NFL ends Pro Bowl after decades of declining interest, will turn all-star game into an award for 88 players

The Pro Bowl is dead. The NFL finally laid its season-ending All-Star event to rest Wednesday.

(This was a long time in coming because the Pro Bowl has been something of a corpse for years and the NFL has finally admitted it needed to be buried.)

The NFL will no longer stage an AFC vs. NFC Pro Bowl game. Instead, the league will place greater emphasis on the moment a player is selected, the recognition that accompanies that distinction, and bringing the Pro Bowl class together to celebrate the achievement.

“The Pro Bowl has always been about recognizing the players who distinguish themselves as the very best in the NFL,” said Peter O’Reilly, NFL Executive Vice President, Club Business, International and League Events. “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.”

Beginning with the 2026 season, 88 players will comprise the official Pro Bowl roster, with none of the replacement selections that in recent years diminished the honor. The roster will continue to be determined through an equal-weighted voting process among players, coaches and fans.

By limiting the honor to the 88 players originally selected, the Pro Bowl will “return its focus squarely to recognizing the league’s most outstanding performers, reinforcing the significance of an achievement held in especially high regard by players themselves,” the NFL said in a statement.

A general view of the Pro Bowl Logo on the field at Camping World Stadium before the start of 2018 Pro Bowl Game between the AFC Team against the NFC Team on January 28, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)

This had to happen.

The modern NFL Pro Bowl began in January of 1951, following the 1950 season, as an East-vs.-West all-star game. In 1971, it became the familiar AFC-vs.-NFC format.

Its television high point came with the 2000 Pro Bowl, which drew 13.24 million viewers on ABC.

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But the game’s standing noticeably eroded thereafter as fear of injuries and venue changes led to withdrawals, replacements and low-effort football because players concluded that an exhibition was not worth jeopardizing their health.

NFC quarterback Russell Wilson, of the Seattle Seahawks, (3) looks to pass, during the first half of the NFL Pro Bowl football game against the AFC, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

After the league ended the tackle edition of the Pro Bowl in February 2022, it was replaced by the Pro Bowl Games in 2023.

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It was a farce.

The Games were built around skills competitions and AFC-NFC flag-football games.

The Games were something of a curiosity the first year and 6.2 million viewers tuned in. But that quickly crashed and the ratings cratered this year at 2 million viewers – below even preseason viewership.

Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts (8) celebrates a touchdown with Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) during the NFL Pro Bowl presented by Verizon on February 6, 2022 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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The Pro Bowl announcement will come in late December through an “enhanced announcement,” highlighting the 88 selected players across NFL, club, social and broadcast partner platforms and celebrating the performances that earned them the honor.

The NFL never loses. It is ending one television event in February but possibly adding another in December and billing it as an “enhanced announcement.”

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