NFL Adds Tug-of-War to Pro Bowl Skills Competition

The NFL has added a new element to the Pro Bowl skills competition for this season’s event: a tug-of-war contest. 

The league announced the full slate of 2024 skills competitions on Wednesday. Other new events include a closest-to-the-pin golf contest, an obstacle course relay race called “Gridiron Gauntlet” and an event called “High Stakes” where players have to catch balls launched high into the air from a JUGS machine. The twist with high stakes is that each player starts the competition already holding a football and has to make as many successive catches as possible while still holding onto all the balls they’ve already caught. 

For the tug-of-war competition, players be perched atop a foam pit, with the objective being to pull the opposing team into the pit. It will be a best-of-three competition. 

Last year’s Pro Bowl was the first to eliminate the traditional game in favor of a series of skills competitions and flag football games. The skills contests included a wide range of events such as precision passing, best catch and Kick Tac Toe. There were also non-football events like a long drive golf competition, dodgeball and a “lightning round” game that included players throwing water balloons back and forth. 

The AFC and NFC teams earned points for winning the various skills contests, as well as for winning the three flag football games played at the end of the weekend. 

The format will be the same this season, with the bulk of the skills competitions being played on the Thursday of Pro Bowl week (Feb. 1) and the flag football games taking place on that Sunday (Feb. 4). After taking place in Las Vegas last February, this season’s event will be held in Orlando.