The Pro Bowl had been an exciting event for players to show off their skills and talent to the world. The players won’t risk getting injured because the event was transformed in 2023 to be flag football, which is non-contact. The Pro Bowl is an event where “the best players” are selected to represent either the American Football Conference or National Football Conference sides of the NFL. The NFC and the AFC compete in various competitions to earn points that accumulate overtime to determine a winner.
Recently, however, viewership has dropped more and more, every year. Some people believe the problem with the Pro Bowl is that it’s rigged, since viewers choose people they like versus the actually skilled players who deserve to go. In addition, many of the top players do not compete in this event because they are headed to the Super Bowl, which means they cannot play during the event due to rules. So some of the alternative players who are not as good get to compete.
This year, the Pro Bowl saw a massive viewer decline of about 60% its previous year. In 2025, the Pro Bowl had about 4.7 million watchers. It was already super dim, and now it has plummeted to about 2 million this year. This decline is continuous, causing concern among players and fans. Players don’t receive the same attention and fans are disappointed to see second string players participate instead of the best players who should be selected. Concerns of injuries that could affect them in the future and scheduling conflicts are making the Pro Bowl decline a reality for players and fans.
Some people wonder if the league has selected them to create hype or actually because they deserve it. Controversy surrounds the Pro Bowl with athletes not participating because of personal reasons and viewership declining.
“I didn’t watch the pro bowl this year, maybe because there was not a lot of advertisement for it, but I don’t feel like I missed much.” said Landon Polanchyck, a Junior at MV, “Anyway, none of my favorite players played in it.”
Two unusual picks this year were Shedeur Sanders on the Browns and Joe Flacco on the Bengals. Shedeur Sanders was the quarterback for the Browns and led his team to end at 5-12 on the entire season. He was a very below average player who threw more interceptions than touchdowns during his games. Similarly, Joe Flacco, the quarterback on the Bengals, led his team to 6-11 and was a liability all season. Neither of these players deserved to be at the Pro Bowl this season.
“I don’t watch it anymore because it is boring” said Drew Plitt, a Junior at MV, “Shedeur Sanders playing in the pro bowl is such a joke because he had an awful season”
The Pro Bowl is increasingly becoming less popular for players and fans, and if this trend continues it may face extinction. This game has always been scheduled before the Superbowl, eliminating any player who still is on a team for the big game.
In addition, the concern for more injuries or those players who have struggled all year need the time to recover. The viewership is disappointed when the strongest, most qualified athletes don’t participate. So the combination of these two things creates lack of excitement and a dim future for the Pro Bowl unless something changes. Should that be a scheduling change? Allowing athletes to rest after the season and before the Pro bowl, so they can recover and participate if they are the best? Will the Pro Bowl need to change its format; back to contact hitting, big plays, and demonstrating dominance of skillful players? Or will it just be renamed a Talentless Game for fun? Either way, the Pro Bowl is in need of a new spark for the fans and players.
