NFL ends Pro Bowl after decades of declining interest, will turn all-star game into an award for 88 players

The Pro Bowl is dead. The NFL finally laid its season-ending All-Star event to rest Wednesday.

(This was a long time in coming because the Pro Bowl has been something of a corpse for years and the NFL has finally admitted it needed to be buried.)

The NFL will no longer stage an AFC vs. NFC Pro Bowl game. Instead, the league will place greater emphasis on the moment a player is selected, the recognition that accompanies that distinction, and bringing the Pro Bowl class together to celebrate the achievement.