This city, which has no NFL team, wants to host Pro Bowl
ORLANDO, Fla. – After wooing WrestleMania to the town nicknamed "City Beautiful," Orlando hopes to welcome another sports entertainment exhibition in 2017: the Pro Bowl.
The city has been in discussions "about the possibility of hosting the NFL Pro Bowl at the Citrus Bowl," Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said in a statement on Tuesday. The city wants the all-star game for three years, starting next year.
Houston, the Super Bowl host for 2017, is also seeking to host the game, as is Sydney, Australia, and Honolulu.
"Multiple cities have expressed interest in hosting the Pro Bowl, including Orlando," league spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email to Yahoo Sports. "We have made no decisions on the future of the Pro Bowl."
During Super Bowl week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed disappointment about the lack of competitive play in the most recent Pro Bowl. Many stars didn't travel to the event and were replaced with less marketable players.
Orlando offers pleasant weather and a recently renovated stadium. It also has a larger capacity than Honolulu's Aloha Stadium, where the game has been held for nearly all of its existence. A Pro Bowl in Orlando could create some buzz, at least locally, as the city has never had a professional football team and it has been nearly a decade since a Florida-based NFL team has made the postseason.
Still, there are concerns with the game that go beyond location. Miami and Glendale, Ariz., have hosted the Pro Bowl this decade, and neither boosted the game's sagging reputation. It's also possible that removing the enticement of a week in Hawaii will lessen players' interest even further.
And no matter where the game is held, it still has to be made more interesting to viewers, who won't care what city is hosting.
Orlando has enjoyed a sports renaissance of late. The Orlando City soccer club made its MLS debut last year and brought in a record attendance for an expansion team. The Orlando Pride is debuting this weekend here, and may break the NWSL single-game attendance record. And the city is unveiling a new soccer-only stadium in the coming months, a short walk away from the still-new Amway Center. There is also hope that Orlando will bid for the college football playoff in coming years.
One potential holdup for Orlando is money. The league is seeking $2.5 million in local funds, and that may depend on a tourist tax, according to FloridaPolitics.com. The site reported on an internal memo from Florida Citrus Sports which said, "Over the next week or two a final decision will be made and it is critical for the NFL to understand what the next three years in Orlando would look like financially."
It is even more critical, to fans and Goodell himself, to determine what the game will look like on whichever field it finds.
