NFL Pro Bowl Information Section
Welcome to the Pro Bowl information page. Find out who won the Pro Bowl from year to year. See how the NFC compares each year to the AFC. Discover how the Super Bowl champion team first came to play against the leagues all stars. Find out who has been awarded the MVP award and who has won the Pro Bowls MVP award the most times. Your complete guide to the Pro Bowl.
History of the NFL Pro Bowl Game
The original Pro Bowl game on January 15 1939 saw the National Football League champions play against a team of all-stars from the rest of the league. In 1940 and 1942 there were two games the first one in January was against the previous year's champion the second one was played in December against the newly crowned NFL champion.
That Pro Bowl was discontinued in 1943 and was not revived again until 1951. In 1951 a game between all-star teams from the American and National Football Conferences was played and the tradition started again. From 1954 through 1970 the teams represented the NFL's Eastern and Western Conferences and since the merger of the American Football League into the NFL the Pro Bowl has been played again by all-star teams from the American and National Football Conferences.
The Pro Bowl game was formerly rotated among NFL stadiums just like the Super Bowl but since 1980 it has been played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
The Pro Bowl's Most Valuable Player Award was first presented in 1951 with the league wishing to honour the player that stood out above all other stars of the Pro Bowl Game. From 1957 through 1971 two awards were presented to a back and a lineman. In 1972 there awards for both an offensive player and a defensive player. Since 1973 there's been a single MVP award to honour the best player on both sides. Great players such as Johnny Unitas, Frank Gifford, Gale Sayers, O. J. Simpson, Joe Theismann and Jerry Rice have been choosen for this award.
On October 7, 2013, Nike unveiled the uniforms for the 2014 Pro Bowl, which revealed that the red, white and blue colors that the game uniforms bore throughout its entire history will no longer be used for this game. As the NFC vs AFC format will no longer be used either, team 1 will sport a white uniform with bright orange and team 2 will sport a grey uniform with volt green. The new uniforms received mixed reviews from fans and sports columnists alike, one even mentioning that the game would look like an "Oregon vs. Oklahoma State" game