The Pro Bowl is dead, but the honor lives on!
The clubs held a one-day meeting in Atlanta last week when the fate of the Pro Bowl was decided. While there probably never will be another Pro Bowl game played, the voting system (involving active players, coaches and fans) will continue. Those players who receive the most votes at their positions (total of 88) this season will be honored at a banquet during Super Bowl week.
“The players deserve to be celebrated when they get the Pro Bowl votes,” Commissioner Goodell said in Atlanta. QB Tom Brady currently holds the record for most Pro Bowl nominations with 15. The Pro Bowl festivities this season will be held in Los Angeles in February 2027.
Other issues discussed or decided by the owners at the league meeting last week include:
- The league and NFLPA have established (starting today, September 1) a new Behavior Health Network (BHN) benefit for active players and their dependents. You alumni (and your eligible dependents) who are covered by the Players Insurance Plan (PIP) also are included. The goal is to provide more accessible, affordable mental health care tailored to your individual needs. The expanded network will offer unlimited outpatient visits with costs covered by the league. If you are not sure you qualify, you can call 800-635-9671 and select Option 1 followed by Option 3. These prompts will connect you to an administrator who can help. If you no longer are covered under the Player Insurance Plan, you and your dependents may still be eligible for up to 8 mental health appointments per year. To learn more about this particular benefit, please call 866-421-8628.
- The league and the NFLPA have agreed to a new in-game system to promote player safety. A player will be suspended if he violates a specific rule three times in the same season. These five specific rules are: Horse-collar tackles, hits on defenseless players, blindside blocks, hip drop tackles and launching. The union told its members last week that if this system were in play the past two seasons there would have been one player suspended in each of the two seasons.
- Pro Football Hall of Famers Steve Largent, Steve Hutchison, Cortez Kennedy and other Seahawks alums can relax. The sale of the Seattle franchise was approved by the other 31 clubs last week. The new owners are the Khosla family who are expected to close the sale with the estate of the late owner Paul Allen in the next few weeks. The reported selling price is an NFL record $9.6 billion. The Seahawks began playing in the league as an expansion franchise in 1976 and the membership fee then was $16 million.
- The complex college eligibility issue continues to be fought in the courts. However, the league announced in Atlanta that any young player who leaves the league to return to play in college this season will not be allowed to play in the NFL this year.
