Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl
The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players.
The format has changed throughout the years. Between 1939 and 1942, the NFL experimented with all-star games pitting the league's champion against a team of all-stars. The first official Pro Bowl was played in January 1951, matching the top players in the American/Eastern Conference against those in the National/Western Conference. From the merger with the rival American Football League (AFL) in 1970 up through 2013 and also in 2017, it was officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference (AFC) against those in the National Football Conference (NFC). From 2014 through 2016, the NFL experimented with an unconferenced format, where the teams were selected by two honorary team captains (who are each in the Hall of Fame), instead of selecting players from each conference. The players were picked in a televised "schoolyard pick" prior to the game.
For years, the game suffered from lack of interest for its perceived low quality, with observers and commentators expressing their disfavor with it. It drew lower television ratings than regular season NFL games, although the game drew similar ratings to the all-star games of the other major North American sports leagues, such as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. However, the biggest concern was to avoid injuries to the star players. The Associated Press wrote that players in the 2012 game were "hitting each other as though they were having a pillow fight". Despite these criticisms, however, players who were selected to the Pro Bowl were nonetheless honored in a similar standing to their counterparts in the other leagues, and being named to it is considered to be a significant accomplishment for any player. In September 2022, the NFL announced that the Pro Bowl game would switch to a non-contact flag football game in 2023, as well as a partnership with Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions to revamp Pro Bowl week as the "Pro Bowl Games".
Unlike the other major North American sports leagues, which hold their all star weekends roughly midway through their regular seasons, the NFL has held theirs at or near the end of NFL season. Before the merger, the game was played annually after the NFL Championship Game. Between 1970 and 2009, the Pro Bowl was usually held the weekend after the Super Bowl. From 2010 to 2022, it was played the Sunday before the Super Bowl; as a result, players from the two teams competing in the Super Bowl did not participate.
History of the Pro Bowl
The first "Pro All-Star Game", featuring the all-stars of the 1938 season (as well as three players from the Los Angeles Bulldogs and Hollywood Bears, who were not members of the league), was played on January 15, 1939, at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. The NFL All-Star Game was played again in Los Angeles in 1940 and then in New York and Philadelphia in 1941 and 1942 respectively. Although originally planned as an annual contest, the all-star game was discontinued after 1942 because of travel restrictions put in place during World War II. During the first five all-star games, an all-star team would face that year's league champion. The league champion won the first four games before the all-stars were victorious in the final game of this early series.
The concept of an all-star game was not revived until June 1950, when the newly christened "Pro Bowl" was approved. The game was sponsored by the Los Angeles Publishers Association. It was decided that the game would feature all-star teams from each of the league's two conferences rather than the league champion versus all-star format which had been used previously. This was done to avoid confusion with the Chicago College All-Star Game, an annual game which featured the league champion against a collegiate all-star team. The teams would be led by the coach of each of the conference champions. Immediately prior to the Pro Bowl, following the 1949 season, the All-America Football Conference, which contributed three teams to the NFL in a partial merger in 1950, held its own all-star game, the Shamrock Bowl.
The first 21 games of the series (1951–1972) were played in Los Angeles. The site of the game was changed annually for each of the next seven years before the game was moved to Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, for 30 straight seasons from 1980 through 2009. The 2010 Pro Bowl was played at Sun Life Stadium, the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins and host site of Super Bowl XLIV, on January 31, the first time ever that the Pro Bowl was held before the championship game (a decision probably due to increasingly low Nielsen ratings from being regarded as an anti-climax to the Super Bowl). With the new rule being that the conference teams do not include players from the teams that will be playing in the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl then returned to Hawaii in 2011 but was again held during the week before the Super Bowl, where it remained for three more years.
