Pro Bowl again before Super Bowl in 2011

NEW YORK, March 2 (UPI) -- Next year's Pro Bowl will again be played before the Super Bowl but not in the same stadium as the NFL title game, league officials said Tuesday.

The schedule for the Pro Bowl was changed for the 2010 version of the NFL's all-star game, putting it on the Sunday between the conference title game and the Super Bowl. From 1980-2009 the game was played in Honolulu the week after the Super Bowl,

Television ratings for the new schedule were much better than recent average viewership for the Pro Bowl, leading the NFL to put the next Pro Bowl on Jan. 31, 2011, a week before Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas.

"Playing the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl generated more excitement and interest in the event and also kicked off Super Bowl week in an innovative new way," said NFL Senior Vice President of Events Frank Supovitz.

However, unlike this year in which the Pro Bowl was played on the same field as the Super Bowl, the game will return to Hawaii for at least the next two years.