawaii permanently, and move the Pro Bowl as the HOF game in Canton or tour it on a nationwide city basis, where the NFL can gauge some sort of census as to which cities can be on the expansion team lists.

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