Play the Pro Bowl Abroad

Six Jets head to Hawaii this week for the Pro Bowl, and less than half of the fanbase is likely to watch the game. The NFL's All-Star Game is meaningless. There is nothing on the line, and coming after the Super Bowl makes it anticlimatic. The most important thing for players is avoiding injury and a long offseason rehab regimen.

The league is taking steps to make the game more watchable. Next season the contest will take place on the weekend between Championship Sunday and the Super Bowl in Miami, the Super Bowl's host city. People want something to watch on that empty weekend so this will certainly increase the Pro Bowl's ratings, but the game is a lost cause in this nation. Nobody really cares when nothing is on the line.

The NFL insists on playing games overseas. The past two seasons, the league has stolen a regular season home game from a city's fans to play a game in London. Why not just scrap this concept, and play the Pro Bowl in a foreign city? It would prevent a fanbase from losing one of only eight home games. American fans certainly would not miss the All-Star competition. If the league is serious about marketing overseas, what better way than a contest with the biggest names in football?