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TV ratings hinge on Pro Bowl staying in Hawaii
By Scary Barry and Paul Malolot January 25, 2011 |
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HONOLULU--NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at last year's Pro Bowl he was interested in entertaining the idea of keeping the game in Hawaii. This was after a lot of the players and messages were sent to him by the players if he moved it out of Hawaii the marquee' players may not show up for the event. The game will be played this Sunday at Aloha Stadium and the same for next season the players kept their word for this game and showed up and the proof is in the pudding with AFC quarterbacks Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Phillip Rivers and NFC quarterbacks Michael Vick, Eli Manning and Rex Ryan all showing up and that's marquee'. Goodell got the hint last season when he moved the game before the Super Bowl to Miami vacating long time Honolulu after holding the Pro Bowl consecutively there since 1980, "we have the option to go back to Hawaii, we can do it before or after the Super Bowl. Here's where I like it.I think you should stop or end your season when you reach a pinnacle. The pinnacle is the Super Bowl, it's anticlimatic when you come back with the Pro Bowl the week after the Super Bowl." said Goodell The fear also if the game doesn't draw TV ratings while playing in Honolulu Goodell still could move the game as a traveling event with the Super Bowl and schedule it just before the Super Bowl. The test of this will be when the Pro Bowl comes back this Sunday and to see what the results will be. The players although they say the best place for the Pro Bowl is in Hawaii that could all change after the 2012 Pro Bowl if the TV ratings are not there. Most people's attitude about the Pro Bowl is no one really cares. The players though by having their marquee' players participating this Sunday are showing good faith since the commissioner put the game back in Hawaii. If the TV ratings are down this Sunday Goodell could move the game after next season. As you might recall the TV ratings were up last season for the Pro Bowl because during Pro Bowl the NFL had a chance to hype up the Super Bowl during the Pro Bowl and both games was held in Miami which allowed both audiences to view both games in the same town. The concept of having the Pro Bowl travel with the Super Bowl may work but it's a gamble too because it may get old hat after awhile and the ratings and tickets sales may taper down some. This is about balancing the point against the short term against the long term in how the NFL is going to keep the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. This is something that's going to have a long term benefit and maybe in some areas you can add half of a percentage on a sales tax or when the visitors come in pay a half cent sur tax for people coming in. There's a lot of ways you can do this to finance these bond measures and same things they've done in other parts of the United States in the long term effect in the case of Hawaii and Honolulu in general there is not a lot of facilities that are NFL specs. It's hurting the state of Hawaii and the NFL in order to stay here and play the Pro Bowl and hurting them in many areas besides the Pro Bowl it's something they need irregardless of the Pro Bowl. It's a benefit beyond football in other words. The decision will lie with the commissioner, he'll wait and see what kind of a draw he gets this Sunday and if the TV ratings are decent the week before the Super Bowl. Scary Barry and Paul Malolot are covering the 2011 Pro Bowl in Honolulu |
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