Thursday

Pro Bowl shifting to Arizona for 2015


The National Football League's 2015 Pro Bowl will be played in Arizona before returning to Hawaii in 2016, the league said on Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time) in the latest tweak to its all-star game.



University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale is slated to host the game on January 25, 2015 (Jan. 26, PHL time), one week before the Super Bowl for the 2014 season is played at the same venue.

In 2016, the Pro Bowl will return to Hawaii's Aloha Stadium, where it has been contested in 33 of the last 34 years.

The NFL has an agreement with Hawaii to play the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium following the 2016 season but final confirmation of the game will be made at a later date.

The future of the Pro Bowl, which features the league's best players not involved in the following week's Super Bowl, was put in doubt in recent years amid criticism of being a glorified exhibition.

The 2014 Pro Bowl did away with the traditional AFC versus NFC matchup, and instead had players selected to teams without regard to conference in voting by fans, coaches and players. - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com