The 2012 game was met with criticism from fans and sports writers for the lack of quality play by the players. On October 24, 2012, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had second thoughts about the Pro Bowl, telling a Sirius XM show that if the players did not play more competitively [in the 2013 Pro Bowl], he was "not inclined to play it anymore". During the ensuing off-season, the NFL Players Association lobbied to keep the Pro Bowl, and negotiated several rule changes to be implemented for the 2014 game. Among them, the teams would no longer be AFC vs. NFC, and instead be selected by captains in a fantasy draft. For the 2014 game, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders were chosen as alumni captains, while their captains were Drew Brees and Robert Quinn (Rice), along with Jamaal Charles and J. J. Watt (Sanders).
On April 9, 2014, the NFL announced that the 2015 Pro Bowl would be played the week before the Super Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on January 25, 2015. The game returned to Hawaii in 2016, and the "unconferenced" format was its last.
For 2017, the league considered hosting the game at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which would have been the first time the game had been hosted outside the United States. The NFL was also considering future Pro Bowls in Mexico and Germany to leverage international markets. A report released May 19, 2016, indicated that the 2017 Pro Bowl would instead be hosted at a newly renovated Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida; Orlando beat out Brazil (which apparently did not make the final round of voting), Honolulu, Super Bowl host site Houston, and a bid from Sydney, Australia, for the hosting rights. On June 1, 2016, the league announced that it was restoring the old conference format.
Since the 2017 Pro Bowl, the NFL has also hosted a series of side events leading up to the game called the Pro Bowl Skills Showdown, which includes competitions like passing contests and dodgeball among the players.
The 2021 Pro Bowl game was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and new host Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas was held over to the 2022 Pro Bowl. The roster was still voted on and named, and alternative broadcast and streaming events were held during the week of the game.
In May 2022, Commissioner Roger Goodell questioned the future of the Pro Bowl, arguing that it "doesn't work", and that "another way to celebrate the players" was needed. On September 26, 2022, it was announced that the NFL would host the 2023 event as "The Pro Bowl Games"—in partnership with Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions—which will replace the culminating event with a flag football game.
Player selection
Players are voted into the Pro Bowl by the coaches, the players themselves, and the fans. Each group's ballots count for ⅓, or 33.3%, of the votes. Fans vote on their preferred players at NFL.com. Replacements are selected should any selected player be unable to play for injuries, self-withdrawal, or Super Bowl contention. Prior to 1995, only the coaches and the players made Pro Bowl selections.
In order to be considered a Pro Bowler for a given year, a player must either have been one of the initial players selected to the team, or a player who accepts an invitation to the Pro Bowl as an alternate; invited alternates who decline to attend are not considered Pro Bowlers. Since 2010, players of the two teams that advance to the Super Bowl will not play in the Pro Bowl, and they are replaced by alternate players. Players who would have been invited as an alternate but could not play because they were slated to play in that season's Super Bowl are also considered Pro Bowlers (for example, Tom Brady in 2016).
From 2014 to 2016, players did not play according to conference; instead, they were placed in a draft pool and chosen by team captains.
Coaching staff
When the Pro Bowl was held after the Super Bowl, the head coaches were traditionally the head coaches of the teams that lost in the AFC and NFC championship games for the same season of the Pro Bowl in question. From 1978 through 1982, the head coaches of the highest ranked divisional champion that lost in the Divisional Playoff Round were chosen. For the 1983 Pro Bowl, the NFL resumed selecting the losing head coaches in the conference championship games. In the 1999 Pro Bowl, New York Jets head coach Bill Parcells, after his team lost to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, had to decline for health reasons and Jets assistant head coach Bill Belichick took his place.
When the Pro Bowl was moved to the weekend between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl in 2009, the team that lost in the Divisional Playoff Round with the best regular season record would have their coaching staffs lead their respective conference Pro Bowl team returning to the format used from 1978 to 1982. It remained that way through 2013; it resumed in 2017. If the losing teams of each conference had the same regular season record the coaches from the higher-seeded team will get the Pro Bowl honor. From 2014 to 2016, the Pro Bowl coaches came from the two teams with the best records that lost in the Divisional Playoffs. (In the 2015 Pro Bowl, when John Fox left his coaching job with Denver after his playoff loss to Indianapolis that year, John Harbaugh of Baltimore took over. The next year saw Green Bay's assistant coach Winston Moss took over as Mike McCarthy resigned from coaching for illness.)
