When incentives just won't work...

Now that we are just a few days removed from the Super Bowl, we have just seen another Pro Bowl being anything but competitive. Every year the media are complaining that the game is boring and that players are essentially playing something closer to flag football than professional football. But why is this the case? While all-star games in other major sports leagues are tremendously popular, the Pro Bowl is a fringe event on the verge of coming to an end.

Why is the Pro Bowl different to the MLB all-star game or to the NBA all-star weekend? Well, the most important thing is the danger of being hurt. While Basketball and baseball feature a substantially lower probability of sustaining an injury, football is a game where injuries are an accepted part of the game. So why should a football player risk an injury for a meaningless game like the Pro Bowl?

This brings incentives into play. The NFL has set the prize for being a member of the winning team to $ 50k and the losers walk away with "only"  $ 25k. Considering the fact that most participants are multi-millionaires already the mere difference of $ 25k will not matter at all. Even significantly increased financial incentives will be weak, as a severe injury can not only reduce expected income for a certain period but also bring a career to an end. As "direct" financial incentives might not work, what else could make the Pro Bowl a competitive football game? I say the NFL should make it count! Make a similar move as the MLB (where the winner of the all star game will have home-field advantage in the World Series) and  make the result of the Pro Bowl count. One possibility would be to award the winning conference a bonus in the draft. The Pro Bowl could also be played ahead of the playoffs or even the regular season and the winning conference could be awarded home-field advantage in the Championship games. 

There are certainly various different possibilities to make the Pro Bowl a competitive contest with participants who actually want to win. Financial incentives will not do the job, however. My suggestion is that the NFL either makes the result count in some way or finally ends this now meaningless tradition.