Pro Bowl soars
leading into Super Bowl
Game averages 12.3 million total viewers on ESPN
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 2, 2010
Though players and media grumbled over the format changes to the Pro Bowl, it seems unlikely the NFL will be switching back anytime soon.
Sunday's Pro Bowl, which was played the week before the Super Bowl rather than the week after, became the most-watched all-star game ever for any league on cable and soared 40 percent over last year.
The game averaged 12.3 million total viewers on ESPN, becoming the most-watched Pro Bowl in a decade, since 13.2 million viewers watched the 2000 game on ABC.
It was up 40 percent over the 8.8 million who watched on NBC last year, despite the league's controversial decision to not only move the game up two weeks but also switch the location from Hawaii to Miami, where the Super Bowl will be played this weekend.
The date change made sense from a fan viewpoint. Once the Super Bowl is over, fans are switching their attention to other sports, such as basketball and hockey, which are now getting into the all-important second halves of their seasons. Another NFL game at that point is completely insignificant, since the league title has already been settled.
But NFL players and coaches were not pleased with the switch.
Players on Super Bowl teams, though they did not participate in the actual game, were required to be on hand in Miami, preventing them from flying to the game with their teams and getting in a bit more preparation for the big game. Their coaches complained about the set up.
Players themselves grumbled about the location of the game, with many unhappy about giving up the trip to Hawaii.
And media who covered the game, long considered the least consequential of the big four sports leagues' all-star games, dismissed it as an overblown yawnfest.
Wondered ESPN.com's Jerry Green: "If you are irrelevant, do you become more or less irrelevant when you start two weeks earlier and on the other side of the planet?"
It was, everyone agreed, an atrocious game. The AFC beat the NFC 41-34 in a game with more passing than a 10-lane highway. The two squads combined for more than 800 passing yards, and nearly three dozen of the 76 players named to the team sat out the contest.
But commercially, it was a success. Beyond the TV ratings, the game also had its largest attendance since 1959, drawing 70,697 fans to Sun Life Stadium.
Though the next two year's games are slated to be in Hawaii, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will consider moving it back to the Super Bowl city in future years.
And it's almost certain, despite the team and player complaints, that the game will remain in the week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, because of the favorable fan reaction.
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