The NHL just finished up their “4 Nations Face-Off” tournament, a replacement for their traditional all-star game which pitted NHL players from four different nations (United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden) against each other. The tournament was a unmitigated success, with players actually competing at a very high level and viewers at home glued to the television.

On Friday, it was revealed the final—involving the US and Canada—drew 9.3 million viewers on Thursday night. To give you a comparison as to how the other national all-star games performed, the NBA All-Star game drew just 4.7 million viewers on Sunday, and the NFL Pro Bowl also had around 4.7 million viewers. In essence, the NHL doubled both of the viewership of those games.

The NHL’s success is quite similar to the success Major League Baseball has found with the triennial World Baseball Classic series.

The NHL’s success has people wondering if the NFL and NBA should follow suit with some regional games during all-star week. While the NFL would likely have trouble sporting international teams that could compete with the United States, some have proposed the idea of making regional competition within the US. Have the state of Texas face off against the west coast. Have the midwest sport a team against the non-Texas part of SEC country.

Obviously, it’s going to be harder to get NFL players to fully compete for an exhibition series given the physical nature of the game, but it’s something to think about. So today’s Question of the Day is:

Would you watch a region-based Pro Bowl tournament?

My answer: In theory, yeah. That would be awesome. There’s always a healthy debate as to which region in the country produces the best football talent, and this would offer some bragging rights for those players.

But I don’t think this would actually work. For one, I just don’t think you can get NFL players to compete fully at an all-star game, no matter the reward. Secondly, it definitely wouldn’t work as a tournament, because that would mean you’re playing at least two games. You’d have to spread that over the course of two weeks, further endangering players to suffer an injury that could cost them their careers. I’m not sure when in the season or offseason you would fit this tournament in, either.

It’s a fun thing to think about, and if there’s some way the league could actually make it work, it could be a game-changer. But at this point, it’s just a fun thought exercise.

What are your thoughts on a potential region-based football all-star game? Scroll down to the comments and share your feelings.