Pro Bowl may shift to Monday
By Katherine Nichols
Advertiser Staff Writer
Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen wants to move the National Football League's Pro Bowl game in Hawai'i to Monday night in hopes of halting the game's dramatic slide in ratings in recent years and improving its impact on tourism.
The number of households viewing the NFL's all-star game dropped from nine million in 2000 to five million in 2001. The game sank to a record low 4.5 million households tuning in this year when it competed against the first day of the Winter Olympics and aired for the first time on a Saturday afternoon.
Bowlen, the Broncos owner since 1984 and chairman of the NFL broadcast committee, believes the switch to Monday night could increase the viewership to more than 10 million homes, making it a much stronger marketing tool for Hawai'i.
"This would add a real significant element to the game," said Bowlen. Bowlen said he is in "very serious" talks with ABC-TV, the game's broadcaster, which must agree to the switch before it takes place.
Improved ratings for the Pro Bowl would mean the state, which pays the NFL for the right to be host of the game, would get more exposure. The state is two years into a five-year contract with the NFL for the game and paid $4.75 million to the league this year.
The contract requires the state to pay more for the Pro Bowl in each of the next three years, bringing the price to $5.5 million by 2005.
Some state legislators, including Sen. Sam Slom, (R-Wai'alae Iki, Hawai'i Kai)., have recently questioned the value of paying millions in tax revenue for a football game. Supporters argue that broadcasting images of warm Hawai'i to millions of Mainland homes in winter is priceless marketing for tourism, the state's No. 1 industry.
A move to Monday night could silence some critics by boosting the television ratings. Monday night has a built-in, prime time audience. It could also generate more enthusiasm from the players, who might perform better with the added exposure of the Monday night time slot. It also could lead to extended hotel stays among fans and officials, who would delay their return until a Tuesday or Wednesday.
The main roadblock may be ABC's reluctance to discard its regular Monday night programming to air a show that has been declining in popularity.
Bowlen envisions the game as one part of a football weekend, with the Hula Bowl on Saturday, NFL promotional activities on Sunday, and the Pro Bowl on Monday night.
Dennis Lewin, senior vice president of broadcasting in network television with the NFL, said the league is talking with ABC about the move but "at least at this point, (ABC) has been unable to accommodate it. And I certainly haven't heard any commitments."
The league and the network had talked about switching this year's game to Monday night but nothing was accomplished, largely because the delay would have pushed the Pro Bowl into ratings sweeps week — a lineup decided well in advance.
Officials at ABC say it's premature for them to confirm talks about switching the game to Monday night.
"As a matter of policy, we don't discuss our schedule until it's on our schedule," said Mark Mandel, vice president of media relations for ABC sports.
Moving the game to prime time on the East Coast means the kickoff in Hawai'i would be at 4 p.m., which could harm attendance at the game, which has been a sell- out for all but one of its 23 years here.
While attendance is important, some would argue it's not as essential as media exposure. "We're talking about promoting the state of Hawai'i across North America and Canada," said Bowlen.
He sees the game through the eyes of someone living in Denver, or any snowy place, in the middle of winter. "And it has tremendous impact," he said.
Peter Schall, senior vice president for Hilton Hotels in Hawai'i and managing director of Hilton Hawaiian Village, predicts even more benefits for the hotel and retail industry if the game moves to Monday night.
"Monday night football is a tradition," said Schall. "And (the extended weekend) would help us from a hotel standpoint; we are all looking for longer stays."
The Pro Bowl creates a "peak demand period" every year, Schall said. Hawai'i hotels had their strongest occupancy rates since Sept. 11 during the Pro Bowl week this year.
"When you have a soft market, you can very specifically identify what creates the spike in business," he said.
