Is the Pro Bowl always in Hawaii?

The idea of a pro football all-star game predates the league's presence on television, going back to 1939, when the NFL Champion New York Giants defeated the Pro All-Stars 13-10 at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field [source: Pro Football Hall of Fame]. These all-star games would continue until 1942, before a hiatus that lasted until the 1950 season [source: Fletcher].

In January 1951, the Pro Bowl was revived with a new format -- bringing together the most outstanding players at each position to play what amounts to a competitive scrimmage --as the American Conference edged the National Conference 28-27 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum -- the event's new home for the next two decades.

Between 1972 and 1980, the game bounced around host cities before being moved to Hawaii in 1980. This became the home of the Pro Bowl until 2009, when the game was moved to the mainland and played the week before the Super Bowl.

When the game, officially called the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, moved to Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1980, the cachet and value of being selected to play automatically increased. It was the last bit of football before the long offseason and Pro Bowlers looked forward to the free trip to Hawaii and a chance to celebrate the end of the grueling campaign. The game itself took on a more relaxed tone, with very little time spent on game planning or other aspects of the intense preparation that goes into a typical regular-season or playoff game.

In fact, there are special rules that apply to the game to prevent injuries. For example, on offense, the quarterback can throw the ball away at any time to avoid being sacked without risking an intentional-grounding penalty. And on defense, blitzes are off limits and only linemen can rush the quarterback. This softer style of play is less interesting to the casual fan, and since most NFL rivalries are within divisions, there is little satisfaction watching your beloved QB share snaps with his archrival.

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Who Really Cares About This Game Anymore?

Some history...

The Pro Bowl, the NFLs' version of an All-Star Game, has been played every season since 1950. It began with the American Conference playing the National Conference until 1953 when it became East vs West.

From 1950-1969, the game took place the second or third Sunday in January at the L.A. Colosseum.

When the AFL merged into the NFL in 1970, the game featured stars from the AFC playing the stars from the NFC beginning in 1971. The game has traditionally been played the week after the Super Bowl.

The game was rotated around the country until 1980, when it took permanent residence at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Each year, the television ratings have been dropping and more and more, players have been opting out of the game either because of an existing injury or in fear of incurring one.

This season, in order to generate more interest in the Pro Bowl, the NFL moved the game to the week before the Super Bowl to be played in the Super Bowl host city.

Why did the NFL do this...?

Why does the NFL do anything. Money. The game was always deemed irrelevant and once the Super Bowl had been played, America was done with football.

The mindset is to move the game to the bye week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, when football is still on the front burner of the sports scene and hope fans would take more of an interest.

Sounds like a great idea, except the whole concept of the Pro Bowl is illogical.

Problems....

Since the game is being played before the Super Bowl, players from the two Super Bowl teams will not appear in the game.

Tickets will be difficult to move because who wants to go to the host city (even it is Miami) just to see the Pro Bowl? And staying the whole week for the Super Bowl would be cost prohibitive.

Plus, the host city will also be given less time to get the venue and playing field ready for the Super Bowl.

Other issues include player participation. Many players went to the game because they got a free trip to Hawaii with their families. Now, with the venue being switched to the mainland, the lure will not be so great. Players will be backing out more than ever.

Then there is the game itself. It has become a joke. Football cannot be played at half-speed. It is a complete waste of time, completely unengaging and not very entertaining.

Football with nothing at stake is not a very good watch, admit it...

What to do....

The Pro Bowl should be abolished. Sorry. You can still have an event to recognize the first and second team All-Pros though.

At the Conference Championships, the All-NFC and All-AFC teams can be announced at halftime. That's all. The playing of the game has to stop.

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Great news, no one! The Pro Bowl has not been cancelled and will return to Hawaii, ending hopeful speculation that last season's Hindenburg would have been the last one ever.

In case one mercifully doesn't know what the Pro Bowl is, here's a recap of last season's game: Lots of defenders pretending to be bullfighters in a 59-41 offensive onslaught, with the main highlight being a failed Drew Brees dropkick that went 5,476 yards less than he threw during the regular season.

There was a rumor that the game would possibly be played in New Orleans, which would have made no difference whatsoever to the minimal quality of the game itself, but that also wasn't true, so nothing changed at all.

Oh, never mind, the players now make $3,000 more than they did last year, because that is what drives million-dollar athletes to care about something. Whatever. There really is no point in complaining about the Pro Bowl anymore—and trust me, if one goes on Twitter and searches "Pro Bowl," those complaints are there—because it's fairly obvious the NFL only thinks of extermination as a change.

Any idea of special contests a la NBA All-Star Weekend, changing the venue or having the players wear moon shoes is just never going to happen. There's no point in dying on this hill anymore. The game gets good TV ratings and makes money, so there's no real reason for the NFL to change its formula, even though most fans would desire this.

The Pro Bowl, at this point, is a TV show. Its offseason hiatus consists of wondering whether or not it'll be "brought back" or "cancelled" or "revamped." It's community, except it sucks and no one wants six seasons and a movie. There's no reason for an NFL event to be masqueraded this way.

The reason its status was being questioned is due to the quality of play, which makes this quote from NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson so insane:

The players have made it clear through the NFL Players Association that they would like the opportunity to continue to play the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. We will support the players on this initiative to improve the Pro Bowl. We have had many discussions with the players in recent years about the Pro Bowl and they recognize that the quality of the game has not been up to NFL standards. We look forward to working with the players toward the goal of improving the competitiveness of this season’s game.

What? This is the players' doing? How? The Pro Bowl looks like a backyard football game entering its third hour. Is this a second chance? What does "working with the players" mean? Is Goodell going to run drills during practice? Good God. The way to improve something isn't to keep doing the same things over and over and hope they improve automatically. That's what a sociopath does.

So yeah. The Pro Bowl is happening, and the NFL is ensuring the game will be worthwhile because it'll give the players a stern talking to (also, it has taken the league this long to even consider talking to the players about quality? Really?). Nice.

Whoever offers the most cash gets the game.

The National Football League is holding the annual Pro Bowl Game in Orlando, Florida for a fourth consecutive year. The game is a fun affair like most North American major league sports all-star contests. Where the NFL will place the Pro Bowl in the future is anybody’s guess. That leads to a question. Will the NFL consider moving the Pro Bowl back to the Honolulu, Hawaii area if a new stadium is built? Hawaiian officials claim that a new stadium could open in 2023. The NFL did do some business last August at Aloha Stadium as the Los Angeles Rams hosted the Dallas Cowboys in a pre-season game at the venue that is facing the wrecking ball. By all accounts the stadium is antiquated and is in need of being renovated or simply torn down and replaced by a new facility.

There has been $350 million dollars earmarked to knock down the 44-year-old venue and replacing it with a smaller stadium eventually. There is also a hope of building a stadium village around the facility. But that is a notion that local politicians can only think about because there is no proposal other than $350 million set aside to do something. The state is looking for investors who will lease the property and use the $350 million on a stadium and a village, Aloha Stadium is not used very much. There have been a number of concerts featuring Guns and Roses, Eagles, Eminem and Bruno Mars. The stadium has University of Hawaii college football, some high school football games and an annual Christmas Eve game, a college football bowl, that is seen at night on the mainland. The stadium grounds also host a three-times a week flea market, The National Football League pulled the Pro Bowl from Hawaii because it got a better deal in Orlando.

Photo: NFL.com