Unlike most other North American sports leagues, which hold their all-star games roughly midway through their respective regular seasons, the Pro Bowl is played around the end of the NFL season. Between the 1970 merger and 2009, it was usually held on the weekend after the Super Bowl. Since 2010, the Pro Bowl has been played on the weekend one week after the Conference Championship games, one week before the Super Bowl, and players from the two teams going for the Super Bowl do not participate.