The NFL’s all-star game presentation has been altered this year due to the coronavirus. The annual Pro Bowl was scheduled to be played this weekend on January 31 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas but is now taking place during a week-long virtual event running over EA Sports’ Madden NFL 21 game.
See Odds Shark’s Best NFL Football Sites
Online sportsbooks are getting in on the action. [Sportsbook not available for your region] has released virtual Pro Bowl betting odds, with the AFC listed as the -220 favorite and the NFC coming back at +155.
Looking for more Pro Bowl betting information? Props should become available soon, so be sure to return to this page to place your Pro Bowl bets.
Virtual Pro Bowl Odds
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| AFC | -220 |
| NFC | +155 |
Odds as of January 27 at [Sportsbook not available for your region]
Who Is Going To Be Participating?
The AFC virtual team will be led by Deshaun Watson, Derrick Henry, Snoop Dogg and Keyshawn Johnson while the NFC team will feature Kyler Murray, Jamal Adams, Bubba Wallace and Marshawn Lynch.
The format for this event is very interesting, with each of the four guys per team playing one five-minute quarter of the Pro Bowl. The NFL has not announced the one-on-one matchups, which means the first quarter might feature Snoop Dogg vs Kyler Murray or Deshaun Watson vs Bubba Wallace.
The live-streamed event will be hosted by Charissa Thompson and Michael Strahan, while the virtual stream itself will be live on the NFL’s official YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages along with the EA Madden NFL Twitch page. The NFL Network will re-air it at 8 p.m. ET.
Can the AFC Continue to Dominate?
The AFC is the -220 favorite in virtual Pro Bowl odds to win the week-long event. Since the NFL reverted back to the AFC vs NFC format in 2016, the AFC has won four straight Pro Bowls. Last year, the AFC came away with an entertaining 38-33 win.
The AFC holds the all-time lead in Pro Bowl game history by a margin of 25-22. Obviously, this year is entirely different with the game not being played, so it will be interesting to see how the whole event shapes up. The AFC is the favorite in this virtual game and with the addition of Snoop Dogg to the team, they should be highly entertaining to watch.
“We’ll be taking the Pro Bowl to the virtual world of Madden this weekend and I can’t wait to do it big with football fans in my favorite game. I’m a Madden NFL star. So Kyler and Marshawn better watch out, my team is comin’ in to win that championship title for the AFC.” – Snoop Dogg, in a media release explaining the particulars of the game
It sounds like the event itself will be highly enjoyable, with Marshawn Lynch and Snoop Dogg’s big personalities leading the way as big gamers. There are only four current NFL players playing in the event, but for fans of the Madden game and the NFL, this is a dream come true, even if it’s just for one year.
The Pro Bowl doesn’t do great as a televised event, but this is an opportunity for the NFL to connect with a younger demographic while at the same time being very entertaining. The NBA2K series did well for televised ratings during the pandemic, as fans were craving something to watch, so this might be a new formula that benefits the NFL. All in all, this is going to be a Pro Bowl like no other and I for one am excited for it to go down.
