The Associated Press reports that, in 2010, the NFL will stage the Pro Bowl at the site of the Super Bowl.
Specifically, the 2010 game will be played in Miami, one week before the NFL’s championship game.
Obviously, players from the Super Bowl participants would not participate in the Pro Bowl.
The big loser, of course, is Hawaii, which has hosted pro football’s all-star game since 1980.
The players likely won’t be thrilled about the development, either. They’re losing their all-expenses-paid trip to Honolulu.
And this could lead to trouble between the NFL and the union. Earlier this year, former NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw made clear his opposition to the possibility of moving the game.
Within the confines of a collective bargaining agreement, management’s ability to make unilateral changes to work conditions is limited. The question is whether the location and/or the timing of the Pro Bowl is a subject that must be submitted to collective bargaining, with the NFL giving something up in order to get from the union the ability to move the Pro Bowl to the mainland.
It’s also possible that the league is doing some muscle-flexing on this one, confident that it has the right to move the game and forcing the union to give something up within the confines of the coming CBA discussions in order to compel the league to take the game back to Hawaii.
Regardless, if the league has moved the game without the blessing of the NFLPA, the chances for ugliness (and, possibly, a work stoppage) might be increasing.
UPDATE: As a reader points out, a certain high-profile politician who spent a large chunk of his formative years living in Hawaii might not be too happy about this development, either.