Game honors
A Player of the Game was honored 1951–1956. 1957–1971, awards were presented to both an Outstanding Back and an Outstanding Lineman. In 1972 and since 2014, there are awards for both an Outstanding Offensive Player and an Outstanding Defensive Player. 1973–2007, only one Player of the Game award was honored (though thrice this award has been presented to multiple players in a single game). In 2008 the award was changed to Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Players are paid for participating in the game with the winning team receiving a larger payout. The chart below shows how much the players of their respective teams earn:
Rule differences
Although there is no official rule against tackling, the players in the Pro Bowl have come to a gentlemen's agreement to do little if any tackling. On the vast majority of plays, the ball carrier either gives up as soon as a defensive player grabs him, or goes out of bounds to avoid contact. In that sense it is essentially a two-hand touch football game. A future ban on tackling and contact is being considered.
In addition to the above, the Pro Bowl does have different rules from regular NFL games to make the game safer with a view towards incorporating some of these rules to future NFL regular season games.
No motion or shifting by the offense
Offense must have a running back and tight end in all formations
Offense may have up to three receivers on the same side
Intentional grounding is legal
No rushing the passer
More than one forward pass thrown on the same play is allowed
Defense must run a 4–3 at all times, though the Cover 2 and press coverage is allowed
No blitz; DEs and tackles can rush on passing plays, provided they are on same side of ball
No blindside or below the waist blocks
No rushing the punter
No rushing the kicker
No rushing the holder
Coin toss determines who receives first; loser receives to start third period. Procedure repeats at the start of first overtime.
Kickoffs are eliminated (including free kicks)
Punt returns are eliminated by the automatic fair catch
Teams will start on their own 25-yard line after any score or at the start of each half/odd overtime
If a team that would otherwise be kicking off wants to attempt to retain possession (situations where an onside kick would be attempted if there were kickoffs), they may run a single scrimmage play from their own 25-yard line; should the ball be advanced 15 yards forward, the team retains possession
Receivers may flinch or raise either foot without incurring penalty
35-second play clock to run plays
Deep middle safety must be aligned within hash marks
Replay reviews are allowed
44-player roster per team
Two-minute warning in effect for all quarters, plus overtime
Game clock runs on incompletions except at two minutes left in half or overtime period
Very limited contact is allowed much like touch football, provided the ball carrier is surrounded by opponents
In case of a tie after regulation, multiple 15-minute OT periods will be played (with each team receiving two time outs per period), and in the first overtime teams receive one possession to score unless one of them scores a safety on its first possession. True sudden death rules apply thereafter if both teams have had their initial possession and the game remains tied. The Pro Bowl is not allowed to end in a tie, unlike preseason and regular season games. (In general, beyond the first overtime, whoever scores first wins. The first overtime starts as if the game had started over, like the NFL Playoffs.)
2023 and hereafter has a flag football game which is a 50-yard by 28-yard field (like arena football), seven players on field per team, two 10-minute halves, 15-minute halftime, plus multiple 5-minute overtime periods. In overtime, no matter if a touchdown is scored or not, teams get one possession. If the teams are tied after one possession, true sudden death rules apply hereafter. No punts due to short field.
Pro Bowl uniforms
The teams are made of players from different NFL teams, so using their own uniforms would be too confusing. However, the players do wear the helmet of their respective team, but the home jerseys and pants are either a solid blue for the NFC or solid red for the AFC, with white jerseys with blue or red accents, respectively, for the away team.
