The conversation on yesterday's' pod about the decline in participation in high school football was really interesting. I looked up a some numbers.
According to this link, participation in HS football peaked in 2008 at more than 1.1 million and has dropped to 974,000 as of the latest data from 2021 - about a 12% decline.
rogerpielkejr.substack.com
I also found this link that shows participation in tackle football among those 6 and older has dropped from 6.85 million in 2010 to 5.23 million in 2021 - a 24% decline.
Those are staggering numbers.
Personally, I'm about 10 years younger than @Neal McCready - I played football in an era where we had heard of concussions, but we didn't take them that seriously. A buddy of mine was taken out of a game after a concussion one Friday. We had 3rd period together the following Monday. He showed me the notes he made in the prior class - he had written the last letter of every word twice.
My brother is about Neal's age and was a much better football player than me. He had some offers to small colleges and ended up playing JuCo at the time of Randy Baldwin. They didn't know anything about concussions and played through anything that didn't completely knock you out. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in his early 40s. He's in pretty rough shape now.
My dad was a hard-nosed football coach and absolutely loved the sport. It was literally his career and drove a big portion of our lives. He "retired" probably 10 times, but would get a call to come coach line somewhere and couldn't stay away. Hugh Freeze actually offered him a dorm room and a meal ticket to coach OL at Lambuth. Before he died, he had decided that he didn't want my sons (now 12 and 9) to play football because he saw what we all believe it has done to my brother.
Recently, I saw a clip with Brett Farve where he was asked by a neurologist to guess how many concussions he had during his career. He said 4-5 where he was really knocked out. The doctor said that it was closer to 1000 or 1000s. He said every hit that he took where he was idled or saw stars was a small concussion.
That's a lot to say that, like Neal and his wife, we decided that we would not encourage football for our boys. If they decide they really want to play, I'm not opposed to it, but we've encouraged other sports and have done very little to drive them towards football. Based on the numbers above, I think a lot of families are making similar decisions.
How does that square with the crazy viewership numbers and the amount that ESPN/others are paying to air football. The networks seem to know that live sports are the only thing that anyone watches and they are making big bets on football. I just wonder if, at some point, interest declines along with the decline in participation.
We've all heard that at one point, the big three sport in America were baseball, boxing, and horse racing. Is there a way that football has a similar future as boxing?
I've honestly thought that football would have a quick death. I've thought that something like Demar Hamlin would happen and insurance companies would stop covering the sport in the high school level and it would go away very quickly. I think that Hamlin has proven me wrong on that - but will it wither?
According to this link, participation in HS football peaked in 2008 at more than 1.1 million and has dropped to 974,000 as of the latest data from 2021 - about a 12% decline.
Super Bowl Excitement Can't Hide Football's Continuing Decline
SERIES: The Future of Football, Part 3
rogerpielkejr.substack.com
I also found this link that shows participation in tackle football among those 6 and older has dropped from 6.85 million in 2010 to 5.23 million in 2021 - a 24% decline.
Those are staggering numbers.
Personally, I'm about 10 years younger than @Neal McCready - I played football in an era where we had heard of concussions, but we didn't take them that seriously. A buddy of mine was taken out of a game after a concussion one Friday. We had 3rd period together the following Monday. He showed me the notes he made in the prior class - he had written the last letter of every word twice.
My brother is about Neal's age and was a much better football player than me. He had some offers to small colleges and ended up playing JuCo at the time of Randy Baldwin. They didn't know anything about concussions and played through anything that didn't completely knock you out. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in his early 40s. He's in pretty rough shape now.
My dad was a hard-nosed football coach and absolutely loved the sport. It was literally his career and drove a big portion of our lives. He "retired" probably 10 times, but would get a call to come coach line somewhere and couldn't stay away. Hugh Freeze actually offered him a dorm room and a meal ticket to coach OL at Lambuth. Before he died, he had decided that he didn't want my sons (now 12 and 9) to play football because he saw what we all believe it has done to my brother.
Recently, I saw a clip with Brett Farve where he was asked by a neurologist to guess how many concussions he had during his career. He said 4-5 where he was really knocked out. The doctor said that it was closer to 1000 or 1000s. He said every hit that he took where he was idled or saw stars was a small concussion.
That's a lot to say that, like Neal and his wife, we decided that we would not encourage football for our boys. If they decide they really want to play, I'm not opposed to it, but we've encouraged other sports and have done very little to drive them towards football. Based on the numbers above, I think a lot of families are making similar decisions.
How does that square with the crazy viewership numbers and the amount that ESPN/others are paying to air football. The networks seem to know that live sports are the only thing that anyone watches and they are making big bets on football. I just wonder if, at some point, interest declines along with the decline in participation.
We've all heard that at one point, the big three sport in America were baseball, boxing, and horse racing. Is there a way that football has a similar future as boxing?
I've honestly thought that football would have a quick death. I've thought that something like Demar Hamlin would happen and insurance companies would stop covering the sport in the high school level and it would go away very quickly. I think that Hamlin has proven me wrong on that - but will it wither?
