NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL will consider dropping the Pro Bowl if the level of play doesn’t improve, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday night.
Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio’s “Town Hall,” Goodell agreed with host Michael Strahan that last January’s Pro Bowl “was embarrassing.”
“If we cannot accomplish that kind of standard (of high play), I am inclined to not play it,” Goodell said. “It is really tough to force competition, and after a long season, to ask those guys to go out and play at the same level they played is really tough.”
The league still would select a Pro Bowl team through voting by players, coaches and fans, because it is an honor, but “just not play the game,” he said.
More from Goodell:
—The league is working on scheduling more East Coast games involving West Coast teams in late-afternoon slots to avoid what amounts to a 10 a.m. kickoff for the western teams.
“Several of our teams on the West Coast have raised that and we have been studying it,” he said. “We have tried to put as many of those games on the East Coast at 4 p.m.”
Goodell says NFL could drop Pro Bowl
National Football League