Pro Bowl odds in 2007 had the AFC as about a 4 point favorite with the total of 65. This year’s Pro Bowl should again have the AFC favored by a field goal or so with the total in the low 60’s. Let’s take a look back at some Pro Bowl and the tendency for bettors to like the AFC.
Pro Bowl favor the AFC for the simple fact that the AFC is the better conference than the NFC. Recent Super Bowl winners have come from the AFC and when the two conferences match up against each other in regular season games it is the AFC that wins more often than not. Although the AFC is favored in Pro Bowl that does not always mean they win or cover the spread. They hold only a 19-18 all-time edge against the NFC and even though they won the 2007 Pro Bowl they did not cover the Pro Bowl betting odds that had them a four point favorite as the won only 31-28.
The 2008 Pro Bowl will likely have Peyton Manning as the starter since Tom Brady is unlikely to play with an ankle sprain. Manning holds all of the Pro Bowl records for quarterbacks and would be a big reason the AFC is highly considered in Pro Bowl betting. What may surprise some bettors that look at Pro Bowl odds is that the players consider the game meaningless.
There won’t be a lot of motivation going on out there,” Peyton Manning said before the 2007 game, “This will be a cruise-control kind of week.” His attitude is the one that most players take towards the game. It means nothing and is really just an exhibition game but it does have Pro Bowl odds attached to it. Very little defense is played and the intensity level of both teams is low but bettors still look at the Pro Bowl odds.
In recent seasons the AFC has dominated the NFC during the regular season and that leads to them being favored in Pro Bowl odds. The star power is on the AFC and that leads the public to give them serious consideration in Pro Bowl betting. Whenever you have a Peyton Manning on the team and players like LaDainian Tomlinson and Randy Moss, the public is going to be impressed and bet the AFC in Pro Bowl betting. The same type of respect is not given to players like Matt Hasselbeck and Larry Fitzgerald in Pro Bowl. That is why the AFC gets more respect in Pro Bowl odds from the public.