Just last month, representatives from the National Football League (NFL) said it would be canceling the Pro Bowl for the 2021 season.
This was news that many did not particularly care about, especially since the Pro Bowl has never really been taken too seriously by players and fans alike.
However, now it appears that the Pro Bowl will happen at least via EA Sports popular Madden football franchise.
The Pro Bowl will be a weeklong event featuring various players all competing in Madden NFL 21, though the details of what will actually happen are fairly vague. The NFL did say in a recent press release that it will have plenty of “celebrities, NFL Legends, current players, and streamers”.
Generally speaking, the Pro Bowl occurs in late January or early February and happens during the week off before the Super Bowl.
The game has been constantly ridiculed for its lack of serious play and also because it does not include players from either of the two Super Bowl teams.
The fact that the league is will to try something new and to out a game that most people don’t really care about is a move that makes sense.
The league does not have to worry about any additional costs with testing or any additional coronavirus scares or injuries.
It can simply use the digital medium to offer fans a more enjoyable experience by watching their favorite players compete in a different way.
The rivalry between the AFC and NFC is not really a huge deal, while it might actually be more competitive when it comes to trash-talking from one superstar to another within the Madden game.
This is also part of the tradition of the NFL to use the Pro Bowl as a sort of test for its somewhat out of the ordinary ideas.
Just last year, the league put in a rule for the game that completely got rid of the kickoff, which is a segment of the game that is the most prone to lead to injuries.
The league also knows the success of Esports and this is certainly a way of tapping into that audience too.
Madden seems like the perfect vehicle for the league to have fun with a game that is normally a sideshow anyway, and it really has very little to lose by opting for this change early next year.
