The Pro Bowl will go on this season, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has made no secret of the fact the all-star game might not continue in future years.
So what would a Pro Bowl-less NFL calendar look like? According to NFL.com's Albert Breer, one possibility would be replacing the game with a college all-star game.
Breer writes that the AFC and NFC all-star teams could be recognized at the NFL Honors award show on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, with the college players hitting the field after.
"That game would likely be an existing college event, most likely the Senior Bowl, which would be moved to be part of the NFL calendar, with the thought that it could kick off draft season and highlight prospects on a bigger stage, though the league would certainly be careful about NCAA rules entanglements," Breer writes.
The concept would be to mix today's stars with future stars. Breer's well-researched piece has comments from NFL executive vice president of business ventures Eric Grubman, who sounds like he doesn't see a traditional Pro Bowl in the future.
"If I had to guess, five or 10 years from now, there would be a celebration of the best NFL players, the best performances, a focus on records and achievements, and less of a focus on the field," Grubman said.
Players might not love the idea because they make money for the Pro Bowl, although their contract incentives for making the team still would make sense as long as an all-star team was announced.
"I don't know why everybody's bitching and complaining," said Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall, a three-time Pro Bowl selection. "I'm sure they generate enough revenue not to want to shut it down, so I don't know why there's complaining about the quality of the game. It's not the Super Bowl; it's not a playoff game. It's an all-star game. We need to remember that. It's an all-star game. We go out there to have fun."
That argument no longer carries much weight because the quality of the game is so low. Instead, we might get a game full of college players with a whole lot more on the line than just having fun.
