NFL eliminates Pro Bowl after 75 years, but players will still receive annual honor

The NFL is eliminating the Pro Bowl Games, instead shifting the focus to celebrating the honor of being a Pro Bowl selection. ATLANTA (AP) — The Pro Bowl is no more, the NFL announced Wednesday, ending an exhibition of the league's top players that was held in some form almost every year since 1951.The game wasn't played in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that was the only pause in the postseason event.“It's OK to be the first league to walk away from a competitive all-star game,” NFL executive vice president Peter O'Reilly said at the owners' meeting in Atlanta.The league said 88 players will still be named as Pro Bowlers and honored in Los Angeles after this season. Several flag football events also will take place at that time.“The Pro Bowl has always been about recognizing the players who distinguish themselves as the very best in the NFL,” O’Reilly said in a statement.

“A Pro Bowl selection will return to its original purpose, honoring the best of the best. We want that distinction to carry even greater meaning for the players, their families, their clubs and our fans.”O'Reilly said the decision was “a shift from the game to the honor.”Troy Vincent, the league's executive vice president of football operations, said he heard from players that they “don't want competitive play” after the playoffs.“You come off the championship games and the viewers see the physicality of the game and you try to replicate that,” Vincent said. “Frankly, it just doesn't sit well.

This isn't a good representation.”The Pro Bowl has waned in popularity in recent years. Once a staple in Honolulu, the NFL has moved the event to various cities and even switched from tackle to flag football in 2023.___See AP’s full NFL coverage here The NFL is ending the Pro Bowl game after 75 years of tradition.

The NFL is planning to eliminate the annual all-star game but still plans to honour players with a Pro Bowl designation, according to Jonathan Jones of The Athletic. According to Jones, NFL executives presented the new plan to team owners on Wednesday. Eighty-eight players will be selected for Pro Bowl honours at the end of the season, with no alternates.

Instead of a game, the selected players will be honoured during an event during Super Bowl week. Jones added that a player survey contributed to the decision. “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,” Peter O’Reilly, NFL executive vice president of club business, international and league events, told The Athletic.

“I think all leagues have struggled with that. We made the switch four years ago from the ‘tackle’ Pro Bowl to the flag game, and that was more strategic for us. In many ways, we saw a decrease in the replacement players.