The early Pro Bowl, contested by the National Football League's Eastern and Western Division stars and played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, featured the same uniforms from the 1950s to mid-1960s; the Eastern team wore scarlet jerseys with white numerals and a white crescent shoulder stripe, white pants with red stripe, red socks, and a plain red helmet. The Western team wore white jerseys with royal-blue numerals and a Northwestern University-style Ukon triple stripe on the sleeves, white pants with blue stripe and socks and a plain blue helmet. Perhaps oddly, the Eastern team wore home dark jerseys, although the host city team, the Los Angeles Rams, were members of the Western Conference. From January 1967 to January 1970 both teams wore gold helmets with the NFL logo on the sides; the Eastern helmets featured a red-white-red tri-stripe and the Western a similar blue-white-blue tri-stripe. In fact, the players brought their own game helmets to Los Angeles, which were then spray-painted and decorated for the contest. For the 1970 game the helmets featured the '50 NFL' logo, commemorating the league's half-century anniversary.
In the earliest years of the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, the players did not wear their unique helmets. The AFC All-Stars wore a solid red helmet with a white A on it, while the NFC players wore a solid white helmet with a blue N on it. The AFC's red helmets were paired with white jerseys and red pants, while the NFC's white helmets were paired with blue jerseys and white pants. Beginning with the 1979 game, players wore the helmets of their respective teams.
Two players with the same number who were elected to the Pro Bowl could wear the same number for that game, which was not always the case in the past.
The 2008 Pro Bowl included a unique example of several players from the same team wearing the same number in a Pro Bowl. For the game, Washington Redskins players T Chris Samuels, TE Chris Cooley, and LS Ethan Albright all wore the number 21 (a number normally inappropriate for their positions) in memory of their teammate Sean Taylor, who had been murdered during the 2007 season.
On October 7, 2013, Nike unveiled the uniforms for the 2014 Pro Bowl, which revealed that the red, white and blue colors that the game uniforms bore throughout its entire history would not be used for the game. As the NFC–AFC format was not used between 2014 through 2016, team 1 sported a white uniform with bright orange and team 2 sported a gray uniform with volt green. The new uniforms received mixed reviews from fans and sports columnists alike, one even mentioning that the game would look like an "Oregon vs. Oklahoma State" game.
Since 2017, when the conference format was restored, the league took an approach similar to the NFL Color Rush initiative, in which jerseys, pants, and socks were all a uniform color (red for the AFC, blue for the NFC).
With the switch to the Pro Bowl Games format in 2023, players are no longer required to wear standard football uniforms, helmets and pads. Instead they wore red (for AFC) or blue (for NFC) shirts and either gray shorts or pants. Some players would also wear caps as headgear and compression tights.
Game results
NFL All-Star Games (1938–1942)
No Most Valuable Player awards were presented during these games.
NFL Pro Bowls (1950–1969)
AFC–NFC Pro Bowls (1970–2012)
Unconferenced Pro Bowls (2013–2015)
AFC–NFC Pro Bowls (2016–2022)
Pro Bowl Games (2023–present)
Stadiums that have hosted the Pro Bowl
Wrigley Field (1939)
Gilmore Stadium (January and December 1940)
Polo Grounds (January 1942)
Shibe Park (December 1942)
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1951–1972, 1979)
Texas Stadium (1973)
Arrowhead Stadium (1974)
Miami Orange Bowl (1975)
Louisiana Superdome (1976)
Kingdome (1977)
Tampa Stadium (1978)
Aloha Stadium (1980–2009, 2011–2014, 2016)
Sun Life Stadium (2010)
University of Phoenix Stadium (2015)
Camping World Stadium (2017–2020, 2024)
Allegiant Stadium (2022–2023)
Records
Players with most invitations
As of the 2022 Pro Bowl, 28 players have been invited to at least 11 Pro Bowls in their careers. Except for those that are current active or not yet eligible, each of these players have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. With his selection in the 2022 Pro Bowl, quarterback Tom Brady has the all-time invitations record at 15.
Television
The Pro Bowl was originally broadcast on an alternative basis by CBS and NBC from 1971 to 1974, while the other network broadcast the Super Bowl. The game was then broadcast as part of the Monday Night Football package on ABC from 1975 to 1987. Sister network ESPN took it over as part of the ESPN Sunday Night Football package from 1988 to 1994. The game then returned to ABC for the 1995 through 2003 games. In the early 2000s, after suffering through several years of dwindling ratings ABC considered moving the game to Monday night, but the network instead decided to sell off the rights for the 2004–2006 games to ESPN.
