With massively inflated final scores and the risk of injuries to star players, should All-Star Games and the Pro Bowl be discontinued?
The NFL
I want to get this out of the way as soon as possible. The answer to the question “Why are there even All-Star Games and an NFL Pro Bowl?” is not hard. Hours of hard thought are not required. At the end of the day, these games are played for one reason and one reason only: money. The margin for profit skyrockets when millions of viewers tune in.
This chart from Deadspin shows the Nielsen ratings from each respective All-Star Game. Consider that an average NBA game might register a rating of 1-3, with the MLB and NHL registering somewhat similar figures. A regular season NFL game averages the highest of all the sports. Considering there’s only 16 games in comparison to the 162 baseball games, 82 hockey and basketball games, this makes sense.
The NHL
Before you get too far with his profit-margin line of thinking, don’t throw the NHL into this bag. The proceeds from their All-Star Game benefit the players’ pensions. Even so, I highly doubt the executives in charge of other professional leagues care about little Jimmy seeing his favorite players all on the same field of play. They care about the absorbent amounts of money an All-Star game brings into the leagues. They care about Pepsi paying $1 million for a thirty second commercial and drawing viewers to watch Rihanna or the Rolling Stones perform at halftime.
Money, Viewers and Injuries
Please, don’t assume I am a crusader for dismantling professional All-Star games (when I say All-Star I’m including the NFL Pro Bowl too). There’s nothing wrong with league owners making moves to draw viewers and generate money for their own benefits.
I also believe the inflated final score argument is irrelevant. Who cares if the final score is way higher than a normal game? What do you expect from the best players in the sport? In addition, the risk of injury is always somewhat concerning, but in most All-Star Games the level of intensity decreases. How else would 29 goals be scored in the NHL All-Star Game this year? The players aren’t going as hard as they can, and they shouldn’t, because every game except for the MLB All-Star Game means nothing.
Since 2003, the MLB All-Star Game has determined home-field advantage in the World Series for the winning league. This has now been made a permanent rule. However, many sportswriters have called for its removal from the rule books. I could not agree more. Home-field advantage in the World Series should be determined by the better overall season record of the two opposing teams.
Perhaps All-Star games should have no impact other than generating money and being fun to watch, but those are reason enough to continue the events both for the enjoyment of fans and for the deep pockets of professional sports leagues. We can only hope that new MLB Commisioner Rob Manfred recognizes this and adjusts the MLB All-Star game so that a meaningless game in July no longer determines the most important ones in October.
Contact CU Independent Sports staff writer Justin Guerriero at Justin.Guerriero@colorado.edu
