NFL Ends Pro Bowl Games and Restores Exclusive 88-Player Honor

The NFL is ending the Pro Bowl Games beginning with the 2026 season, bringing its annual all-star event to a close after years of format changes. The Guardian, citing agency reporting, said the league will continue to select 88 Pro Bowl players but will no longer stage an AFC-NFC game, flag-football contest or related skills competitions.

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The selected players are instead expected to receive an in-person celebration during Super Bowl week in Los Angeles in February. The change preserves the Pro Bowl as an individual recognition while removing the on-field and skills-based events that had become the public centerpiece of the league's all-star program.

The NFL is also changing how replacement selections are handled. Only the original 88 players chosen will receive Pro Bowl status, and alternates will not be added when players withdraw because of injuries, Super Bowl participation or other reasons. League officials said replacement selections had diluted an honor that can carry contractual and legacy consequences.

The voting system itself will remain unchanged. Fans, players and coaches will each account for one-third of the selection process. NFL executive vice president Peter O'Reilly said the goal is to return the designation to its original purpose of recognizing the league's best players and to increase the meaning of the distinction for players, families, clubs and supporters.

The decision follows several attempts to reshape the event as interest in a traditional tackle all-star game declined. The league temporarily replaced the conference matchup with a fantasy-style draft in 2014, then restored the AFC-NFC structure in 2017. The Pro Bowl also left Hawaii, its longtime home, after the 2016 edition.

The last tackle version was played in 2022. The event was relaunched as the Pro Bowl Games in 2023, combining skills competitions with flag football, and the most recent edition was held on the Tuesday before the Super Bowl in San Francisco. Under the new approach, selection remains, but the separate competition disappears from the NFL calendar.