For the 2007 to 2014 Pro Bowls, the network which aired the Super Bowl that season also aired the Pro Bowl. The 2007 game on CBS was held on the Saturday after Super Bowl XLI because of the 49th Grammy Awards. The 2008 game was on Fox, broadcaster of Super Bowl XLII. Likewise, the 2009 game was on NBC, broadcaster of Super Bowl XLIII. CBS sold off their rights to the 2010 game to ESPN, which was played a week before the Super Bowl at the Super Bowl site, Sun Life Stadium. CBS also declined to broadcast the 2013 game, which was instead shown on NBC. The 2014 game, also shown on NBC, was the final Pro Bowl on network television for four years.
ESPN then began holding exclusive rights to the Pro Bowl starting in 2015. In 2018, the Pro Bowl returned to network television for the first time in four years as part of a joint ABC/ESPN simulcast (both sister networks are owned by The Walt Disney Company). Disney XD was added to the simulcast for 2019. The ESPN/ABC simulcasts of the game continued through 2022.
Throughout his broadcasting career, the late John Madden declined to be part of the announcing crew when his network carried the Pro Bowl for his aviatophobia and claustrophobia (a joke referencing both is made in the Madden NFL '97 video game before the beginning of the Pro Bowl in season mode, where Madden quips that he drove his "Madden Bus" to Hawaii, rather than flying). Until Madden's retirement from broadcasting after the 2009 Pro Bowl, it had only occurred twice: Former San Diego Chargers quarterback and MNF personality Dan Fouts, whom Madden had replaced, took his place on ABC in 2003, and Cris Collinsworth took his place on NBC in 2009 (Collinsworth ended up replacing Madden permanently upon the latter's retirement).
In conjunction with the Professional Bowlers Association, the Pro Bowl also sponsors a charity bowling tournament the occurs during the weekend leading up to the game. The tournament is open to all NFL players regardless of whether they have been selected to play in the Pro Bowl. Winners are announced at halftime, and are presented with a check in their name payable to their favorite charity.
Most watched Pro Bowls
Since 2000
Blackout policy
Prior to 2015, the Pro Bowl was still subject to the NFL's blackout policies, requiring the game to be blacked out within of the stadium site if the game does not sell out all of the stadium's seats. However, with the lifting of the NFL's blackout rules in 2015, the game can be shown within the host stadium regardless of attendance.
Criticism
Quality
For decades, the Pro Bowl has been criticized as a glamor event more than a football game. This is due to the voluntary nature of the game, the arbitrary voting process, and the fear of player injury.
While players are financially compensated for participating in the Pro Bowl, for a star player, the pay can be less than 1% of their salary. Many star players have excused themselves from participation over the years, meaning that the very best players are not necessarily featured. Not having the best players in the Pro Bowl was exacerbated by the introduction of fan voting (see section below).
Another criticism of the game is that the players—particularly on defense—are not competing at the same level of intensity as they would during the regular season or the playoffs. This is because player injury plays a much greater part in a team's success in the NFL as compared to the other major American sports. For this reason, unlike the NBA, NHL, and MLB (which host their all-star events as a mid-season break), the Pro Bowl was historically held after the completion of the season and playoffs. This means that a player injured in the Pro Bowl would have at least six months to rehab before the next season begins. However, starting in 2010, the Pro Bowl was moved from the week after the Super Bowl to the week before it. Because of the above-noted fear of injury, players from the two teams participating in the Super Bowl were banned from participation, thus increasing the absence of star players.
