Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl was the analogue of the All-Star game in the National Football League. Its tradition comes in the far 1938 featuring the football stars of that time. The latest game before the World War II restrictions happened in 1942. The All-Star team faced the champion of that year.

Its format changed in 1950 after Los Angeles Publishers’ Association started to sponsor the newly christened Pro Bowl. It became the contest of two conference teams due to possible confusion with Chicago College All-Star Game, where the college stars faced the current league champion.

Los Angeles Coliseum was the place of the annual All-Star game until 1972. It remembered some format transformations. For a couple of years up to 1953, it was the competition between the American and National conferences. It turned into the East and West rivalry that lasted until the AFL merger in 1970. Now it has the present format when the AFC team battles with the opponents from the NFC. Aloha Stadium was the most popular location – it hosted the Pro Bowls from 1980 to 2013.

The interconference All-Star format is currently preserved. 2014, 2015, and 2016 Pro Bowls were the exclusion. NFL decided to build two teams under the control of one non-playing captain. These teams brought their names.

Each year one of the Pro Bowlers gets the MVP title. This tradition transformed year by year. The first most valuable player award ceremony happened in the 1950 season. The award departed to the best player of the winning team. After the league decided to use the East-West battle format, this principle changed. The conference didn’t matter those years. There were two awards from 1956 – for the best lineman and back player. A defensive and offensive MVP got their awards simultaneously in 1971 and since 2014. The principle of MVP’s choice from the winning team is restored except unconference format.

The Pro Bowl participant selection is a long responsible process involving the players, coaches, and fans. This third group has participated in voting since the 1996 season. Each group selects one-third of the conference team roster. It consists of the starting lineups, reserve, and alternate players. Performers who take part in the Super Bowl don’t enter the game. They feel free to attend the game as guests, but they’re still Pro Bowlers. If the reserve or alternate player declines the invitation to participate in the game without serious reasons (e.g., injury), it loses a Pro Bowler status. The maximum number of players on the team’s roster is 44.

The American and National Conference runners-up initially delegated their coaches to work with the respective all-stars. That principle was restored in 1950 and continued until 1978. Head coaches of the divisional round losers coached the conference teams up to 1982 when the league restored the practice of conference championship losers all-star coaching. 1999 Pro Bowl was an exclusion as the Jets’ head coach Bill Parcelis declined the proposal, so his assistant Bill Belchick took this post.

The Pro Bowl ruling system is much safer than traditional games. Sometimes it becomes the testbed for proposed rule changes coming into effect in the next season. Examples include using 4-3 and Cover 2 defense formations and intentional legal grounding. Two-minute warming is widespread in all quarters and overtime differently from the playoff or regular seasonal second and fourth quarters only. A coin toss determines the receivers in the first quarter. This team is kicking in the 3rd quarter. The procedure repeats before the first overtime.

The conference teams have competed for money prizes since the 2011 season. Winners take at least 2/3s of the fund while the runners-up take the rest. Special events are dedicated to the Pro Bowl as a skill show held during halftime, before, or after the game. The NFL ceased classic Pro Bowl in 2022 replacing it with the Pro Bowl Games format.