Aloha means goodbye for Pro Bowl in Hawaii

KAPOLEI, Hawaii – The Pro Bowl is bidding aloha to the islands after Sunday’s game following a 30-year run.

Next year’s Pro Bowl will be played in Miami a week before the Super Bowl. The location after that remains uncertain. One thing is clear: Many of the NFL’s top stars are unsure about the Pro Bowl being shipped to the mainland.

“I just think you take away from everything the Pro Bowl means,” Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said Tuesday. “I don’t understand it all.”

Lewis, making his 10th Pro Bowl trip, said many players live or visit Florida often, so playing there wouldn’t necessarily be a reward.

“That’s no vacation,” he said. “You want to tour the islands and bring the kids over here to see something different.”

The NFL has been looking to increase the profile of the game.

Some players feel the Pro Bowl could lose some luster by not having Super Bowl players participating in the game, since they’ll be busy preparing for the big game.

Peyton Manning said one of his best weeks of his life was coming to Hawaii after leading the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl win in 2006.

“There’s no better week to be over here than after you won a Super Bowl,” he said. “If something is good, why do you want to change it?”