Professional sports league have All-star games and events to showcase their best players. In some leagues the events are more popular than the game itself; Home-run Derby, and the Dunk Contest. The All-star game is often in the middle of the season (except for the NFL) and often players don’t go 100% for fear of injury. In some cases, the best players that season don’t make the game or the All-star game isn’t worth watching. I know there will always be snubs but when a player is having a historical season, statically speaking and he’s not an All-star something needs to change (Devin Booker). I will be taking a look at how each of the 4 major professional sports and how they select “All-stars”. I will also make my suggestions on how each of them can change for the better.

NBA

Starting with the selection process in the National Basketball Association where the player with the most votes from fans, players, and media is the team captain. They use the votes to name for 4 other starters and then head coaches choose the reserves, seven players from their respective conferences, so each side has a 12-man roster. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. Then the Captains go on and draft there team with the players that have been selected. During All-star weekend they have a rising star game (rookies/sophomores, World vs USA), Celebrity game, 3-point contest, skills challenge, and then the Dunk contest. As they have made changes for those events over the year and I wouldn’t change any of it except for the judging. One year they tried to make the Saturday night a West vs East event and was not a fan favorite. This year with a tribute to Kobe they change the format of the game where they reset the score each quarter and the winner of those 3 quarters will get a 24 point boost. This will make the game more competitive instead of guys just throwing up shots and its all for charity. My first change to the Game would be the selection process, guys like Devin Booker who is currently averaging 26.8 ppg, 6.3 apg should make the game over Chris Paul who averaging 17.3 ppg and 6.6 apg. Bam Adebayo is in the All-Star game averaging 15.8 ppg while Karl Anthony Towns isn’t averaging 26.9 ppg, 10.8 rpg, and while Towns player efficiently rating (Per) is 27.36 compared to Bam 20.59. Teams record plays a factor too much in the selection process instead of a player stats. To fix this I would first get rid of the conferences and have it be the top 24 players. The process would be the same but when coaches go to vote they don’t see the players name just their stats with their PER and value-added (VA). This will eliminate bias for veterans players or stars that are having a down year. This will also improve small markets by allowing players from Minnesota or Phoenix to make it will allow fans to be more invested in the game and as while the players would be more willing to stay on those teams instead of leaving to get more recognition. When the process gets fix so guys like Booker and Towns will make the game since they should get in over some of the players that were selected and then the NBA All-star weekend will continue to be the best of all the sports (Booker made it because of Lillard injury but should have been in the 1st time).

NFL

The NFL has a similar selection process as the NBA but it is even worse. The coaches, players, and fans each get 1/3 of the votes. This causes a similar problem as the NBA as in small-market teams gets overlooked by Dallas and New York. As well as players have admitted for voting for old friends or veterans players that play may be declining so other players don’t get in. As well as players that are injured or in the Super Bowl don’t play in the game so many players are named to the “Pro Bowl”. From 2014-2016 they changed the game to a draft the players by team captains instead of the AFC-NFC matchup but fans complained about it so now they changed it back to conferences games. The Pro Bowl Skills Challenge includes Threading the Needle, Gridiron Gauntlet, Best Hands, Precision Passing, and a Dodgeball game. The Pro Bowl has many different rules than a normal NFL game to prevent players’ injuries and players often don’t play at full speed. Despite getting paid to play in the game the amount is less than 1% of their salary so some of the best players still sit out of the game, as well as teams have declined after losing the conference championships like the 2015 Patriots with 7 starters. The game is looked at as a joke with TV rating on a downward trend and naming almost everyone to the game in 2016 133 players were named even though only 88 play in the game. In 2016 rookie QB Jameis Winston played in the game over Tom Brady and Carson Palmer, as well as some of the best players of all-time like Fred Taylor who is 15th all-time in rushing while averaging 4.6 yards a carry in his career was only selected to 1 Pro Bowl. First I would recommend changing the selection process I understand that fan favorites are imported but most of the time they will still get in because they are the best in the league. To make sure the Pro Bowl features the best players I would get rid of the current voting process and use the Pro football focus (PFF) rating where they don’t just look at stats but it give you the most comprehensive analysis of player performance anywhere. Using that then allow fans to vote for the top players at each position so 6 QBs get selected to the pro bowl allow fans to vote from the top 10 PFF QBs. That will eliminate situations like in 2017 when Harrison Smith had the highest PFF grade ever and was not selected to the Pro Bowl but was a first-team all-pro. My second suggestion is to just get rid of the game completely since players don’t try and don’t matter who gets named to the game. I suggest changing it to a bunch of events like the skills challenge and have guys compete in events they do at the combine like who would want to miss Tyreek Hill against John Ross. They can make it like NBA All-star weekend with the dunk contest and 3 points but with the 40-yard dash, bench and vertical have the best against the best. For Sunday to replace the game I would add 7 on 7 AFC-NFC and have the lineman do 1 on 1 pass rush. As while having a mini-golf tournament, volleyball game, basketball game, Wiffle ball game, and anything that can showcase these players’ athleticism. Who would miss Dontari Poe trying to hit dingers or George Kittle spiking a volleyball. By getting rid of the game and adding these events would increase players’ willingness to go to the events and compete to be the best. Have AFC-NFC teams compete against each other and winning events go to their overall score and that how the winners get decided. The Pro Bowl has been losing viewers over the year and is barely a game still so why not just change the whole Pro Bowl weekend completely by showcases these athletes playing other sports or completing at events.

