f13.net

Currently nothing but spectulation, but enough to be noted (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4130864&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines).

As a Londoner and fan of American Football this is  :drill:

Just silly.

Yeah, the NFL is going to let one of the biggest economic events out of the USA. To a city where the league has no team, no less. Right...  :why_so_serious:

From what I understand, SB host city must be an NFL city now (added as an enticement for cities to pony up building stadiums so that greedy NFL owners won't migrate to another locale).

And which is why LA won't see a SB until the Raiders move back again.

Certain North American sports make some sense in certain places outside of North America. American Football in Europe has never really been one of them.

But it's a large market, and maybe it's the best combination of "large market" + "makes any small type of sense" that they can muster for expanding the NFL outside of America (aside from Toronto, which they're in the process of doing).

They superbowl does seem a long shot, but that doesn't stop me from liking the idea. The games they hold at Wembly are sell-out events, so I'm not sure how much revenue the NFL would loose overall. Probably some, but in the long run the promotional boost could be huge.

I figure its probably more likely that London will get the Pro-Bowl in addition to the regular games before the Superbowl, and I suspect that the Superbowl will move outside America for the first time within the next 10-15 years.

Probowl is basically a paid junket. Lets see, February. Hawaii or London.  Hmm......

Oddly enough this year they are trying to make it more serious. They are moving it to Miami and making it BEFORE the Super Bowl.

I think they are trying to cash in on the event during those two dry weeks while waiting for the big show, and the fans are screaming for football.

I predict that will be epic fail. The Probowl isn't real football and the players from the top teams won't play, thereby reducing what little interest there is.

Yep, that's what pretty much EVERYONE except for the guys running the NFL keep saying. They apparently believe that it won't be a big issue missing those players.

At least they don't call it the All-Star game. It would be hilarious to see them explain how you can have an All-Star game without your All-Stars.

Very few people in Europe would be aware of this.

Jesus.  Why even risk an injury to a star player and harm his teams chances in the Superbowl?

That's why the players from the superbowl teams will not play in the probowl.

And that makes it completely pointless. It's like the preseason in the lateseason.

It would also seem like the ideal promotional sideshow game that you could spin up in another continent to gain publicity, without any real consequences.

Although I agree that holding it before the Superbowl is truly daft.

The Pro Bowl has been inconsequential for decades, as it should be. Moving it to the off-week before the Super Bowl is just plain stupid. None of the Super Bowl teams will allow their players to play, and it sure as fuck won't increase the ratings. I'd rather watch Arena Football than the Pro Bowl, because at least the former teams will actually try to win and not avoid injury. Watching a team full of alternates and China Dolls pantomiming football does nothing for me. Just kill the off week before the Super Bowl and be done with it.

Maybe they can change the format too — alter it to a 7v7 flag football contest…

…and still there'd be concern about potential injuries and players foregoing or just treating it as a beer blast thing.

Or the league could offer incentives — an couple extra 1st round, 2nd round, etc. draft picks for the winning conference (or have a tournament by division of short little games)…

Actually in the UK we'd be very aware that it isn't real football :oh_i_see:

This.

I've always hated the long wait and how many times do you see a hot team lose momentum after getting that bye week off before the playoffs.  Nothing will make people watch the pro bowl no matter when it's on.  Hell I'm a crazy football fan and I don't think I've ever sat through a whole pro bowl game.  Haven't even seen a minute of it the past 10 years and I'm fine with that.