With the dearth of stars making the game the subject of much derision (Sports Illustrated website refused to even include one pre-game story on the event in 2012), the players on the field appear to be taking it less seriously as well. In the 2012 game, the lack of defensive effort was apparent, not only to anyone watching, but additionally evidenced by the combined score of 100 points. Brett Keisel, an NFL player watching the game said, "They probably should have just put flags on them," indicating that the quality was about on the level of flag football. Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the game needed to improve, otherwise it would be eliminated. It is worth noting that entire teams have declined to participate after losing the conference championship, like the 2015 New England Patriots, which had seven starters on the Pro Bowl roster. This, among other factors, caused the 2016 Pro Bowl to be more of a game featuring emerging players, with a record of 133 players selected overall (including those who were absent), and ended up including rookie quarterback Jameis Winston instead of recognized veterans Tom Brady and Carson Palmer, who were both in the conversation for the 2015 NFL season MVP before losing in their respective conference finals. In 2022 and 2023, Josh Allen turned down invitations to the Pro Bowl in favor of playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament, decisions that he stated were to allow himself to recover from several minor injuries. In 2023, Las Vegas Raiders Running Back Josh Jacobs, called the event stupid and stated that he would prefer to go on holidays rather than play in the pro-bowl. The event was set to be hosted in the Raider's new home city.
Selection process
Fan voting has increased criticism of the Pro Bowl. Voting by fans makes up 1/3 of the vote for Pro Bowl players. Some teams earn more selections of their players because fans often vote for their favorite team and not necessarily the best player. In the 2008 Pro Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys had thirteen players on the NFC roster, an NFL record. "If you're in a small market, no one really gets to see you play", said Minnesota Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield, who spent much of his early career with the small-market Buffalo Bills. "If you're a quiet guy, it's hard to get the attention. You just have to work hard and play." Winfield made the Pro Bowl in 2008 after ten seasons of being shut out.
The player voting has also been subject to significant criticism. It is not uncommon for players to pick the same players over and over again; former offensive lineman (and Sports Illustrated analyst) Ross Tucker has cited politics, incumbency, personal vendettas, and compensation for injury in previous years as primary factors in players' choices. Thus, players who have seen their play decline with age can still be perennially elected to the Pro Bowl for their popularity among other players, something particularly common among positions such as the offensive line, where few statistics are available. For example, in 2010, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs admitted voting for Ryan Fitzpatrick (then the backup quarterback of the Buffalo Bills) over eventual league most valuable player Tom Brady not because he thought Fitzpatrick was the better player but as a vote of disrespect toward Brady's team, the New England Patriots.
Some players have had a surprisingly small number of Pro Bowl selections despite distinguished careers. Hall of Fame fullback John Riggins was selected only once in his career from 1971 to 1985. He was not selected in the year after which he set the record for rushing touchdowns in a season and his team made it to the Super Bowl (although he did make the All-Pro team). Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke only made the Pro Bowl once, despite being named All-Pro seven times and being the MVP of the 1962 NFL Championship Game. Defensive back Ken Riley never made the Pro Bowl in his 15 seasons, even though he recorded 65 interceptions, the fourth-highest total in NFL history at the time of his retirement. Former Jacksonville Jaguars halfback Fred Taylor, who is 15th in all-time rushing yards, was elected to his only Pro Bowl in 2007, despite averaging 4.6 yards per carry for his career, better than all but five running backs ranked in the top 30 in all-time rushing. Aaron Smith made it to the Pro Bowl once in 13 years (2004) despite winning two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers and being named to the Sports Illustrated 2000s All Decade Team and defensive teammates such as Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton, and James Harrison being named to multiple Pro Bowls during his career; Smith would often be ranked as one of the NFL's most underrated players during his career.
See also
American Football League All-Star games
All-America Football Conference All-Star Game
Chicago College All-Star Game – a series played between an NFL team and a collegiate all-star team
NFL Pro Bowl records
References
External links
Official site
The Complete History of the Pro Bowl
The NFL's official website
Online Fan Voting Ballot
1939 establishments in California
All-star games
Annual sporting events in the United States
National Football League competitions
Recurring sporting events established in 1939
American football in Hawaii
January sporting events