MLB

The mid-summer classic brings some of baseball best together to play America’s past time game. The selection process is also not the best in the MLB, the fans vote for the starters and this has been criticized since teams with large/passionate fan bases like the Kansas City Royals who had every starter voted in 2015. Then the players vote for 16 players (8 pitchers) to help fill the roster and then the managers of each division select 8 AL/9 NL players and ensure every team has at least one player. Then the fans vote for the final player from a list of 5 players and the replacement is decided by the manager for players that are injured or decline to participate. Just like the other league fans are biased toward their favorite players like last season Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge finish 2nd in the fan vote and Twins outfielder Max Kelper didn’t finish top 5. Now, look at the stats of these two players. Judge at the break had 32 hits and 9 home runs while Kepler had 85 hits and 21 home runs. Since the All-star game has such an impact on players getting into the Hall of Fame it is important to ensure the players that deserve to go each year make the game. My suggestion to get this fix would be to either have the managers and players for top 50 players then let the fans vote for the 34 guys or to have an All-star stat that uses all a player stats for the season and the players with the highest are the ones that can be voted for. During the All-star break, they have the home-run derby, Future game, legends, and Celebrity Softball game and since 2002 the ESPY awards have been on the Wednesday following the game since no leagues have games that day. The home-run derby has change to a bracket in 2014 and the most exciting event in the summer. Vlad Guerrero and Pete Alsonso put on a show last year in the derby breaking many records. The game itself has a few issues as well with games likely ending in a tie or rain delay or the game taking to long. My suggestion to fix each of these things is simple for it to not end in a tie when they play extra innings to start with 1 out and a runner on second which works for many youth leagues and will work even in the MLB. You can’t control the weather and fans don’t want to wait for the weather to clear up so games are only played in retractable roofs or domes. I know adding a retractable roof can be spending but its the best solution and all the money you bring in hosting the game they can afford to add a roof before it. Lastly to make sure the game doesn’t take too long they can shorten the game to 7 innings instead of 9 it will keep the players healthy and allow everyone to play in the game. The All-star game used to be played for home-field advantage for the World series but that change due to team records should be the reason, not an All-star game. The Mid-Summer Classic is the only major sport event in the summer and needs to make small changes to ensure people will watch this great game.

In August I wrote a letter to the MLB of some of there issues they need to fix to help attendance and the All-stat game was one of the issues. https://chompsports.sport.blog/2019/08/09/dear-mlb/

NHL

In 2016 NHL decided to make some major changes to its All-star game and the selection process they use. NHL decided instead of 2 All-star teams to go to 4 teams using each division. The selection process has a fan vote for the captains then hockey management picks the rest of the rosters then the fans vote for the last in player of each division. This is the best selection process of all the major sports since it includes the fans and also ensures the best players get selected. During the break the NHL has a skill competition which includes the fastest skater, save streak, accuracy shooting, hardest shot, shooting stars, and they have an elite Women 3 on 3 game (USA vs. Canada). The NHL game itself is also different than the other leagues because it’s not a full-on game but a bracket challenge. They play 3 games each a period long while they play 3 on 3 and the winner of the first two periods play the third period to declare the winner. The shorter period makes viewers engaged more and it is 3 on 3 instead of 5 on 5 more scoring opportunity which is what viewers want. NHL, in my opinion, has the best selection process, events and the All-star game itself. NHL found the perfect option in 2016 for what they should do for the selection process and All-star game and the other 3 major sports league needs to follow. The NHL All-Star game is unique and different than any other NHL game which is okay since it gives fans what they want.