The Pro Bowl was originally scheduled for January 31 in Las Vegas; EA Sports will now team up with the NFL to set up a week of match-ups with celebrities, former NFL stars, current NFL players and streamers competing with the selected Pro Bowl rosters.
Wednesday 18 November 2020 16:48, UK
The cancelled Pro Bowl for the 2020 NFL season is now back on, but with a major twist as the game is set to be conducted virtually using the Madden NFL 21 video game.
EA Sports will team with the NFL to set up a week of matchups with celebrities, former NFL stars, current NFL players and streamers competing with the selected Pro Bowl rosters.
The week's culmination will be the virtual Pro Bowl, with active players who were selected to the team competing against each other.
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NFL executive vice president of club business and events Peter O'Reilly said in a statement: "Even amidst unparalleled change across the sports industry, we are excited to transition many of the signature components of the Pro Bowl - which will go virtual in Madden NFL 21 - into a new innovative experience for our players and fans,
"We remain committed to using our Pro Bowl platform to empower fans to virtually celebrate the best players in the game.
Pro Bowl balloting started Tuesday and will continue through to December 17. Voting will also be allowed through the Madden NFL 21 game itself and via Twitter, where votes will be accepted between December 1-17 using #ProBowlVote.
On December 18, NFL players and coaches will cast their Pro Bowl ballots. The voting will be weighed evenly between fan ballots, player ballots and coach ballots, with 44 players getting selected from each conference.
The Pro Bowl was scheduled for January 31 in Las Vegas, ahead of Super Bowl LV in Tampa on February 7.
