NFL pro bowl rosters

dspyn — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:14:04 +0000

The NFL Pro Bowl is not exactly the must-see event of the season, and this year — more than ever — the game was met with criticism because of the scheduling and location change. The adjustments, and perhaps the resulting publicity, however, welcomed record-breaking attendance and viewership.

The Pro Bowl, traditionally held the Sunday after the Super Bowl in Honolulu, was moved to the Sunday before the Super Bowl at the actual Super Bowl site, which this year is Miami’s Sun Life Stadium. Despite disapproval on many fronts, Sunday night’s game attracted 70,697 fans, the second-largest crowd in Pro Bowl history.

The attendance numbers may be up because south Florida is more accessible to fans than Aloha Stadium in Hawaii — not to mention that Aloha Stadium, which has hosted the Pro Bowl for the past 30 years, only holds 50,000. Nonetheless, the game attracted more fans than any Dolphins game since the 2007 season.

“Going to Hawaii is special,” Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “But having it in the States brings it back home. This rewards the people who pay their hard-earned money every week to support the guys. It’s pushing it forward so there’s some good and some bad.”

The number of viewers who watched the game from their couches was also a success for the NFL. According to ESPN, the Pro Bowl broadcast had a 7.9 overnight rating, up 39 percent from last year. The ratings were better than the Orange Bowl and the final round of last year’s PGA Championship. It crushed Sunday’s nationally televised Lakers-Celtics game, which hit a mere 4.4.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admits that the change may have been successful because of the buzz — both positive and negative — the game was receiving.

“I think we’re getting more and more attention for the game. It’s a great lead-up into the Super Bowl, so it’s accomplishing a lot of things we talked about,” Goodell said. “I’m sure there are things we’re going to want to do better that we’ll work on as we look forward to what we can do to make the Pro Bowl even bigger and better.”

The NFL has traditionally not only found it difficult to attract an audience to the powder-puff Pro Bowl competition, but it has also struggled to interest players to partake in the event, despite the lure of a free trip to Hawaii. In Miami, it was an even tougher sell. This year, 34 players named to the Pro Bowl roster were replaced. An important downfall of the schedule change is that 14 of the players originally slotted to play are instead participating in the Super Bowl next Sunday.

The Pro Bowl will return to Aloha Stadium in 2011 and 2012, but the NFL has yet to confirm when it will be held.

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Independent football review

dspyn — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:49:47 +0000

The Sports Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK, in the context of the UK Presidency of the EU, decided to launch an Independent Review to consider and provide tangible recommendations for the implementation of the Nice Declaration of 2000.

For this purpose a great deal of detailed research and analysis was undertaken by technical experts. Specialist groups were appointed to examine legal, economic and political matters and a wide-ranging consultation process was held with all interested parties.

The Independent Review is divided in two main parts, one dealing with the specific nature of sport in European Union law generally, and the other using football as a case study.

The first version of the Independent Review was completed and presented to the UK Presidency of the Council of the European Union, to the President of the European Commission, to the President of the European Parliament and to the EU Sports Ministers by the end of May 2006. In June 2006 the European Commission decided to launch a White Paper process on Sport.

Following the publication of the first version of the Independent Review, an enlarged and proficient debate took place in most EU countries, in some of which public presentations with the respective governments and debates in parliaments have been held. More than 1.3 million citizens have visited the Independent Review website revealing the growing public interest in the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review.

At the end of this discussion process, the final version of the Independent Review has been adjusted to the results of the public discussion, and has now been published. It can be downloaded from this website. The reports contain the full text of the Terms of Reference for the review as well as the full text of the Nice Declaration.

The objective of this Independent Review was to consider certain concrete issues facing sport and to adopt a series of recommendations on how the EU institutions, the EU member states and the European football authorities could play their own part and thus implementing the Nice Declaration in order to provide a comprehensive and robust legal framework for European sport in general and football in particular.

Only a secure and clear legal environment both at European and national level can assure the fundamental autonomy of sport governing bodies and, at the same time, allow them to work together with European and national authorities in building a healthy future for sport.

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NFL pro bowl rosters

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Independent football review

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