Univ. of Phoenix Stadium will host the Pro Bowl on Jan. 25, 2015, marking just the "second time in 36 years" that the game will not be played in Hawaii, according to Ferd Lewis of the HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER. The Pro Bowl will be "piggy backing the Super Bowl, which will be held on Feb. 1, 2015 at the same site." NFL officials said that the Pro Bowl will "return to Aloha Stadium" in '16 and may also be held there in '17, "pending agreement of the NFL and Hawaii." The Pro Bowl was first held at Aloha Stadium in '80 and has been played there "every year except 2010, when it was held" in Sun Life Stadium in conjunction with Super Bowl XLIV. An NFL source said that Cardinals President Michael Bidwill, who "pushed the joint Pro Bowl/Super Bowl package with Commissioner Roger Goodell, was, 'heavily involved' in securing the deal." The NFL said that both it and Hawaii "have options" for the '17 game and "a 'collective' decision will be made later" (HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, 4/10). In Phoenix, Kent Somers notes Bidwill approached Goodell about hosting the game "more than a year ago." Tickets for the Pro Bowl will be available "first to Cardinals season ticket members and annual Pro Bowl season ticket holders." Pro Bowl annual ticket subscribers in Hawaii will "maintain their account status for any future games at Aloha Stadium" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/10).
RISING PHOENIX: In Phoenix, Bob Young writes the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl, along with the PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open, will "put the Valley at the epicenter of the sports world for a couple of weeks." It is the "kind of impact" that Cardinals Owner & Chair Bill Bidwill "envisioned long before the unique domed stadium with a retractable roof and slide-in natural turf that opened in 2006 was even on a drawing board." Glendale will "grow and development will continue around the stadium." In the "meantime, the Valley has become a player on the national sports scene" because of the stadium, the Cardinals and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/10).
