NFL announces changes to Pro Bowl

The NFL announced Monday the Pro Bowl is undergoing changes and will be renamed “The Pro Bowl Games” starting this season.

The 2023 Pro Bowl Games will take place in Las Vegas and, per an NFL release, will feature a “week-long celebration of player skills” with a focus on Flag football. Instead of a traditional football game, the AFC and NFC players will face off in a flag game on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2023. The competition will air on ABC and ESPN.

More changes to the event include “new challenges where players showcase their football and non-football skills in unique competitions.”

“We’ve received invaluable feedback from players, teams and fans about reimagining the Pro Bowl, and as a result, we’re thrilled to use The Pro Bowl Games as a platform to spotlight Flag football as an integral part of the sport’s future while also introducing fun, new forms of competition and entertainment that will bring our players, their families and fans closer than ever before,” Peter O’Reilly, NFL Executive Vice President, Club Business and League Events told NFL.com.

Highlighting Flag football is an emphasis of the revamped Pro Bowl Games as the event will include Play Football Opening Night and NFL FLAG Championships, which features the top girls’ and boys’ youth Flag teams throughout the world.

The Bears have been a key contributor to the NFL’s focus on Flag football, partnering with Chicago Public Schools in 2021 to start the first High School Girls’ Flag Football League in Illinois. The CPS Girls Flag Football program recently kicked off its second season.

As part of the AFC versus NFC Flag game, 14-time Pro Bowler Peyton Manning will be featured as part of the coaching staff. Manning and his Omaha Productions company will be included in the programming and promotion of the revamped event.

The NFL will provide a week-long schedule and further details for The Pro Bowl Games later in the season.