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The City of Houston does not just want to host the Super Bowl in all of its national glory next year. They want to host the Pro Bowl right along with it, per Fox’s Mark Berman.
Mayor Sylvester Turner says Houston will make push to bring Pro Bowl here prior to Super Bowl LI
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 11, 2016
Host committee chairman Ric Campo says Houston has a "competitive bid" for the Pro Bowl.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) February 11, 2016
The Pro Bowl has long been considered to be more of a vacation reward for popular players and their families rather than as a real, honest-to-goodness All-Star game. I personally cannot see any benefit to moving the game (yet again) from its traditional home in Hawaii. Hell, half the reason why any of the players want to go to the Pro Bowl in the first place is because it is in friggin’ Hawaii. As much as I love Houston, does anyone honestly consider it a desirable vacation destination in late January? I sure as hell do not
Even an actual vacation hot spot like Miami was shunned by players when the NFL moved the Pro Bowl there for a year in 2010. The players want Hawaii, and the fans want the players to actually want to show up. The game may be a garbage television product, but moving it to Houston will not do anything to change that.
Sure, we may get to see hometown stars like J.J. Watt and DeAndre Hopkins light up the Pro Bowl from the comfort of our favorite seats, but with any luck the Texans will be playing in a real game the week after the Pro Bowl anyway. A man can dream, right?