Unlike The NBA All-Star, NFL Wouldn’t Spend $150,000 Over Disinterested Attitudes, Claims ESPN Millionaire

The NBA All-Star Game is a glamorous event of the basketball season, promising high-flying dunks, jaw-dropping crossovers, and a showcase of the league’s hottest players. However, in recent years, the game has struggled to catch the attention of spectators, with poor performances and a feeling of dissatisfaction surrounding the proceedings.

On the other hand, the NFL Pro Bowl, once a symbol of football greatness, has fallen on hard times. Fans were skeptical of the idea of transforming it into a flag football game, questioning the worth of witnessing their favorite players participate in a modified version of the sport they love. So, as these sporting events are being panned by the fans, an ESPN commentator decided to deconstruct them.

Shannon Sharpe states the difference between the NFL & NBA

On the Nighcap podcast, Shannon Sharpe, an NBA analyst and an NFL legend, sat down with the former wide receiver Chad Johnson. Sharpe was asked about which event is worse when it comes to lack of effort, the Pro Bowl or the NBA All-Star. Replying to that Sharpe said, “People look at the All-Star like they look at the NBA. Like you see somebody 153-147 ball game and say like ‘hell they not playing defense’. But you know in an NFL game, they’d knock your butt off. It got to a point in the Pro Bowl, they weren’t tackling, they were two-way touching.”

Sharpe further went on to point out the pay differences between the two events saying, “They (NFL) are not gonna put play that kinda money give these guys $100,000 to the winners and $50,000 to the losers and put these guys up, they are not gonna do it.” The reason for that is in the sport of basketball, at the end of the day the athletes are shooting threes, making plays, and dunking. However, in football, after the point, they are no longer playing the game and are ruthlessly just trying to decimate their opponents.

Because of that if the football players play with less effort, they do not receive any rewards if they lose the game, whereas in the All-Star game, whether you win or lose, you are rewarded with a cash prize. By pointing that out, Sharpe shows how the NFL treats the players who are taking the game casually.

However, the players play casually in these big events to avoid injuries, but due to that, the viewership of the events has also gone down tremendously. The NBA All-Star Game, always a ratings heavyweight, fell to a 20-year low in 2023, with only 4.6 million viewers. The NFL Pro Bowl has experienced a similar trend, with attendance dropping from 13.4 million in 2011 to 6.28 million last year.

Read More: Shannon Sharpe Makes Honest Assessment of Sabrina Losing to Stephen Curry at NBA All-Star Weekend: “Has She Lost by 10…”

So, how does this affect the future of all-star games? Do you think that they will go extinct, or is there still hope for a revival of these prestigious sporting events? Let us know in the comments below.

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