Just before the Pro Bowl in Hawaii last year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made threats to cancel the game if the players did not play harder. Intended or not, Goodell’s statement caused quite a stir and we found out that the Pro Bowl was actually something that the players looked forward to each year and an honor to which they all aspired.
Domonique Foxworth is the president of the NFLPA which stands for the National Football League Players Association. He was not a real big fan of the Pro Bowl either, but when Goodell threatened to cancel the event, Foxworth started asking around to his players and found out that, almost to a man, everyone wanted to see the Pro Bowl tradition continue. “They wanted to keep it,” said Foxworth, “I was never a Pro Bowl-caliber player, so I couldn’t relate to it as those players did and they loved it.”
So, Foxworth and company took on the task to inject a little more interest in the Pro Bowl game. Working directly with the NFL, they came up with a series of imaginative suggestions that show what can happen when the league and its players work together.
Foxworth had put in some time going over the various ideas on the table before presenting them to the commissioner’s office for approval. Officials there liked what they saw and brought the proposals to the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis where they were kicked around and discussed by players and coaches alike. Finally, NFL personnel made the presentation at the annual owners’ meeting in March.
Each quarter will be treated as a half. There will be a 2 minute warning at the end of each period and the ball will change hands. However, there will be no kickoffs and each team will get 2 time outs per quarter. The ball will be placed on the 25 yard line. That is not going to go over very well with return guys or their fans.
They are also working on a plan to reward players for winning each quarter as an incentive to keep the action hot and the players interested. There is also a plan in the works to increase the insurance coverage for the players.
When asked if there was sufficient support for this plan among the players, the answer came back a unanimous… Absolutely!
