Pro Bowl

The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (2023–2026) was an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format changed throughout its existence. From 1939 through 1942, the NFL experimented with all-star games putting the league's champion against a team of all-stars. The first official Pro Bowl was played in January 1951, matching the top players in the American/Eastern Conference against those in the National/Western Conference. From the merger with the rival American Football League (AFL) in 1970 up through 2013 and also in 2017, it was officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference (AFC) against those in the National Football Conference (NFC). From 2014 through 2016, the NFL experimented with a non-conferenced format, where the teams were selected by two honorary team captains (who are each in the Hall of Fame), instead of selecting players from each conference. The players were picked in a televised "schoolyard pick" prior to the game. For years, the game suffered from lack of interest for its perceived low quality, with observers and commentators expressing their disfavor with it. It drew lower television ratings than regular season NFL games, although the game drew similar ratings to the all-star games of the other major North American sports leagues, such as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. However, the biggest concern was to avoid injuries to the star players. The Associated Press wrote that players in the 2012 game were "hitting each other as though they were having a pillow fight". Despite these criticisms, however, players who were selected to the Pro Bowl were nonetheless honored in a similar standing to their counterparts in the other leagues, and being named to it is considered...