{"id":872870,"date":"2026-08-27T03:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T03:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872870\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T03:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T03:32:10","slug":"nfl-does-away-with-pro-bowl-game-but-players-will-still-be-recognized-as-pro-bowlers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872870\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL does away with Pro Bowl game, but players will still be recognized as pro bowlers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Troy Vincent speaks during a news conference at an NFL football owners meeting on Wednesday in Atlanta.Brynn Anderson\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The Pro Bowl is no more, the NFL announced Wednesday, ending an exhibition of the league\u2019s top players that was held in some form almost every year since 1951.<\/p>\n

The game wasn\u2019t played in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that was the only pause in the postseason event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s OK to be the first league to walk away from a competitive all-star game,\u201d NFL executive vice president Peter O\u2019Reilly said at the owners\u2019 meeting in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The league said 88 players will still be named as pro bowlers and honoured in Los Angeles after this season. Several flag football events also will take place at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pro Bowl has always been about recognizing the players who distinguish themselves as the very best in the NFL,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said in a statement. \u201cA pro bowl selection will return to its original purpose, honouring the best of the best. We want that distinction to carry even greater meaning for the players, their families, their clubs and our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly said the decision was \u201ca shift from the game to the honour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Troy Vincent, the league\u2019s executive vice president of football operations, said he heard from players that they \u201cdon\u2019t want competitive play\u201d after the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou come off the championship games and the viewers see the physicality of the game and you try to replicate that,\u201d Vincent said. \u201cFrankly, it just doesn\u2019t sit well. This isn\u2019t a good representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pro Bowl has waned in popularity in recent years. Once a staple in Honolulu, the NFL has moved the event to various cities and even switched from tackle to flag football in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Troy Vincent speaks during a news conference at an NFL football owners meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,514,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-872870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-nfl","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}