The NFL Pro Bowl "will continue through the course" of the new 10-year CBA, though the future site of the game will remain "in flux like in recent seasons," according to Alex Marvez of FOXSPORTS.com. NFL Senior VP/PR Greg Aiello in an e-mail wrote the league annually will "determine the location of the Pro Bowl in consultation with the NFL (Players Association)." Marvez noted although the Pro Bowl was a "long-time fixture in Hawaii," there are "no future guarantees of a Hawaiian return." Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie in June said that "it was 'stupid' for the state to pay the NFL a $4 million annual stipend to hose the Pro Bowl despite claims from tourism officials that the 2011 game generated $28.2 million in revenue from 17,000 visiting fans" (FOXSPORTS.com, 8/7).
POPULARITY VOTE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jason Gay writes the NFL is "inhaling the oxygen, hijacking the attention" from other sports, and despite the four-month long lockout, "football madness has only intensified." Gay: "If you've been telling people for years that football has replaced baseball as the true national pastime, this week has driven home that stale, obvious point. Football rules. Football gets away with everything" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/8). In Seattle, Steve Kelley writes the NFL's shortened free agency period "was so much fun, let's do it again next year. And the year after that and the year after that." Kelley: "Open up a small window maybe a couple of weeks wide, in early May, after the draft, and tell the NFL teams all of the free agents have to be signed in that period. Free Agent Frenzy. It would light up the blogosphere. It would spin the wheels of the rumor mill like the reels on slot machines and make 'NFL Live' must-see TV every day, months before the opening of training camp" (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/8).
WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio noted lockout insurance "was real," and cited sources as saying that the insurance "was purchased from a company known as Swiss Re, at a premium of nearly $50 million." Now that players "not involved in the leadership of the NFLPA are learning about the lockout insurance and the price tag paid for it, there is some griping about the expenditure of money for which nothing was obtained in return” (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 8/7).
