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NFL legend Steve Young spoke Tuesday about the declining interest in the Pro Bowl since the league changed the format from a regular game to a flag football event.
The former San Francisco 49ers star appeared on “The Dan Patrick Show” Tuesday before this year’s Pro Bowl Games and was asked when the event “lost its luster.” Young pointed to when the original format began to fall flat with players.
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AFC coach Steve Young during practice at the NFL Flag Fieldhouse in the Moscone Center South Building on February 2, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
“The Pro Bowl lost its luster when … the biggest beatings I’ve ever taken in my football career were at the Pro Bowl. You laugh because it doesn’t make any sense,” Young said. “Why should the biggest beating … because you’re playing with elite players in the NFL and everybody’s been at the beach all week and nobody really knows the plays and now Reggie White doesn’t drink, you know what I mean? Reggie White’s not hungover, or Bruce Smith or you name it, you know what I mean?
“There are Pro Bowls when I look back and I’m like, this is not right. I just finished the Super Bowl and now I’m going to the Pro Bowl and I love being in Hawaii, but I’m not going to take a beating. So it was irrational and it couldn’t be sustained because who wants to do that and take that risk.”
NFC quarterback Steve Young (8) of the San Francisco 49ers attempts a pass against the AFC during the 1998 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium on February 1, 1998. (VJ Lovero/USA TODAY NETWORK)
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Young said he believed the growing interest in flag football globally will eventually turn the heads of the players.
He added that he was able to get the attention of the players as he emphasized how many people would be interested in the game and that it is becoming an elite sport in its own right.
AFC wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase (1), of the Cincinnati Bengals, Tee Higgins (5), of the Cincinnati Bengals, Courtland Sutton (14), of the Denver Broncos and Nico Collins (12), of the Houston Texans, are introduced before the NFL Pro Bowl football game against the NFC 6. Francisco, Feb. 6, Tuesday, Feb. 20. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)
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“I think the Pro Bowl, if we keep playing flags, I think it’s going to be something I think they’re going to start embracing themselves and not just be like, ‘Eh, the Pro Bowl is a joke,'” Young added.
