‘A fighting chance’

NFL executives expressed satisfaction with Sunday’s Pro Bowl but the league said it was not yet ready to make a decision about whether the game will return to Aloha Stadium in 2015.

"It was a more entertaining, competitive game throughout the entire four quarters, but, once again, we will not make any decisions until later in the spring," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Star-Advertiser in an email.

Earlier, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL all-star matchup "was a very, very positive step" for the game that he had considered canceling less than a year ago. "You have to admit it was very competitive. It was exciting fun," Goodell said on ESPN radio.

Team (Jerry) Rice won the game, 22-21, over Team (Deion) Sanders before an announced crowd of 47,270 at Aloha Stadium.

Goodell said, "Players played much harder. It was real football and it was something I give a lot of credit to the players (for). Domonique Foxworth (NFLPA president) worked with a lot of players to come up with a concept that they would all get excited about. And, this nonconference competition, particularly when you have to play against one of your own teammates, it added another element of interest to it. And, I believe, it was a very, very positive step and I salute the players and am glad that they had so much fun."

Goodell said, "I think fans had a fun time watching it. I know I did."

The game drew an average of 11.4 million viewers based on overnight ratings, according to NBC, and was the "most-watched sporting event of the weekend," the network said.

The annual all-star game viewership was down just slightly from 2013 (12.2 million) despite going up against the Grammy Awards, which drew an average audience of 28.5 million on CBS.

The Grammys, which are usually shown in February, were moved out of competition with the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.

McCarthy said, "according to Nielsen research, the Pro Bowl remains the most-watched all-star event in sports," topping the most recent Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL all-star events."

Mike McCartney, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said in a statement, "… overall feedback about the all-star game has been positive. The three-hour broadcast of the 2014 NFL Pro Bowl draft (Jan. 22) leading up to the game this year also helped to generate additional media exposure for the Hawaiian Islands."

Despite NFL talk of possibly rotating the game among several sites, Ray Anderson, outgoing NFL executive vice president of football operations, said, "I’m not involved in the negotiations, but you know what, I’ve got to believe there is a fighting chance (to stay in Hawaii). I personally don’t think the players would prefer any place over here (Hawaii)."

NFL executives have said the game could be rotated between Honolulu and some Super Bowl sites. The 2015 Super Bowl will be held in Glendale, Ariz., followed by Santa Clara, Calif. (2016), and Houston (2017), potentially affording the NFL easier and cheaper alternatives to Honolulu.

But Anderson said, "You know, easier isn’t always better."

Under the contract that expired with the 2014 game, the state paid the NFL $4 million, plus $152,000 in operating costs, to hold the game here. The HTA said the 2013 game, the last one for which figures were immediately available, attracted 17,800 visitors, resulting in $26 million in visitor spending impact and $2.7 million in visitor-generated tax.