America’s longest-running college all-star game will now be played on the same field and during the same week as the NFL’s all-star game.
The East-West Shrine Bowl is moving to Las Vegas and will be played at Allegiant Stadium on Thursday, February 3, 2022, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. That’s three days before Allegiant Stadium hosts the Pro Bowl.
The Shrine Bowl will be shown on NFL Network, and it serves as an opportunity for the league to promote both its own all stars and the college all stars who will soon become NFL players.
College all-star games, once a staple of the football offseason, have declined in popularity in recent years, and this year the Shrine Bowl was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this new partnership with the NFL may be able to breathe new life into the Shrine Bowl, which serves as an opportunity for college players to showcase themselves for NFL teams before the draft.
The first East-West Shrine Bowl (formerly known as the Shrine Game) was played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco in 1925. It has been played in the Bay Area for most of its history, although it was occasionally played in other parts of the country and moved to Florida in 2010. This will be the first time the Shrine Bowl has been played in Las Vegas.