In the 1990s, 2000s and even the 2010s, the NFL’s Pro Bowl was one of the most exciting weeks of the season. It was a way to see the best players in the league interact, participate in fun mini-games and most importantly, stack up against each other with players from their conference. Today, it’s only a minor event that most NFL fans either forget or don’t care about.

So, what happened?

According to Yahoo Sports, this year’s Pro Bowl games drew a record-low average of two million viewers on ESPN. This was a 59.6 percent drop from last year’s viewership of 4.7 million, which was also a record low at the time, excluding the 2021 event, which was a virtual game of Madden NFL. However, even this virtual game, reaching 1.9 million viewers, was not too far off from the viewership in 2026. This year’s viewership is also a significant drop from 2011, when it peaked with 13.4 million viewers.

Starting in 2023, the Pro Bowl became a 14-player flag football game, a change from the previous tackle football format, which is a key cause of the significant drop in viewership. The NFL claimed the switch has been promoting flag football’s inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics, but in the years before, the league faced criticism for the game being “too soft” or for players putting in little effort to avoid injuries. Additionally, the NFL removed the skills competitions this year and only had the flag football game.

Despite the lack of effort seen in the final few years of tackle football, the NFL should bring this format back. While it raises concerns about players getting injured in a seemingly pointless game, injuries became rare in the 2010s, when the game was played at a lower physical level and still maintained the excitement of earlier years. Moreover, the game can be shortened to avoid subpar play during the season, prevent invitations to play and reduce the risk of injury.

The other big issue is that the honor of a player being selected for the Pro Bowl has become shallow and no longer holds the value it once did, making the qualifications for being chosen much lower than in the past.

Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Shedeur Sanders were selected for the games due to injuries harming some of the league’s top quarterbacks — and also because Drake Maye missed the Pro Bowl because of his Super Bowl appearance. The idea of two quarterbacks on one team both being picked is self-evidently silly, but these two selections become even worse when you consider that the Browns had a record of 5-12 this year. Both quarterbacks had losing records and toward the end of the season, the Browns traded Flacco to secure the sixth pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

Additionally, Sanders had a 3-4 record as a starter this season, throwing seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions while averaging 175 passing yards per game. Joe Flacco failed to reach 2,500 yards during the season and had a 2-8 record. New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields was also invited to play, even though the Jets posted a 3-14 record and he played in only 10 games. This was also an issue in other recent years, with Tyler Huntley being selected in 2022 and Russell Wilson in 2025 after lackluster seasons.

With such low viewership and little discussion of the actual game in the football world, the Pro Bowl games have become a forgotten week in the NFL. In fact, this year’s games were moved to Tuesday. This was likely a factor in the low viewership, since most NFL games are routinely on Sundays and the Pro Bowl games were always a day-long event held on the Sunday before the Super Bowl.

Some have suggested removing the Pro Bowl altogether, but this doesn’t solve the problem. Over time, the Pro Bowl has generally been seen as an important accolade for players, used to strengthen their Hall of Fame case or simply to secure a successful career. The vote is split equally among players, coaches and fans. Unlike All-Pro team voting, the vote gives the fans a say in who had a successful season.

Other fans and talk show hosts, such as NBC Sports analyst Mike Florio, have proposed simply putting together a roster and removing the game. While this would reduce the likelihood that rosters would have lousy alternatives, it would also eliminate what used to be a staple of January football. In the 2000s and 2010s, the game drew double-digit millions of viewers, more than the NBA and MLB All-Star games used to draw.

While the all-star games in other major sports leagues have received complaints about players not putting in enough effort, they still operate as typical games where the best players compete against each other, as well as offering exciting skills competitions such as the MLB Home Run Derby and the NBA Dunk Contest. The NFL Pro Bowl lost that aspect it used to have and it’s time to bring it back.

Henry Brandler is a freshman double-majoring in cinema and economics. 

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.