When people think of the All-Star Game, the first thing that comes to mind is the NBA.

It also creates the illusion that the NBA All-Star Weekend was a huge success. In a way, this is a misconception; But on the other hand, this is also the correct view.

The reason why it is wrong is because in terms of ratings, the NBA All-Star Weekend is not worth mentioning at all, and the real ratings hegemon on the North American continent is still the NFL.

The annual NFL Pro Bowl has an average viewership of between 10 million and 15 million, while ratings can also reach a range of 6.5 to 8.0.

Such data is far lower than the NFL's own regular season, let alone the playoffs, but compared to the NBA, it easily surpassed the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference Finals, and as for the latter's All-Star Weekend, the gap is even greater.

In other words, in terms of viewership, even the least noticed professional bowl, the NFL has completely blown up the other three major leagues.

That's because in terms of topics, the NBA All-Star Weekend was a far lead, and even made waves around the world.

The watchfulness and fun of the slam dunk contest and the three-point contest bring the charm of basketball into full play, attracting countless attention, and after the All-Star Weekend every year, video clips can detonate the topic on social networks and spread widely.

Although the ratings lag far behind the NFL and MLB, the topic effect is a leading figure, which in turn creates more opportunities for advertising sponsorship and commercial promotion in the NBA.

In contrast, the NFL has never been able to keep up with this aspect.

Since Roger Goodale became president of the league, he has been pondering how to operate the Pro Bowl, develop the added value of the Pro Bowl, and hope to make the Pro Bowl a national entertainment event, just like the Super Bowl.

However, rugby is a sport full of confrontation and power, and it is often difficult to have a viewing value for the introduction of new skills, which also makes it difficult for the skills game and the professional bowl to rejuvenate the new life.

In recent years, each year's professional bowl will make corresponding reforms and explorations, hoping to find more resonance between this All-Star Game and the audience, not only professional audiences enthusiastically watching, but also ordinary audiences and amateur audiences can be interested.

This year is no exception.

For a long time, the NFL's professional bowl can be divided into two parts, one is the All-Star lineup matchup, and the other is the warm-up event skills game, both of which are based on the confrontation between the American League and the National League.

In the skills competition, the American League and the National League each send 10 players to participate in different skills events, such as the precision passing competition, the field relay competition, the wide receiver receiving competition, the kicker precision competition, etc., all of which are reserved events, but the rules and methods may change every year.

But on the whole, compared with the NBA's slam dunk contest and three-point contest, the NFL's skill game still lacks confrontation and urgency; What's more, every position in football is relatively specialized, with very different skills and techniques, and it is impossible to compete for slam dunks and three-pointers like basketball, where all players are involved in the competition for slam dunks and three-point shots, and focus on the focus through the concentration of sight.

In order to integrate all the professional bowl players, the tricks game of football has to sacrifice more individual star effects and emphasize the collective role, such as the wide receiver receiving the ball, then the quarterback must pass the ball, and so on, which also makes the trick game difficult to say exciting, more like a training game, for the amateur audience, naturally not too attractive.

This year, the league made a bold attempt.

In the skills game, there are fancy challenge sessions that highlight the individual abilities of the players, similar to the three-point contest and slam dunk contest, and special links are arranged to emphasize the unique style and role of each position on the court, such as the quarterback's passing, such as the alignment of wide receivers and cornerbacks, such as the collision of offensive and defensive forwards, such as the kicker's long-distance shot.

Not only that, but the skills competition is further open to registration, adding drama and comedy.

First, all players can sign up for any individual game, and wide receivers can play quarterback passing, close end can play forward collisions, and so on, it's about participation and performance.

Second, all players can participate. Previously, only players who made the Pro Bowl roster were able to participate in the skills competition, but this year registration is fully open, just like the NBA, as long as you are interested in participating. Therefore, a series of players such as Watt and Cam who did not qualify for the Pro Bowl also appeared in Honolulu.

Thirdly, individual matches do not count towards the Pro Bowl matchup. In previous years, each event in the skills competition was scored, and the players represented their respective federations, and the final score was calculated to see whether the American League or the National League won; This year, however, an attempt was made to award players the honor of individual "champion" in the individual competition, just like a slam dunk champion or a three-point champion.

It can be said that this is a bold and risky attempt.

In some cases, it's good for the NBA, but not necessarily for the NFL. Despite this, Goodale continued to make various permutations and combinations, trying to explore more possibilities of the professional bowl, and the final effect will be whether it will be a mule or a horse, waiting for yo-yo to be revealed.

……

On January 28, Hawaii local time, at 2 p.m., Honolulu's Aloha Course ushered in the first part of the Pro Bowl - the skills match.

