2014 Pro Bowl: Changes are coming

Jan 29, 2012; Honolulu, HI, USA; A view of the Pro Bowl logo on the field prior to the 2012 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

An interesting report, that has been brought down from up above, stats that there are changes that could happen to the 2014 pro bowl.  The Pro Bowl, in the past couple of years, has begun to lose interest from players and fans, because it really is a meaningless game.  Last year we looked at ways that the Pro Bowl could begin to “count” for something to bring the interesting factor back up to where it should be, along with the other professional sports.  In Baseball, the winning team is provided home field advantage for their side, only a handful of teams have this really apply to them at seasons end but it seems to work.

I think the bigger aspects of All-Star and Pro Bowl Weekends, are the player challenges within their own sports; slam dunk contest and home-run derby are two that come to mind immediately.  I remember when the Pro Bowl, did similar things and had QBs competing with accuracy drills and moving targets down the field, or kicking contests, and the obstacle course.

What the league is coming up with for the new changes will be to bring in two fans for the pro bowl festivities.  What they are looking at is to basically drop all conference and team affiliation and the fans will vote for the top 6 players at each position.  Whether the coaches and players will vote, is still in the air.  After the top 86 players are announced, in December, no affiliation remember, the Wednesday before the game will begin a draft.

The front office for the teams will be a combination of a couple of things (1) The two players that received the highest votes overall will be the two on field captains, (2)prominent player alumni, (3) the two fans who scored the most points this season playing NFL.com Fantasy Football.

A Fantasy style draft will begin to pick the teams and this will provide the two teams that will play in the “Pro Bowl”

A separate poll asks the fans to rank in order of preference the potential name of the new Pro Bowl:  (1) Pro Bowl: The Players’ Game; (2) Pro Bowl:  All-Star Pick-Up Game; (3) Pro Bowl:  Player Selection Draft; (4) Pro Bowl:  All-Star Fantasy; and (5) Pro Bowl:  All-Star Fantasy game.

An additional poll asks the fans if they are “very interested” to “somewhat interested” to “a little bit interested” to “not at all interested.”

Check out the Polls for the BLD Nation here, and be sure to head over to NFLFanHuddle.com to cast your vote for the league.