The Pro Bowl is the All-Star equivalent of the other major US sports leagues such as the NBA, MLB, and the NHL. It was initially started to bring together the best players of the game and pit them against each other. While there was no real value to the game, it did provide for a bit of fun and entertainment especially considering that the NFL season was over by then.
Over the past several years, however, the Pro Bowl has lost most of its shine and viewership has gone down. There may be a number of reasons for the turn of events but some of the most glaring ones are that the fans are just no longer interested in a meaningless game. It has been equally hard on the broadcasters as well due to a lack of overall interest generated by the fans these days. As a matter of fact, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell has had a serious inclination towards scrapping the game altogether.
Pro Bowl Broadcasters
In the 1950s, NBC was the one that broadcast four Pro Bowls while a network known as DuMont broadcast the 1954 Pro Bowl. There were multiple years in this period when the Pro Bowl was not televised. From 1960 onwards, televising the Pro Bowl has remained a constant and NBC had the rights for the first six years followed by CBS who also televised the event for another six years. NBC and CBS alternated for the next three years before ABC took over from 1975 all the way to 1987.
1988 saw ESPN jump into the mix and this network earned the right to televise the Pro Bowl till 1994 after which ABC once again regained the rights for another nine years. From the mid-2000s onwards, ESPN, NBC, Fox, CBS, ABC, and Disney XD have all held rights to the event. The latest Pro Bowl in 2023 was broadcast by ESPN/ABC and Disney XD.
List of Pro Bowl Broadcasters
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
| 1951 | Not televised | ||
| 1952 | NBC | Harry Wismer | Bill Stern |
| 1953 | Bud Foster | Mark Scott | |
| 1954 | DuMont | Tom Harmon | Red Grange |
| 1955 | Not televised | ||
| 1956 | |||
| 1957 | |||
| 1958 | NBC | Joe Tucker | Van Patrick |
| 1959 | Jim Gibbons | ||
| 1960 | Bob Kelley | Ray Scott | |
| 1961 | Lindsey Nelson | Frankie Albert | |
| 1962 | Chuck Thompson | ||
| 1963 | Chuck Thompson | Ken Coleman | |
| 1964 | Chris Schenkel | George Connor | |
| 1965 | Ken Coleman | Gordie Soltau | |
| 1966 | CBS | Jack Drees | Frank Gifford |
| 1967 | Lindsey Nelson | Pat Summerall | |
| 1968 | Jack Buck | Tom Brookshier | |
| 1969 | Jack Whitaker | Pat Summerall | |
| 1970 | Don Criqui | Frank Gifford | |
| 1971 | Jack Whitaker | ||
| 1972 | NBC | Curt Gowdy | Al DeRogatis |
| 1973 | CBS | Frank Glieber | Alex Hawkins |
| 1974 | NBC | Curt Gowdy | Al DeRogatis |
| 1975 | ABC | Frank Gifford | Howard Cosell and Alex Karras |
| 1976 | |||
| 1977 | |||
| 1978 | Howard Cosell and Don Meredith | ||
| 1979 | |||
| 1980 | Al Michaels | Howard Cosell and Fran Tarkenton | |
| 1981 | Frank Gifford | ||
| 1982 | Al Michaels | Fran Tarkenton | |
| 1983 | Frank Gifford | Howard Cosell and Fran Tarkenton | |
| 1984 | O. J. Simpson | ||
| 1985 | Don Meredith | ||
| 1986 | O. J. Simpson and Joe Namath | ||
| 1987 | Al Michaels | Frank Gifford | |
| 1988 | ESPN | Mike Patrick | Roy Firestone and O. J. Simpson |
| 1989 | Joe Theismann | ||
| 1990 | |||
| 1991 | |||
| 1992 | |||
| 1993 | |||
| 1994 | |||
| 1995 | ABC | Al Michaels | Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf |
| 1996 | |||
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | |||
| 1999 | Dan Dierdorf and Boomer Esiason | ||
| 2000 | Boomer Esiason | ||
| 2001 | Dan Fouts and Dennis Miller | ||
| 2002 | |||
| 2003 | Dan Fouts | ||
| 2004 | ESPN | Mike Patrick | Joe Theismann and Paul Maguire |
| 2005 | |||
| 2006 | |||
| 2007 | CBS | Greg Gumbel | Phil Simms and Dan Dierdorf |
| 2008 | Fox | Kenny Albert | Daryl Johnston |
| 2009 | NBC | Al Michaels | Cris Collinsworth |
| 2010 | ESPN | Mike Tirico | Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden |
| 2011 | Fox | Thom Brennaman | Brian Billick and Terry Bradshaw |
| 2012 | NBC | Dan Hicks | Mike Mayock and Doug Flutie |
| 2013 | Al Michaels | Cris Collinsworth | |
| 2014 | |||
| 2015 | ESPN | Mike Tirico | Jon Gruden |
| 2016 | |||
| 2017 | Sean McDonough | ||
| 2018 | ESPN/ABC | Matt Hasselbeck | |
| 2019 | ESPN/ABCDisney XD | Joe Tessitore | Jason Witten and Booger McFarland |
| 2020 | Booger McFarland | ||
| 2021 | Not held because of the coronavirus pandemic | ||
| 2022 | ESPN/ABC | Steve Levy | Brian Griese and Louis Riddick |
| 2023 | ESPN/ABCDisney XD | Pat McAfee | Kirk Herbstreit |
FAQs
A. The first time the Pro Bowl was televised was in 1950 by NBC.
A. While a total of seven broadcasters have televised the Pro Bowl, NBC, ABC, CBS, and ESPN have been the main ones.
A. Disney XD is a channel aimed at entertaining kids from the ages of six to eleven. In 2019, Disney XD started televising the Pro Bowl alongside ESPN and ABC.
A. Due to unavoidable circumstances such as World War II and COVID-19, some Pro Bowls were not played and as a result, they were not televised.
A. The 2023 Pro Bowl was aired on ESPN/ABC and Disney XD.