Former professional rugby player Alt-Coleman-III arrived early today because he will be on the ground as NBC TV field reporter for the Tricks game, and he must enter the stadium early to prepare for the broadcast.

Leaving the locker room, Coleman casually straightened his shirt and hair to make sure he was in the best possible position for the event, and before he could enter the pitch, a raging and boiling agitation came over his face, bubbling like a storm through the entire tunnel of the players, and the frenzy could be felt deeply in every pore on his skin.

Coleman's movements paused slightly.

In previous years, the Pro Bowl has been tepid, and this is especially true for the skills tournament held a day earlier.

In order to build the relevant equipment for the competition, the skills competition was held in an open training venue, and the spectator stands around were relatively simple, not like a professional competition, more like a high school competition, and the number of spectators was 3,000 was already a very rare number, and the vast and vast venue was a little deserted.

This year, in line with the reform, the skills competition was directly arranged at the Aloha Stadium, the venue of the Professional Bowl, which can accommodate 48,000 spectators. That's not right!

Coleman hurriedly quickened his pace, rushed out of the shadow of the player's tunnel, and threw himself into the bright golden sunlight, and then a surge of red rushed to his face, like the stars in the sky exploded together, and the dazzling and brilliant colors overwhelmingly rushed into the depths of the pupils, and the unreasonable shock was instantly magnified to the extreme, as if even the blue sky was completely dyed in brilliant red.

Be booked up!

It is not strictly the kind of full, the huge Aloha Stadium, the attendance rate has reached more than seventy percent, and the large blue seats can still feel the obvious vacancy, but the mighty red is spread out in the stadium, and the stark contrast between red and blue is more and more full of hot and boiling colors, filling the whole world, and then creating a kind of grandeur and noise comparable to a full house.

With such a majestic stance, not to mention the skills competition, even the professional bowl may not be able to achieve such a battle.

Coleman was truly stunned, and in thirty years in the league, such a professional bowl was absolutely the first of its kind, so much so that a ridiculous thought popped into his head: Did I go to the wrong court?

Apparently not.

Gradually, the heated brain cooled down, and then Coleman noticed that there were not only reds in the court, but also white, black, green, blue and other colorful colors, from the colors of the 32 NFL professional teams, and every spectator couldn't wait to put on their home team's jersey and show their support with practical actions.

But the problem is that the red is too eye-catching and too strong, more than half of the audience have chosen the red jersey, the bright and gorgeous red is like a blooming morning glow, spread all over the sky, with an unreasonable domineering and strong attitude, the entire Aloha stadium has evolved into a unique red.

If you look closely, it's not the red of the Arizona Cardinals, it's not the red of the Kansas Chief, it's not the red of the Atlanta Falcon or the Tampa Bay Pirates, it's the golden red of the San Francisco 49!

The unique colors of San Francisco, 49ers, and the Bay Area are boiling and tumbling like a flag fluttering in the wind, and they have evolved the Pro Bowl arena into their home stadium, opening their arms to welcome other teams and players as hosts.

After realizing this, Coleman's slightly open jaw could not be closed at all, and he was stunned, just standing in place, quietly feeling the baptism and precipitation of this wave.

It has been said that the fourteenth quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers has made history on the professional stage, and he is bound to create a world of his own. In this regard, people have expressed hesitation and confusion, can the Asian community really accept the sport of rugby?

Today, at this moment, right here, Aloha Stadium has given an affirmative answer.

Although Coleman didn't ask for further verification, there was a voice echoing in the back of his mind: Lu Ke.

Viewer attendance at the history-making skills game, the home power of the professional bowl that made history, and the league broadcast moment that made history...... All these grand occasions and glories have the same answer, the same correct solution, and the same breakthrough.

All of this may seem unbelievable, but it's happening.

"Marshall! Marshall! ”

"Fitzgerald! Ahhh ”

"Rogers! Rogers! Rogers! ”

"Big Ben! Hey, Big Ben! ”

"Marshan Lynch!"

"Von Miller! Ray Lewis! Clay-Matthes! ”

"Earl Thomas! Thomas! ”

……

In the huge and spacious stadium, screams and shouts drifted everywhere in the wind, one after another, endlessly, everywhere, vigorously excited wave after wave of sound, Yin Yin called the name of his idol, embellished with brilliant golden sunlight, outlined a beautiful landscape, and opened the curtain of the professional bowl.

But gradually, the shouts began to coalesce into a rope, and the same shout gradually gained the upper hand, and involuntarily, the other fans stopped cheering and shouting, looking left and right for the source of the sound, only to find that everywhere, as long as there was a place for the golden red jersey, the shout was roaring.

It's like...... It was as if Aloha Stadium was answering Coleman's question.