The NFL announced Wednesday, August 26, 2026, that it will stop staging a competitive Pro Bowl game after the 2026 season. Under the announced format, the Pro Bowl will have no AFC-NFC matchup, flag-football exhibition or skills competition. The league will still name 88 players “Pro Bowlers” every season, chosen the same way as before, but instead of playing a game, each year’s class will be honored the following year with an in-person celebration at that season’s Super Bowl host city.
Key facts
- What changed: No more Pro Bowl game — no AFC-NFC matchup, no flag-football exhibition, no skills competition.
- When announced: Wednesday, August 26, 2026.
- Takes effect: Starting with the 2026 season.
- Who’s still honored: 88 players named “Pro Bowlers” each year, chosen the same way as before.
- What else is gone: The NFL will no longer name alternates for players who can’t take part.
- Last Pro Bowl game: NFC beat AFC 66-52 on February 3, 2026, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
What’s actually changing
Starting with the 2026 season, being a Pro Bowler becomes a recognition-only honor. The vote that decides who gets picked is not changing: players, coaches and fans each cast a vote that counts equally toward the final 88, just as they always have. What’s gone is the competitive event that used to follow the selection — the AFC-NFC game that ran for decades, and more recently the flag-football format that replaced it in 2023.
One other change: the NFL will no longer name alternates for players who can’t take part. In past years, if a selected player couldn’t take part — hurt, or headed to the Super Bowl — the NFL would name an alternate to fill the spot. A January 2026 example was Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who was added to the AFC Pro Bowl Games roster as a replacement for Drake Maye after Maye advanced to Super Bowl LX. The NFL’s August announcement did not identify that earlier roster change as a reason for ending the event. Under the new system, only the original 88 players named will carry the Pro Bowler title for that season, with no backfilling.
Why the NFL made the call
NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said the decision followed a summer of conversations with players, who told the league they “don’t want competitive play” so soon after the physical toll of their own season — that replicating championship-level intensity in a post-season exhibition “just doesn’t sit well.” “Being selected by your peers, coaches and fans as one of the very best at your position carries tremendous meaning,” Vincent said.
Peter O’Reilly, another NFL executive vice president, framed the change as returning the honor to what it was meant to be — recognition rather than competition — and said the league was comfortable being first to make that move: “It’s OK to be the first league to walk away from a competitive all-star game.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell said he’d asked players directly on conference calls what was working and what wasn’t, and heard a consistent preference: they wanted to be honored rather than take part in another competitive game after their season had already ended. He was blunter about the product itself: “I don’t think it’s up to NFL standards.” The change was announced together with the NFL Players Association; the league’s collective bargaining agreement requires it to consult the union before deciding whether to hold a Pro Bowl game. Independent of the league’s own explanation, Fox Sports’ Outkick reported that television audiences for the flag-football Pro Bowl Games had fallen sharply in the years since that format debuted in 2023.
The most recent Pro Bowl game
That distinction now belongs to a flag-football game held Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at the Moscone Center — a San Francisco convention center, not a stadium — after the event was folded into Super Bowl LX week for the first time rather than staged on its own. The NFC beat the AFC 66-52, its fourth straight win in that format, with Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Steve Young coaching the two sides. At the time, it was just another Pro Bowl. With Wednesday’s announcement, it is the final game under the league’s announced format.
What Pro Bowlers get instead
The 2026 Pro Bowl class — the 88 players named through this year’s vote — is expected to be revealed in late December 2026 through what the NFL is calling an “enhanced announcement.” According to NFL.com, selected players will get recognition on their uniforms along with a personalized Topps trading card and a commemorative keepsake.
That class will be invited to an in-person celebration the following year, held wherever that season’s Super Bowl is being played — for the 2026 class, that means Los Angeles, since Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on February 14, 2027. The league hasn’t specified an exact date or venue for that celebration. The NFL’s own announcement and most outlets describe it as non-competitive, though one wire report says flag-football events will accompany the gathering. Separately, the NFL has said it plans to expand flag-football programming around Super Bowl week in Los Angeles as part of the sport’s build-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where flag football will be a medal event — though the league hasn’t tied that expansion specifically to the Pro Bowl celebration.
What happens to the Pro Bowl tradition now
Outlets differ on exactly how far back the Pro Bowl’s history goes and how long an unbroken run it had. Under the announced format, this year’s 88 honorees will receive the title as recognition without a competitive game.