A report early Monday morning revealed the NFL will replace the traditional Pro Bowl with a weeklong skills competition held in Las Vegas named “The Pro Bowl Games”.
At the Owners Meetings in May, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the Pro Bowl “doesn’t work. We need to find another way to celebrate the players.”
The Pro Bowl Games will continue to be the week before Super Bowl festivities begin, and many in sports media had strong reactions to the news.
The only way this is interesting is if the skills have nothing to do with football. Let's see some dovetail joints. Let's find out who knows how to bake. https://t.co/gJVmi6OK4p
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) September 26, 2022
The appetite for "All-Star" events in sports is waning across the board https://t.co/X6LoZDe834
— Pete Pistone (@PPistone) September 26, 2022
Rejoice https://t.co/UjEfR3YCdP
— Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) September 26, 2022
Yucky https://t.co/qQOW0tdZJ6
— Morgan Adsit (@MorganAdsit) September 26, 2022
**Whispers: The Pro Bowl was a flag football game** https://t.co/NVqtHoBeoI
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 26, 2022
Having begrudgingly watched the entire Pro Bowl last year, I am very much on board with this change. The game just flat-out stinks. https://t.co/jT76AYNqBN
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) September 26, 2022
In 2019, we did a series on the 11 things we'd change in sports — and eliminating the Pro Bowl/All-Star games was one of them. https://t.co/bc63cYXNmU https://t.co/OwhsZ3Z7bD
— Tom Schad (@Tom_Schad) September 26, 2022
One all-star “game” down… https://t.co/ZzrVaV0sPF
— Brian Sandalow (@BrianSandalow) September 26, 2022
Love the idea.
— Thad Brown (@thadbrown7) September 26, 2022
But let's workshop the name. https://t.co/jehWN1M8kV
Flag football. Dangerous game. https://t.co/HuZLhoRlRS
— Mike Cugno (@MikeCugnoCBS4) September 26, 2022
The Pro Bowl was a joke.
— Jeff D. Lowe (@JeffDLowe) September 26, 2022
With that said, in the last 20 years there were many instances it had more total viewers than many-to-most MLB, NBA, and NHL PLAYOFF games. Still might be the best example as to why the NFL is king by a wide margin. https://t.co/6Xm69OKQMv
This is the right move. The Pro Bowl had become a farce over the past five years, and if done right, this new format has the potential to allow the NFL to market its players and their personalities even more during that week. https://t.co/PSPtzo34Cp
— Matt Lombardo ???? (@MattLombardoNFL) September 26, 2022
Smart and needed. https://t.co/D1ZSblsPkK
— Brad Evans (@NoisyHuevos) September 26, 2022
Absolutely the right decision and the skills competition is a more bettable event. https://t.co/d1hdJsp1Ec
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 26, 2022
Wow that’s sounds really exciting, much more exciting than the Pro Bowl!! https://t.co/cQmy4vGpSM pic.twitter.com/huPwYpXrYV
— Paul Zeise (@PaulZeise) September 26, 2022
https://t.co/leFzXRKAE6 pic.twitter.com/Ot6dZTwiAR
— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) September 26, 2022
The Pro Bowl has been a flag football game for decades, so this should not be a big change. https://t.co/PfcyVtSpNu
— Jerod Smalley (@JerodNBC4) September 26, 2022
Basically been flag football for years. Just making it official . https://t.co/yLrbPJqi8P
— Chris Russell AKA the ????????! (@Russellmania621) September 26, 2022
One of my ideas from Commisioner for a Day column comes to fruition.
— Rod Walker (@RodWalkerNola) September 26, 2022
Pro Bowl going to be a skills competition and a flag football game now. I’m glad to see NFL decided to call the game what it is https://t.co/beYqpGmWLy
This has been coming for a few years. The Pro Bowl is changing and this is 100% the right move. https://t.co/zVqfgzuTCz
— Neil Reynolds (@neilreynoldsnfl) September 26, 2022
