The East-West Shrine Bowl is one of the oldest and most prestigious college football all-star games, featuring some of the best senior players nationwide. The game is also a charitable event, supporting the Shriners Children’s healthcare system and its mission to provide excellent specialty pediatric care.
Let’s examine when and where the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl will take place.
Where Is the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl?
The 100th annual East-West Shrine Bowl begins at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The game will be nationally televised on NFL Network.
College football‘s top seniors compete head-to-head in a week-long series of practices that culminate in a full-fledged exhibition. The Shrine Bowl allows fans and NFL scouts to evaluate their skills and potential across a bevy of media and fan access.
The East-West format pits the best players from the East Coast against those from the West Coast, ensuring high competition and thrilling gameplay.
While the event provides over 100 prospective NFL players a chance to showcase their skills, it has a greater purpose, one that is invaluable to the players in attendance. The East-West Shrine Bowl supports the mission of Shriners Children’s, which is dedicated to improving the lives of children in need.
The East-West Shrine Bowl is dedicated to raising funds for Shriners Children’s, a healthcare system that provides specialized care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate. Attending the game is a great way to support this worthy cause.
Starting in January 2017, the NFL began providing members of current NFL coaching staffs for the game. The teams were selected from the assistant coaches of teams that did not make it to the NFL postseason. NFL referees also officiate the Shrine Bowl and its practices.
The game itself during Shrine Bowl week follows NFL rules with some restrictions. There are no motion or shifts by the offense and no stunts or blitzes by the defense. In January 2020, the organizers changed the name of the game from the East-West Shrine Game to the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Exciting NFL playmakers have participated in the Shrine Bowl throughout the years. Most recently, 2023 first-round pick Zay Flowers attended the event. Isiah Pacheco and Brock Purdy highlighted the 2022 game.
NFL Hall of Famers Dick Butkus, Kellen Winslow Sr., Joe Greene, Larry Csonka, and Brett Favre are some of the best players who have headlined the game’s history, not to mention Tom Brady.
Shrine Bowl director of football operations and player personnel Eric Galko said to NFL.com that he believes the game’s 2025 group of talent will surpass last year’s record showing in the draft, which featured 57 draft choices from both rosters.
“We’ve had an uptick in draft picks every year the past three years, and this year will be another uptick,” Galko said. “I don’t have any doubt about that. I’d be shocked if we don’t have more than a year ago.
“I just see the talent we have this year, and I get really excited, especially guys at the top of the draft.”