The first Pro Bowl Games have come and gone and fans have gotten their first look at the future of the historic event.

The main event of the games, the flag football game, resulted in the NFC  triumphing over the AFC 35-33, which was sparked by an elite performance from Minnesota Vikings quarterback, Kirk Cousins. 

As a reward for their performance, players in the NFC took home $82,000 while the players in the AFC took half of that.

The changes in the event have sparked very mixed reviews on the new format. Some fans claiming that they feel good about the changes, some saying the opposite, and others who are indifferent to the changes. 

One student who felt good about the changes was Andres Roca ’25 who believed that the Pro Bowl was better than it was in years prior, saying, “It was way better than it’s been in the past years with how soft players have been treating it.” 

He continued, “I think it was better for the players. It was practically flag football and two hand touch last year, so just make it official I guess.”

With a similar opinion, Russi Provincial Van Whipple is also fond of the new changes in the Pro Bowl, saying. “I didn’t like the original format of the Pro Bowl because there wasn’t much competition, and so it was more of a ‘fluff bowl’ than an actual football game. So I did like the fact that they changed it to a flag football game.” 

Some fans, however, did not feel so positive about the changes in the Pro Bowl, with Riordan teacher and alumnus, Edgar Beteta ’85 stating that it was “lousy” and “rudimentary” due to the lack of physical contact and action during the game.