After years of debate, format changes, and falling ratings, the NFL Pro Bowl is no more.
According to a report from Jonathan Jones at The Athletic, league executives outlined the plans for a post-Pro Bowl NFL to team owners on Wednesday. Rather than a football game, or a flag football game, or a series of skills competitions, the Pro Bowl will now be an honor bestowed to 88 players for their elite performances at their positions.
As one league executive told The Athletic, the necessity of all-star games has been questioned across sports, and the expanded presence of Pro Bowl alternates replacing players who simply decided to skip the game had watered down the product to the point where it was time for change.
“All-star games, I think, for all leagues have been fraught for a long time, and they haven’t necessarily represented the very best premium of that sport for those players,” NFL executive vice president Peter O’Reilly told The Athletic. “I think all leagues have struggled with that.”
The shift from a full-contact game to flag football a few years ago helped bring down the number of alternates needed to fill out the game, but there were still some notable oddities that made the honor of being a Pro Bowler somewhat dubious. Both Tyler Huntley and Shedeur Sanders have been named Pro Bowl alternates at quarterback in recent years, despite starting in just four and seven games, respectively, in the seasons they represented their conference.
“The alternate thing didn’t sit well with the guys, especially those that we would consider perennial Pro Bowlers,” said NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent Sr. “And in their mind, ‘I want to be considered the world’s best.’ And when you start getting into the fourth and fifth and sixth alternates, it waters down the entire team.”
Another determining factor in the Pro Bowl’s ultimate end was ratings. While all-star exhibitions have seen steady declines across all of the top American sports, the drop of the Pro Bowl has been particularly dramatic. After 6.7 million viewers tuned in for the first flag football edition of the rebranded Pro Bowl Games in 2023, that number dropped to 5.75 million in 2024, 4.7 million in 2025, and all the way down to a record-low 1.9 million earlier this year. That is a dismal number even compared to the All-Star games of the NBA and MLB, despite the usual viewership dominance the NFL has over the other leagues.
While the Pro Bowl is no longer on the schedule, the honor of being named a Pro Bowler will remain, with a ceremony taking place in Los Angeles, presumably at some point during the Super Bowl week festivities.
About Tyler Lauletta
Tyler is a editorial contributor at Awful Announcing, with previous stops at Sports Illustrated and Business Insider during his career covering sports in digital media. He is, begrudgingly, a Truster of the Process and general Philly sports sicko.