A widely debated topic in the sports world is the National Football League’s Pro Bowl game, an almost All-Star equivalent event held the week before the Super Bowl. 

Players are selected for the Pro Bowl by coaches, other players and fans as each group holds a third of the stake in which athletes will compete for either the American Football Conference or National Football Conference based on their seasonal team. 

Fans viewership of the Pro Bowl has been steadily declining for the past 10 years. The 2013 Pro Bowl recorded 12.2 million viewers, while the 2022 Pro Bowl cut that in half and had the lowest audience since 2006. The decrease is attributed to the players’ lack of interest and concern for injury which caused a “lower” intensity game. 

But this year was different: players were able to showcase their skills through the various games while maintaining their ability to highlight a personality that the game demands often overlook.

Typically, a normal football game would be played between the two conferences but, this year, there was a twist. The 2023 Pro Bowl consisted of skill games and games of flag football with the Manning brothers–both Peyton and Eli–taking the role of head coaches for the opposing teams. This change in format came from the “invaluable feedback from players, teams and fans,” as announced by Peter Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club and league events in September. This year’s game also had a change of venue as the teams headed to Las Vegas as opposed to their normal Hawaii venture.

Starting on Thurs., Feb. 2, the two conferences faced off in Dodgeball, the Lightning Round, a Longest Drive competition, Precision Passing presented by EA SPORTS Madden NFL 23 Mobile and Best Catch presented by Uber Eats. The competitions on Sun., Feb. 5 consisted of Best Catch presented by Uber Eats (Finale), Gridiron Gauntlet, Kick Tac Toe, Move The Chains and flag football. 

I view this year’s new format as a success and did enjoy watching the players compete in field-day-esqe activities. In case you were wondering, the NFC beat the AFC this year in the third and final game of flag football as the competitive nature was definitely in the air. 

Typically, if you think about a NFL regular season game, you probably think about the best or biggest play made by your favorite player and not about the way that the athletes were interacting with each other after the play happened. 

The Pro Bowl changes this narrative as it highlights that players are people too. And, honestly, many of them are actually funny and full of big personalities. 

The shift from viewing these athletes less as a player and more as a person is something that I believe will become more persistent in the near future. As fans have seen, mic’d up moments, touchdown celebrations and outside interactions are becoming more relevant as fans are given a more personal experience of their favorite players. 

The NFL markets their players as the best athletes, but it is the teams’ responsibility to highlight the players as individuals who do good in the community and give fans a reason to continue to root for their favorite team even through the most difficult losses. 

The Pro Bowl is a way that the NFL switches their narrative. They allow these players to come together as a conference and compete against each other in the test of football skills. Fans get to see players interact with normal season rivals and truly see personality flourish within the stadium. 

The opposition to the Pro Bowl is that not all of the best players are chosen or that there is risk of injury or that it takes away from the Super Bowl, etc., but it’s not about that. It’s a part of the fan experience and the fan interaction with the players which I believe was taken into consideration this year.