pro-bowl.jpg
Getty Images

Roger Goodell announced that the 2026 Pro Bowl Games will be moved to the Tuesday of Super Bowl week (Feb. 3, 2026), as the NFL looks to make the Pro Bowl part of the larger Super Bowl week festivities in the host city. 

This season, that's the Bay Area, and after moving the Pro Bowl from its longtime home in Hawaii to Las Vegas and Orlando in recent years, the annual showcase of (most of) the league's best will now travel to the Super Bowl host site each year. 

"Building on our strong partnerships with the Bay Area host committee and ESPN, we're thrilled to make the 2026 Pro Bowl Games presented by Verizon part of Super Bowl week, our biggest platform of the year, elevating flag football and our best players in a way that's never been done before," Peter O'Reilly, NFL executive vice president of events, international and club business, said. "The Pro Bowl Games will not only be an exciting showcase of our best talent, but also a taste of the elite athleticism and dynamic action we can expect to see on the Olympic stage."

The NFL has been struggling to make the Pro Bowl an event fans care about for years, as football is arguably the worst sport to watch when players are going half speed and trying not to get hurt. They recently got rid of the regular game format and created the Pro Bowl Games, which are various mini-game type competitions culminating in a flag football game, which has at least made for something different and a bit more fun.

Now, rather than trying to get fans to travel in just for the Pro Bowl, they'll make it a kickoff event of sorts for Super Bowl week in the host city. The NFL has steadily stretched Super Bowl week out into a bigger spectacle, and putting the Pro Bowl Games on Tuesday night in the Super Bowl host city makes far more sense than playing it the week before somewhere else. 

Participation was already a bit light for the Pro Bowl, but so many players attend Super Bowl week due to various sponsorship duties, it might actually increase the number of players that opt in. Beyond that, attendance should be better and it helps the league further build out the Super Bowl into a week-long celebration of football.