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In a pandemic-ridden world, All-Star games seem even more meaningless than usual. This year, the NFL has acknowledged this to be the case, announcing on Wednesday that the 2021 Pro Bowl game has been canceled.
Officially, the league is saying that the game will be “reimagined,” but the fact remains that there will be no Pro Bowl game taking place in January. Las Vegas, which was scheduled to host the event, has been awarded the 2022 Pro Bowl instead. This has been a tough year for that city, which was also supposed to host the 2020 NFL Draft before the pandemic hit and will now host in 2021 if it takes place on schedule and with in-person events.
The league clarified that it will still announce Pro Bowl rosters, decided by a combination of votes from fans, players, and coaches. However, there will be no alternates making the teams this year due to injury withdrawals or other reasons for players to back out.
As part of the “reimagining” of the event, the NFL is reportedly working on plans for “a variety of engaging activities” to recognize the league’s top players. However, they provided no details on what activities may be considered.
What sorts of activities would you like to see? This writer hopes that events like a Magic: The Gathering tournament or virtual trivia challenge would be on the table as entertaining, socially-distanced options.