Pro Bowls and Bye Weeks

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:24:39 EDT

People are already complaining about the setup of next year's Pro Bowl...rather than taking place one week after the Super Bowl, as in years past (including this year), the 2010 Pro Bowl is now slotted for the week prior to the Super Bowl. This most definitely rules out any players from the top two teams being able to play, and possibly any players from the other Conference Finalists.

I understand the desire to move the game into the parameters of the season and make the Pro Bowl more relevant to the fans...the Major League Baseball's All-Star break is a popular event, and holding it during the season is a big reason why. So I see the basic logic of moving the game up two weeks...but beyond that, logic fails here.

Clark Judge commented that ruling out the top four teams from participating equates to a substantial portion of each roster, which would be a huge issue. Another problem is the issue of replacing those roster members that make it to the big dance. We don't know until those Conference Championship games are played who will actually advance to the Super Bowl...and we don't even know which teams will be in the Conference Championships until the Divisional Round has been played one week prior. This gives us only one or two weeks to come up with replacement/reserve players to fill out the Pro Bowl rosters -- a logistical nightmare.

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Pro Bowls and Bye Weeks