NFL legend Steve Young spoke Tuesday about the decline in interest in the Pro Bowl since the league changed its format from a regular game to a flag football event.

Former San Francisco 49ers star appeared “The Dan Patrick Show” On the Tuesday before this year’s Pro Bowl game, he was asked when the event “lost its luster.” Young pinpointed when the original format fell out of favor with players.

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AFC coach Steve Young practices at the NFL Flag Fieldhouse in the Moscone Center South Building on February 2, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

“The Pro Bowl has lost its luster…The biggest blow I took in my football career was the Pro Bowl. I laugh because it makes no sense,” Young said. “Why it’s the biggest beating…because when you’re playing with elite players in the NFL and you’re all on the beach all week and no one really knows the plays, Reggie White isn’t drinking, you know what I mean? Reggie White isn’t hungover or Bruce Smith or anything, you know what I mean?”

“Looking back, we had the Pro Bowl and I thought this was wrong. We just finished the Super Bowl and we’re going to the Pro Bowl. We love being in Hawaii, but we’re not going to lose. So it was irrational and who would go and take a risk like that? We couldn’t sustain that.”

San Francisco 49ers NFC quarterback Steve Young, 8, 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 believes the growing interest in flag football around the world will eventually attract players’ attention.

He added that he was able to get players’ attention by emphasizing how many people were interested in the game and how it was becoming an elite sport in its own right.

AFC wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase (Cincinnati Bengals) (1), Tee Higgins (5), Denver Broncos’ Courtland Sutton (14) and Houston Texans’ Nico Collins (12) are introduced before the NFC vs. NFL Pro Bowl football game in San Francisco on Tuesday, February 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)

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“I think the Pro Bowl is going to become something if we continue to play the flag. I think they’ll start to embrace who we are and not just say, ‘Oh, the Pro Bowl is a joke,'” Young added.

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