The NFL Has Added Dodgeball To The 2017 Pro Bowl

This is not a Ben Stiller movie: the NFL announced this week that dodgeball will be part of the league’s 2017 Pro Bowl festivities.

The NFL Pro Bowl stopped being taken seriously a long time ago but this week’s announcement might just be the final nail in the coffin: competitive dodgeball will be part of next year’s Pro Bowl weekend.

On Monday the league declared via press release that the annual skills showdown will be produced by the same studio that is responsible for FOX’s Gordon Ramsay cooking series Hell’s Kitchen and NBC’s American Ninja Warrior.

Among one of their additions to the program is “Epic Pro Bowl Dodgeball.”

To be fair, dodgeball is ridiculously fun when you’re with the right group of friends who can take pleasure in each other’s miseries and probably can’t throw hard enough to hurt.

It even had a TV league on Game Show Network for one season, hosted by comedian Bil Dwyer and ESPN’s Dream Job veteran Zach Selwyn and with a team full of mimes:

But is something you do on a Saturday when you’re bored really the kind of thing that audiences want to pay to see at the Pro Bowl?

Yes, the NFL desperately needs to make the Pro Bowl relevant again, but adding other random competitions to it won’t fix the problem. The main issue with the Pro Bowl is the same problem facing every other all-star showcase – getting stars to play in it when there’s no actual benefit to doing so whatsoever (and no, MLB, home field advantage doesn’t really count).

Although – if you want to be optimistic about it – Pro Bowl dodgeball could be a way for players to settle some of those in-season grudges. Nothing says “I’m still angry about that hit from Week 4” than a dodgeball to the face.

The 2017 NFL Pro Bowl takes place Jan. 26 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL. The event will also feature a relay race and precision passing competition. Tickets are on sale now through the league’s website. For more things to do in the area, check out the Orlando section of Local POV here.