The revamped NFL Pro Bowl doesn’t stop at adding a flag football to the game itself. New football and non-football challenges will be added to the event’s skills competitions.
The skills portion will be split into two days of events. The first portion will take place Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Raiders’ Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center in Henderson. It is set to air live from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on ESPN.
The second day of skills challenges will take Sunday, Feb. 5, at Allegiant Stadium, where the flag football games will also take place. Those events are set to air between noon and 3 p.m. on ABC and ESPN.
The Feb. 2 portion of the skills challenges will feature five events, pitting the AFC against the NFC. Each event is worth three points toward a conferences’ total, with 24 total points up for grabs.
Tickets for the Pro Bowl Games at Allegiant Stadium are available online and start at $35.
Epic Pro Dodgeball
Four teams of five players will participate in a multi-round dodgeball tournament. It will begin with teams comprised of the offenses and defenses of both conferences. The AFC offense will play the AFC defense, then the NFC offense will face the NFC defense.
The winners of those two matches will face each other in an AFC-NFC showdown, good for three points toward the winning conference’s Pro Bowl Games total.
Lightning Round
Each conference will select 16 players to participate in the three-part elimination Lightning Round event. The challenge will culminate with one player remaining, winning points for their conference.
The Lightning Round includes a water balloon toss competition; a punt catching challenge with balls being launched by a JUGS machine and an aim challenge, with multiple targets needing to be hit, before a bucket is dumped on the winning team’s coach’s head.
Longest Drive
Four players from each conference will take part in a golf ball driving challenge. Each player will get three swings. The player who drives the ball the farthest, while keeping the ball in bounds, will be victorious.
Precision Passing
Each conference’s three quarterbacks will take part in a one-minute accuracy challenge, with multiple robotic and drone targets, worth one to five points, and a 10-point long toss bucket. Each quarterback will accumulate points for hitting the various targets.
Best Catch
The two-day Best Catch event will begin with a highlight reel of receptions at various Las Vegas venues. Two players from each conference will take part in the event, being judged on creativity, intuitiveness and talent.
After the catches are aired on ESPN, fans will vote for their favorites online, with the players with the highest votes competing in the finals Feb. 5 at Allegiant Stadium.
Feb. 5 will see the last four skills events and the flag football showdown between the two conferences in front of the crowd at Allegiant Stadium.
Best Catch
The finals of the Best Catch tournament will culminate with the top vote-getters from Feb. 2 competing against each other in front of a panel of celebrity judges. The player with the highest score from the judges will win the event.
Gridiron Gauntlet
Six players from each conference will take part in a relay race that will test their agility, speed and strength. The side-by-side race will feature four segments, each 40 yards in length. Those include running through breakaway walls, climbing over walls and under tables, a tire run and a blocking sled event with an NFL legend on board. First team to cross the finish line wins.
Kick Tac Toe
Each team’s kicker, punter and long snapper will compete to connect a line of three squares or five squares on an on-field tic-tac-toe set up to win the challenge.
Move the Chains
Two teams of five players from each conference will compete side by side in a weighted wall pull.
Team’s will pull a wall fitted with heavy weights 10 yards using first down chains. The winner of the best-of-three event will earn the points.
After the skills, events the flag football games will take place. The winners of each of the first two flag football games will win six points for each game.
Those points will be added to the points accumulated by each team during the skills events to crown a winner of the Pro Bowl Games.
Contact Mick Akers at [email protected] or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.
