NFL owners are discussing the future of the Pro Bowl at this week's league meetings, a source confirmed to ESPN after multiple media outlets reported the news.
The league has spoken to players and NFL teams and is now exploring alternatives to the weeklong Pro Bowl celebration, which could include the elimination of the traditional tackle game, the source said.
No vote is needed to approve a change. The NFL, while exploring this with players and television partners, hopes to have a decision this summer.
The annual all-star game, broadcast on ESPN, has suffered in recent years because of players backing out and the lack of competition due to injury concerns.
The NFL has played a traditional Pro Bowl game in some fashion since 1938. Festivities surround the game, including dodgeball, throwing competitions and skills challenges in the past.
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They should have a Super Teams competition like ABC did back in the day.
AFC vs NFC
SuperTeams
From 1975 until 1983, a second team-based competition was held as an accompaniment to the annual Superstars competition. The SuperTeams, as it was dubbed, was a three-week competition as presented on television. In the first two weeks, two matches were conducted with one featuring the teams from the previous year’s World Series and the other featuring the teams that played in the previous year’s Super Bowl. The winners then faced each other to determine an overall winner. The only exception was in the final competition, where only one match was conducted.
The SuperTeams employees all the Superstars events, with some team events added such as Hawaiian rowing and the Tug-of-War. There were, however, variations due to the format being team based and not individual based. The running, swimming, and cycling events were relays, with the cycling done on tandem bicycles. The obstacle course's blocking sleds were replaced with monkey bars, due to the perceived advantage the football teams had with using them. The team that won the most events over the course of the competition was declared the winner.[1]
In the 1978 final, the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Royals split the first six events, so the tug-of-war would decide the winner. However, while there was a time limit in the preliminary rounds, there was none in the final, and after 75 minutes in which neither team came particularly close to winning, the organizers declared the event (and, as a result, the competition) a tie.
In three of the SuperTeams competitions, the World Series teams were not fully represented. In those three years, the New York Yankees were the American League representative. After the team participated in the 1977 edition, team owner George Steinbrenner refused to allow his players to compete in any further extracurricular athletic competitions; he also was not pleased with the timing of the events as they were conducted in February each year, which interfered with the start of baseball’s spring training. The 1978, 1979, and 1982 competitions were affected; in those years the team the Yankees defeated in the American League Championship Series took their place. The Kansas City Royals participated in and won the first two of those three competitions, while the Oakland Athletics participated in and won the other.
The Pittsburgh Steelers represented the NFL in four SuperTeams competitions, winning once. The Dallas Cowboys participated three times, also winning once. The Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins each participated twice; none of those teams managed to win.
The Los Angeles Dodgers competed in the most competitions for Major League Baseball, winning the 1975 event and returning in 1978, 1979, and 1982. The Kansas City Royals, the only multiple winner, entered in three competitions, their winning 1978 and 1979 efforts and a return trip in 1981. Baseball was also represented twice each by the Cincinnati Reds, in 1976 and 1977, and the Oakland Athletics, in 1975 and 1982. The other participants were the aforementioned Yankees (1977), the Boston Red Sox (1976), the Baltimore Orioles (1980), the Pittsburgh Pirates (also 1980), the Philadelphia Phillies (1981), and the St. Louis Cardinals (1983).
SuperTeams winners
1975: Los Angeles Dodgers
1976: Pittsburgh Steelers
1977: Cincinnati Reds
1978: Kansas City Royals/Dallas Cowboys
1979: Kansas City Royals
1980: Los Angeles Rams
1981: Philadelphia Eagles
1982: Oakland Athletics
1983: Washington Redskins
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