NFL Reboots Pro Bowl As Pro Bowl Games Presented by Verizon In Las Vegas
Monday, September 26, 2022 at 03:24PM By Barry Janoff
September 26, 2022: The NFL’s long-running but much maligned Pro Bowl is being reimagined, reconfigured and rebooted into a week-long series of skill and challenge events in Las Vegas, culminating with a flag football Pro Bowl Game presented by Verizon.
The multi-day AFC vs NFC competition is scheduled to be held the week before Super Bowl LVII Feb. 12, 2023 (in State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Az.), with the flag football Pro Bowl to be played in Allegiant Stadium, on Feb. 5 (ESPN and ABC).
The 2022 Pro Bowl and 2022 Draft were both staged in Las Vegas, hosted by the Raiders and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, both of whom will also host the Pro Bowl Games.
Throughout the week, the Pro Bowl Games will “integrate new challenges where players showcase their football and non-football skills in unique competitions.”
The NFL said the “revamped programming allows the top stars to show off their skills and celebrate their accomplishments in a fun, memorable way, surrounded by their families and fans.”
The NFL said it worked with ESPN and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions to program the events.
"We've received invaluable feedback from players, teams and fans about reimagining the Pro Bowl,” Peter O’Reilly, NFL evp-club business and league events, said via the NFL’
“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.”
The NFL Pro Bowl dates back to the 1950 season, with the first all-star game played on Jan. 14, 1951 in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Although TV ratings have been relatively strong, the Pro Bowl has undergone numerous formate changes in an attempt to make the game itself more competitive.
The NFL has been pushing to make flag football part of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, Pierre Trochet, president of the International Federation of American Football, and Troy Vincent, NFL evp-football operations, were named co-chairs of the newly formed "Vision28" Group.
The NFL said the Vision28 Group was formed to “lead flag football's efforts toward inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Games.”
Under International Olympic Committee rules, Olympic host nations can propose to the IOC adding sports solely for their edition of the Games.
"We see flag football as an all-inclusive sport, which makes it a great vehicle to spread the values of American football around the world,’ Vincent said at the time via the NFL.
According to the NFL, more than “24,000 school communities are using NFL Flag-In-School kits to build high-achieving futures for their students through physical education."
In addition to the AFC vs NFC game on Sunday, the NFL said the Pro Bowl Games would integrate flag football throughout the week.
That is scheduled to include the Play Football Opening Night and NFL Flag Championships presented by Subway, created in partnership with RCX Sports, which will feature the top girls' and boys' youth flag teams nationwide and from around the world.
The NFL this past summer aligned with IFAF fo bring fag football to The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.
While the Pro Bowl Games will feature new elements, the NFL said it would “maintain fan-favorite moments and events, including fan voting, which will start in the fall and help determine the NFC and AFC team rosters”; and skills activities, where the NFL's top players participate in unique competitions.
Also planned is the East-West Shrine Bowl, where senior collegiate pro prospects have an opportunity to showcase their talents, as well as engage with the patients and families of the Shriners Hospitals for Children.
“It is important, with the Olympics as an ultimate goal, but we also have a task in growing (flag football) and having a solid competition plan over the next five, six, seven years on every continent,” Trochet said via IFAF.
“The Olympics are the biggest global stage for sports in the world. Flag football can be played by men and women and also be coed, it's easy to integrate and safe to play.”
”Building on the success of the 2022 Pro Bowl and 2022 Draft, as well as our strong partnership with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Las Vegas Raiders, we look forward to bringing the 2023 Pro Bowl Games to the capital of world-class sports and entertainment,” said O’Reilly.
NFL Is All Hands-On For Flag Football At Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics
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