People want the NFL’s Pro Bowl — even if it is a punchline

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The Pro Bowl is boring and meaningless and an actual game of football in name only. But it would be silly, naïve and pointless to expect the NFL to do anything other than continue playing it.

Think about it as you absorb the news that the league has not scrapped the game — as many thought/hoped/guessed after the disastrous 2016 event — but “re-imagined” it as part of a weeklong celebration in Orlando, Florida. These days, anything the NFL touches turns to gold (or, better, green), and the league had cities across the world — including Sydney, Australia — crawling on top of one another to host one of its tent-pole events.

Orlando is highly motivated to employ the newly renovated Citrus Bowl, now known as Camping World Stadium after a $200 million overhaul, and offered a lucrative connection with ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. And according to the Orlando Sentinel, the Orange County Tourist Development Council approved $3 million in hotel taxes to help lure the event that will culminate with the game on Jan. 29, 2017.

Retired defensive back Charles Woodson fist …

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