Roger Goodell: We want the Pro Bowl to be an honor without an exhibition game

The league announced Wednesday that it is doing away with the game. Instead, the NFL will name 88 Pro Bowlers it will honor in Los Angeles before the Super Bowl in February.

Commissioner Roger Goodell explained the reasoning after NFL owners wrapped up their meeting in Atlanta .

"I think this is something that we talked to our players about , the Pro Bowl players in particular," Goodell said, via Mark Maske of Front Office Sports. "We had conference calls the last couple years: What's working? What's not? What would you like to see? And the number one thing that came out—and there were a lot of wonderful comments by the players—one is: 'We want to be honored and celebrated as a Pro Bowl player.' . . . It just opened my eyes. I never really thought about it in the context of that. It's not honoring the replacement players. It's honoring the guys who are selected by the fans, by the players, by the coaches.