Pro Bowl...or Pro Bore?

Last-minute cancellations by stars like Super Bowl-bound QBs Manning and Brees could mean the Pro Bowl is a bust

By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek

1. The Pro Bowl Ain't the Super Bowl

Peyton Manning and Drew Brees were scheduled to be the starting quarterbacks for the respective AFC and NFC in the NFL Pro Bowl on Jan. 31, but all of a sudden each has a bigger Florida grouper to fry. Other top NFL stars are dropping like flies from the game. On the coaching front, neither AFC head coach Norv Turner (Chargers) nor NFC pick Wade Phillips (Cowboys) make for a sizzling sideline.

What's a football fan to do? Fish, or cut Pro Bowl bait in favor of a nice nap? More to the point, will the NFL declare their Miami experiment a keeper, or throw the game back to Hawaii for good?

Super Bowl XLIV marks the 10th time the Super Bowl will be held in South Florida, which also held the Pro Bowl once. But it's the first time the region will host both games, and the first time in many years that the two events will be held in the same city a week apart.

The league expressed confidence last week that the Jan. 31 McDonald's Pro Bowl at Miami's Sun Life Stadium (aka Land Shark, Dolphins, Pro Player, Joe Robbie, and Pleistocene) will sell out, and that the crowd anticipated on Sunday would be the biggest at a Pro Bowl event since 1959. But last-minute cancellations by some of the "86 of the NFL's brightest stars," as the NFL's Web site characterizes the roster, is likely to cause fence-sitters to think twice about battling stadium crowds—as will the $50 to $195 face-value tickets to what is shaping up to be a largely lackluster event. In a sign of the NFL's nervousness about Pro Bowl attendance, the league on Jan. 12 began offering a $25 NFL Shop gift card for every pair of tickets purchased through its online ticketing service.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the hosts of Mike & Mike in the Morning that moving the Pro Bowl to Miami from Hawaii is a "big change, and we thought it was a great way to create a new platform and a bigger platform for our great players…We've already sold more tickets to the Pro Bowl this year than we've sold in the past. Hawaii has been a great place, and we're going back next year, but this is an opportunity for us to try something different."

Doing its part to promote the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIV, the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee has been running a TV spot showing "mascots and fans of various teams running up what appears to be Ocean Drive. They sport team colors, jerseys, hats—and flip-flops…and are distracted by a trio of bikini-clad ladies running across the beach." Shooting the ad in a studio in front of a green screen rather than on location allows creative directors to digitally move fans and mascots from all 32 teams around. (From here on out it is likely many of those fans will be wearing blue and white and black and gold.)

The campaign's goal is to promote events to the local—and larger—football community, said Host Committee Chairman Rodney Barreto, CEO of Coral Gables-based Barreto Group. "The Super Bowl is at a much higher-level experience. It's Corporate America at its best," he adds. "The Pro Bowl is a great opportunity for the local community to participate."

2. Super Bowl Ads: Early Look In

The match-up on the field is now set for Super Bowl XLIV: It's the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New Orleans Saints. Grain silos vs. Bourbon Street. The Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band" vs. "Who 'Dat?"

Two weeks before the game, CBS (CBS) has sold 95% of their 62 Super Bowl ad slots, including all of the spots in the first half of the game. Sources say that CBS is charging between $2.5 million to $3 million for a 30-second spot, similar to General Electric (GE) subsidiary NBC's rates for commercials during last year's game.

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