The NFL Pro Bowl Has Been Changed to ‘The Pro Bowl Games’
The NFL Pro Bowl is gone and has been replaced by the Pro Bowl Games, according to The Associated Press. In place of the full contact game, the Pro Bowl Games will be a week-long series of events and a flag football game.
“The Pro Bowl is something that we’ve been looking at for a while, really continuing to evolve,” NFL executive Peter O’Reilly told The Associated Press. “Coming out of last year’s game, we really made the decision based on a lot of internal conversations, getting feedback from GMs and coaches, getting a lot of feedback from players. We think there’s a real opportunity to do something wholly different here and move away from the traditional tackle football game. We decided the goal is to celebrate 88 of the biggest stars in the NFL in a really positive, fun, yet competitive way.
“The feedback very directly from guys who had been in the Pro Bowl recently was to keep the construct of the week, make sure you’re having that multi-day element. It was overwhelmingly positive both from players as well as from clubs.”
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Peyton Manning and his company Omaha Productions will play a large role in the Pro Bowl Games. The company will help shape the programming for the skills competition and Manning will play a key role in the coaching staff for the flag football game.
The voting process for the Pro Bowl Games will be similar to that of the Pro Bowl. Fans will still be able to vote on which players they would like to represent the NFC and AFC flag football teams.
These changes to the Pro Bowl are coming after it has long been criticized for being unentertaining. The game features little to no tackling and has become more of a glorified walk-through or scrimmage. At least the new flag football format will lean into that lack of physicality.
