Arizona to Host 2015 NFL Pro Bowl

The NFL has announced that the 2015 Pro Bowl will be played January 25 in Glendale, Arizona, the same site as the Super Bowl. The game will be staged at University of Phoenix Stadium and televised live on ESPN, marking the second time in five years the game will be played in the same location the week before the Super Bowl.

In 2016, the game will return to its long-time home in Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 31. San Francisco will host Super Bowl L the following week. The Pro Bowl was first staged at Aloha Stadium in 1980.

University of Phoenix Stadium will host Super Bowl XLIX on February 1. The Arizona Cardinals and Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee will officially host the Pro Bowl and its surrounding activities.

The 2014 Pro Bowl was watched by 11.4 million viewers. The game has been the most-watched all-star game in professional sports for the past four years. Last year’s game introduced a new format where players were selected without regard to conference in voting by fans, coaches and players. Players were then divided into teams based on a draft. That format will continue for the 2015 game as well. 

The Arizona event will mark just the third time in the game’s history that the Pro Bowl will be played in the same location as the Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Coliseum hosted the first Super Bowl in 1967 and the Pro Bowl the following week. South Florida hosted the Pro Bowl in 2010 a week before Super Bowl XLIV.