Goodell needs player input before deciding about Pro Bowl

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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he will meet with the players association again before making a decision about whether the Pro Bowl will continue in 2013.

“New Orleans and Honolulu are the two sites” still under consideration if the game is played in 2013, Goodell said at a press conference after NFL owners concluded their one-day spring meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday with discussion of the game but without an announcement on its future.

Goodell said, “I hope to be making a decision pretty quickly” after talking with the NFL Players Association.

NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth said on Twitter last month, “The Pro Bowl is an important tradition (and) we are in talks with the league to improve and preserve the game for our players and fans.”

NFLPA officials did not comment Tuesday when asked which site their membership would prefer.

Asked if New Orleans, the 2013 Super Bowl host, was the likely site in the event the Pro Bowl is held, Goodell said, “No, I wouldn’t say that.

“The discussion was about the quality of the Pro Bowl, the commitment that we have with our network partner (and) where we could play the game. (It was) a lengthy discussion about all of our discussions with the players association.”

A key facet, he said, “was how to make the game better. We’ve had numerous discussions over several months about what we can do to make the game more competitive. And I have said repeatedly, particularly since the last game, that we have to improve the quality of the game. If we can’t improve it and we can’t make it more competitive, then we shouldn’t play it.”

The league drew heavy criticism about the lack of competition in this year’s Pro Bowl, a 59-41 NFC victory at Aloha Stadium.

It was the last Pro Bowl under the contract between the NFL and the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Hawaii has hosted the annual all-star game every year since 1980, with the exception of 2010, when the game was held in South Florida in tandem with the Super Bowl.

“We had a full discussion with it,” Goodell said. “I think I’d like to have another conversation with the players to sort of give them the feedback that we got today (and) what aspects of the game that we should address.”