“It’s OK to be the first league to walk away from a competitive all-star game.”
-NFL executive Vice President Peter O’Reily
I hate to break it to Pete but the Pro Bowl stopped being a competitive all-star game when the players stopped competing. That was more than a decade ago.
There were various incarnations of an NFL all-star game from 1938-42. World War II put an end to those games. The Pro Bowl became a thing in 1951. Commissioner Bert Bell thought it was a fine way for the players to make some extra money. From 1951-72, the game was held in Los Angeles. From 1973-79, it moved around. In 1980, the Pro Bowl found a home in Hawaii. For about 60 years, the Pro Bowl was a fun way to end an NFL season. That was especially true during the Hawaii years. The tropical location made for a perfect end-of-the-season vacation for the players and their families. It was also a lovely location for a competitive All-Star football game. I repeat the competitive part. The players actually competed. It was an honor for the players to be named to the Pro Bowl and an honor for them to play in it. Even as salaries soared and the Pro Bowl shares became a smaller percentage of a player’s total earnings, the game was competitive. Maybe it was a step, or two, easier than a game that counted but it easily passed as a competitive football game. The games were fun. The players appeared to have fun simply playing football with the very best in the game. The players wanted to play in the game. That was clear because there were no cancellations due to dubious reasons. Players wanted to be at the Pro Bowl. It never hurt that it was in Hawaii. The desire to be there was so great, that players that didn’t make the teams would pay their own way to join the fun surrounding the game. In an interview with then Sports Illustrated writer Mike Silver, former New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers tight end Russ Francis had this to say about the Pro Bowl in 1996:
The Pro Bowl is a celebration of football. It’s the one time when the players can let down their guard, enjoy their status and revel in the joys of their profession. It’s camaraderie and adventure - the way football used to be.
So, what changed? The Pro Bowl’s downfall started when the NFL’s suits started messing with it. In 2010, the NFL, for some reason, brought the Pro Bowl back to the mainland. They also jammed the game between the conference championship games and the Pro Bowl. Neither decision made any sense at the time and still make no sense. The Pro Bowl was terrific as an end of the season event. Perhaps as a reaction to their 2010 mistake, the suits returned the Pro Bowl in 2011. It was then that the players stopped caring about the game. At least, they stopped trying in the game. It was then that the Pro Bowl became a joke. Even in an all-star game, pride has to matter. I’m not sure how any player that played in a Pro Bowl from 2011-22 can be proud of the game they played. From 2023-25, the Pro Bowl was a flag football game so those don’t count for anything. Starting in 2011, the players simply stopped playing even scrimmage-level football in the Pro Bowl. The fans still paid Pro Bowl-level ticket prices for the Pro Bowl but the players rewarded them with zero effort. From 1951-2010, the winner’s share for the game was $23,000. Even when the NFL surged into billions in annual revenue, the winner’s share for the Pro Bowl stayed the same. In 2011, about the time the players stopped playing, the winner’s share jumped to $50,000. It’s only gone up annually. Somehow, the winner’s of the final flag football Pro Bowl received $96,000. The players were increasingly rewarded for doing less. Nice incentive. Why did the player’s toss their pride and stop trying in the Pro Bowl. One could assume that it was because the players didn’t want to get injured in a game that meant little. For what it’s worth, I can’t remember a serious injury, or even a modest injury, since the 1970s. Tyler Eifert had a serious injury in the 2015 Pro Bowl but that was in one of those games that was more walkthrough than football. The only time this game was about the money involved was in the 1950s. An extra money-stream for the players was the initial reason for the game. For most the game’s existence, it was about pride. It was about the best football players taking pride in the game they played. It was a fun football game. It stopped being a fun football game when the players stopped taking pride in playing football.
Since I was a long-time fan of the way this game used to be played, this is a sad day. With the way the players collectively made it a shitty game and the league then made it a flag football game, this is a great day.
Players are still going to be elected to a Pro Bowl team. The players, coaches, and fans will still vote. Without all of the alternates and injury replacements to dilute things, the 88-player Pro Bowl team will actually mean something again.
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