May
30

Surprise! The Pro Bowl Will Be Back in 2013… On NBC

by , under NBC Sports, NFL

If you were not able to access Fang’s Bites earlier today, you weren’t alone. For most of the day, the site was down. Still trying to figure out what was the cause, but I’m going to blame the Communists for now.

Anyway, the National Football League formally announced on Wednesday that the much maligned Pro Bowl, supposedly in danger of being eliminated, will be played again in 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

As I reported last month, CBS passed on airing the Pro Bowl and the NFL has given the 2013 game to NBC.

And based on this year’s ratings for NBC, any reports of the Pro Bowl’s demise are premature.

Here is the press release from the NFL.

ALOHA!
2013 PRO BOWL TO BE PLAYED IN HAWAII ON NBC WEEK BEFORE SUPER BOWL XLVII

The 2013 Pro Bowl will be played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii for the 33rd time, the NFL and NFL Players Association announced today.  The game will be televised live on Sunday, January 27 on NBC at 7 PM ET and again serve as the signature event to kick off the week leading up to the Super Bowl.  CBS will televise Super Bowl XLVII a week later on Sunday, February 3 from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

“The players have made it clear through the NFL Players Association that they would like the opportunity to continue to play the Pro Bowl in Hawaii,” said NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Ray Anderson. “We will support the players on this initiative to improve the Pro Bowl. We have had many discussions with the players in recent years about the Pro Bowl and they recognize that the quality of the game has not been up to NFL standards. We look forward to working with the players toward the goal of improving the competitiveness of this season’s game.”

“The players believe that the Pro Bowl is an important tradition,” said NFLPA President Domonique Foxworth.  “We worked hard with the league to make sure the best players in the NFL are honored for their achievements on the field.”

The NFL’s All-Star Game will be played the week before the Super Bowl for the fourth consecutive year. The 2012 Pro Bowl on NBC was watched by an average of 12.5 million viewers, the second most-watched NFL All-Star game since 2001 behind 2011’s game (13.4 million viewers). The Pro Bowl was the most-watched all-star game in all of sports in the 2011 season.

The Pro Bowl was held consecutively in Hawaii from 1980 to 2009. In 2010, the NFL moved the game to the week before the Super Bowl for the first time and it was held in South Florida, site of Super Bowl XLIV. The Pro Bowl returned to Hawaii for the 2011 and 2012 games.

That’s going to do it.

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