National Football League

NFL shoots for making Pro Bowl 'must-see' event

Published Jun. 18, 2009 12:29 a.m. ET

Alex Marvez

Are you ready for some hoopla?

The NFL will be adding bells and whistles to promote the first mainland Pro Bowl in 35 years.

Ticket prices will reflect that as well when the league's annual all-star game is played during the Super Bowl off-week for the first time on January 31, 2010 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Seats that aren't purchased by Miami Dolphins season-ticket holders in a first offering will be priced at the "scale of a wild-card game" when placed on sale to the general public in October, NFL Senior Vice President of Events Frank Supovitz told FOXSports.com on Wednesday.

The cheapest tickets for the 2008 wild-card game between Miami and visiting Baltimore were $46, but most cost significantly more than that. Dolphins season-ticket holders can purchase Pro Bowl seats for the same price as a 2009 home game. That cost ranges between $31 and $105, although tickets between the goal lines begin at $70.

Supovitz said most Pro Bowl tickets will be under $100 and the pricing is less than the cost earlier this year in Hawaii, the game's host for the past 30 years. The NFL will have to sell roughly 22,000 more tickets for a Dolphin Stadium sell-out compared to 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium. If the Pro Bowl isn't sold out before kickoff, it will not be telecast locally in South Florida.

It's unknown how many of the Pro Bowl's 25,000 season-ticket holders will attend the game in South Florida. Most out-of-town fans Super Bowl fans won't be arriving in South Florida until later the following week. That leaves the NFL trying to entice a traditionally finicky sports market.