NFL to punt on Pro Bowl Game, eliminating little-watched All-Star event for good

After years of atrophy, the Pro Bowl is finally — mercifully — dead. 

The famed NFL All-Star competition, a valuable part of the NFL calendar for nearly 80 years, was formally cast aside, according to The Athletic. It has been more of a husk than a living and breathing spectacle in recent years, with a flag football iteration of the contest failing to impress. 

Here's what we know about the NFL's shock decision to cut one of its signature offerings for the 2026 season and beyond.

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NFL to eliminate Pro Bowl Game

The league is purging the game from the NFL calendar, according to The Athletic's Jonathan Jones. The move comes amid years of dwindling returns for the competition, which was introduced in 1951. According to Jones, league executives proposed axing the contest to league owners on Wednesday.

“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,” said Peter O'Reilly, the NFL's executive vice president of club business, international and league events. “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."

According to The Athletic, individual Pro Bowl honor will remain — 88 players will receive Pro Bowl distinction annually. Alternates, a contentious subject of sorts that seemed to indicate the match's diminishing appeal to the league's top players, will vanish alongside the match that used to house them.

"Ultimately, the Pro Bowl, at its core, is about honoring the best of the best in that season, on the field, in real games," O'Reilly told The Athletic. "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.”

In lieu of the eradication of the Pro Bowl, a ceremony will be held in Los Angeles in February to honor those who receive the honor. The process of selecting Pro Bowlers remains unchanged; ballots cast by fans, players and coaches will determine who among the sport's finest offensive, defensive and special teams players collect the prize.