Maybe playing the Pro Bowl the week before the Super Bowl actually does work.

The NFL announced today that the 2010 Pro Bowl on ESPN was watched by an average of 12.3 million viewers, the most for a Pro Bowl since the 2000 Pro Bowl (13.2 million viewers on ABC) and a 40 percent increase from last season (8.8 million viewers on NBC).

The 12.3 million viewers also marks the largest viewership for any All-Star game ever on cable television.

This year, for the first time, the Pro Bowl was played in the Super Bowl city the week before the Super Bowl.  The game at Sun Life Stadium in South Florida drew 70,697 fans – the highest attendance for the game in more than 50 years (1959).

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Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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