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NFL legend Steve Young spoke Tuesday about the dwindling interest in the Pro Bowl since the league changed the format from a regular game to a flag football event.
The former San Francisco 49ers star appeared on “The Dan Patrick Show” Tuesday ahead of this year’s Pro Bowl Games and was asked when the event “lost its shine.” Young pointed out when the original format began to fail among players.
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AFC coach Steve Young during practice at the NFL Flag Fieldhouse in the Moscone Center South Building on February 2, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Image Images)
“The Pro Bowl lost its shine when… the biggest beatings I’ve ever taken in my football career were in the Pro Bowl. You laugh because it doesn’t make sense,” Young said. “Why the biggest beating… because you’re playing with elite players in the NFL and everyone’s been on the beach all week and no one really knows the plays and now Reggie White doesn’t drink, you know what I mean? Reggie White doesn’t have a hangover, Bruce Smith or whatever, you know what I mean?”
“There are Pro Bowls when I look back and think, this is not right. I just finished the Super Bowl and now I’m going to the Pro Bowl and I love being in Hawaii, but I’m not going to get beat up. So, it was irrational and it couldn’t be sustained because who’s going to do that and take that risk?”
NFC quarterback Steve Young (8) of the San Francisco 49ers attempts a pass against the AFC during the 1998 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium on February 1, 1998. (VJ Lovero/RED USA TODAY)
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Young said he believed the growing interest in flag football globally will eventually catch the attention of players.
He added that he managed to get the players’ attention when he highlighted how many people would be interested in the game and that it is becoming an elite sport in its own right.
AFC wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase (1) of the Cincinnati Bengals, Tee Higgins (5) of the Cincinnati Bengals, Courtland Sutton (14) of the Denver Broncos and Nico Collins (12) of the Houston Texans are introduced before the NFL’s Pro Bowl football game against the NFC, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
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“I think the Pro Bowl, if we continue to play flag, I think it will become something that I think they’ll start to accept and not just say, ‘Hey, the Pro Bowl is a joke,'” Young added.
