![\"probowl\"](\"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/files\/2013\/07\/probowl.jpg\")
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Most see the NFL\u2019s Pro Bowl is a meaningless exhibition played by teams of players hoping to avoid injury.<\/p>\n
That is unlikely to change soon, or ever but the NFL is making changes to the exhibition game.<\/p>\n
The NFC vs. AFC format from the last four decades is being scrapped in favor of a \u201cdraft\u201d which will be influenced by Hall of Fame players Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders.<\/p>\n
Sadly Sanders or Rice would probably put more effort into playing the game.<\/p>\n
Sanders and Rice will help pick players from the leading vote-getters at positions regardless of their conference. Thus five NFC quarterbacks could be in the game compared to just one for the AFC.<\/p>\n
There are other changes to the game such as :<\/p>\n
\u2014 Every quarter will end with a two-minute warning and change of possession to promote more drives. The clock will not tick down for any play that fails to yield positive yardage inside the final two minutes.<\/p>\n
\u2014 There will be no kickoffs; all quarter-opening possessions will start at the 25-yard line with the first determined by coin toss<\/p>\n
\u2014 Kick returners will be replaced by an extra defensive back on each 43-man roster<\/p>\n
\u2014 Cover 2 and press coverage will now be allowed;<\/p>\n
Despite all the changes the NFL failed to realize that this is still an exhibition. Surprisingly the Pro Bowl continues to draw ratings even as the quality of play disappoints those at the top of the NFL.<\/p>\n
The biggest winners in the continuation of the Pro Bowl is the state of Hawaii who attracts up to $4 million in tourism annually from the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most see the NFL\u2019s Pro Bowl is a meaningless exhibition played by teams of players hoping to avoid injury. That is unlikely to change soon, or ever but the NFL is making changes to the exhibition game. The NFC vs. AFC format from the last four decades is being scrapped in favor of a \u201cdraft\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[425],"tags":[],"coauthors":[28],"class_list":{"0":"post-4406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4406"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}