The Pro Bowl is dead. Well, sort of.
The Athletic reported Wednesday that the NFL has done away with the Pro Bowl Games for the coming season.
For years, it was an all-star game the week before the Super Bowl. After players were initially selected, due to injury or participating in the Super Bowl, players bowed out and alternates were sent to compete.
The actual game was eliminated recently and what was left was a competition of football skills between the players of each conference and then a flag football game. That has been eliminated.
What remains is the player honors.
There will still be players named Pro Bowlers through a mix of fan votes, coach votes and player votes.
“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.
“But ultimately, the Pro Bowl, at its core, is about honoring the best of the best in that season, on the field, in real games. And the shift here is about shifting the focus from the game — which is ultimately where people’s attention goes, especially the replacement players tied to it — to the honor.”
Some will argue that the Pro Bowl means nothing. True, the competitions and the games didn't really mean anything, especially when players who were fourth and fifth alternates were participating.
There will no longer be any Pro Bowl alternates, as there will be no competition, so the prestige that players receive will remain intact. Contracts and Hall of Fame votes are swayed in part by Pro Bowl selections.
And being selected to the Pro Bowl is arguably a better honor than being an All-Pro. All-Pro votes are made by 50 media members. Pro Bowl selections reflect fan popularity and both coach and player respect.
Forty-four players from each conference will be named Pro Bowlers this coming season. They will be invited to an event to celebrate them in February.
The one negative for the league is that it is losing a TV event that drew millions of viewers. Surely they will make up the lost revenue somewhere.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: NFL cancels Pro Bowl, but player honors will remain
