Middle class abandoning football
Makes me wonder about how college football changes also. Any thoughts?
Death of NFL inevitable as middle class abandons the game
"You really think the NFL is worried about young athletes? If so, they'd have changed the rules years ago, abandoning face masks, enlarging the ball to make it difficult to throw, switching to one platoon football."
I didn't know about one platoon football before (or the phrase). Some research pulled up this article about Fritz Crisler: The Man Who Changed Football
Sports Illustrated article starts: "When the NCAA Rules Committee voted a return to two-platoon football last month, one of the least surprised men in the country—and one of the most pleased—was Fritz Crisler, athletic director of the University of Michigan. Crisler is a life member of the Rules Committee."
September 8th, 2017 at 6:59 PM ^
If the NFL fails to entertain it will lose popularity and market share until it entertains once again.
College-wise, football and to a lesser extent basketball pay the bills. Most FBS schools lose money on their athletic departments. Think of the red ink if these athletic departments lose their primary source of income. Not to mention the 85 male student-athlete scholarships lost. Which 85 female student-athlete scholarships will be cut per Title IX rules?
September 8th, 2017 at 7:02 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 7:34 PM ^
Any report that says any class of people is abandoning football is an outright lie to further ones own agenda. Dont believe it, not buying it.
September 8th, 2017 at 7:57 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 8:15 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 8:43 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 9:07 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 9:19 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 9:20 PM ^
Why in the world does anyone need full-pad tackle football before high school? Why not just play flag or 2-hand touch with no pads or helmets? You'll have more participation and less injury and still learn a lot of the skills. Youth football always seemed like a parental thing to me. Nervous dads pacing the sideline? Geez come on.
September 8th, 2017 at 10:13 PM ^
But does it want to? Or is the NFL too blinded by idiocy and greed? I think with just a few rule changes at the high school level, football can become safer. Not "safe" but safer and less room for major injuries that grab negative headlines. Eliminate the kickoff in high school... that would be a great start. Teams just start on the 25. Get rid of deep safeties... enforce a rule that all 11 guys on defense have to be within 10 yards from scrimmage.
Also - why doesn't the NFL promote and set up leagues more globally? Makes no sense. The NBA and MLB are aggressively setting up talent pipelines from across the world. NFL.. not so much, though you hear rumblings in Europe. Really hurting themselves there. Heck, make Harbaugh your ambassador for a month out of the year and set him lose in Europe, Asia and Africa. He'll have leagues up and running in no time. That is what sets soccer apart - it is truly a global game.
Having small 53-man rosters in the NFL is beyond idiotItic. And they only dress like 47 guys per game! Just annoying and so, so short-sited. Spread the wealth! There should be like 60-65 man rosters. NFL hurts itself with bad ideas, bad marketing, poor leadership. This is why thousands of Pats fans called Goodell a clown - because he is!
Football, like politics, will only change from the grassroots level on up.
September 9th, 2017 at 2:26 AM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 9:44 PM ^
What is strange to me is how this narrative floats around at the same time kids are being scouted in elementary school and there are national tournaments and coaches dedicated to mechanics, nutrition, strength, etc. through more camps and private training than has ever existed before. The most recent piece I read with it cited a town in New Jersey with an influx of Indian families in the schools spelling the demise of their high school football program.
Meanwhile, IMG has yearly roster turnover of NFL talent and hasn't lost in three years while playing some of the best competition in the country and grandmothers are commissioners in fantasy leagues.
September 8th, 2017 at 9:58 PM ^
Football is an event. It is bigger then a sport. In this sense, it is just like soccer. Yes, it is violent. Yes, like posters here have stated: it needs to change. It badly needs to get to a level of parity with other sports like hockey or lacrosse in terms of bad injury rate or even rate of concussion / etc. How it does this is up to people hopefully smarter then me. I love the game but I do really hate to see players carted off. The NFL is beyond idiotic and should've expanded their rosters 20 years ago. Do people realize only something like 47 guys even dress for NFL games? It is greed and idiocy plain and simple. NFL is sewing its own seeds of destruction there.
What people on the outside, the football haters, the baseball purists, the basketball jonesers forget to realize is: football, like soccer, is an event. A popular, once-in-a-week event!
Outside of the NBA finals or the NBA playoffs (with my team - the Wizards), I really don't care at all about NBA games. They are a dime a dozen. They happen literally every night. 82 games a year. Blah.
Baseball has a game almost every night. Nobody cares! It isn't an event! There's no suspense. So, your team lost 6 out of 7? Oh no! They just have 100 more games left to play. Playoff baseball is the only time it MATTERS. Baseball is just too long of a season to ever be something I'll get hyped for. And if my team isn't in the World Series? Forget about it.
Football is an event, just like champions league soccer, just like boxing. There is a specific time, date and place for Michigan football. It only happens 12-13 or 14 weekends a year! It is special. You can plan parties around it and spark up the tailgate and have a great time. It is a community and family event. I'll always cherish and love football memories and events and I hope the game continues evolving but never changes its once-a-week scheduling nor tailgate scene.
September 8th, 2017 at 10:00 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 10:10 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 11:58 PM ^
There used to be (and maybe there still is) a club sport out east called "jet football" (I think), where all of the players had to weigh less than 170lbs or something like that.
September 8th, 2017 at 10:31 PM ^
I'd say it was football that abandoned the middle class.
September 8th, 2017 at 10:41 PM ^
September 8th, 2017 at 11:04 PM ^
Where do you think most college football players come from?
September 8th, 2017 at 11:55 PM ^
I coach high school football and have for the past 9 years. I am not the end all be all by any means, but here's what I have come to believe:
1. Football is safer than it's ever been. The MHSAA is creating rules that eliminate a lot of the serious collisions, and the sport is better for it. Coaches are emphasizing tackling the right way, even if it is not as explosive or as effective as tackling has been taught in the past.
2. The research into CTE is totally slanted. I'm not saying it doesn't exist (that would be dumb). The most recent study that got all the headlines was from a large group of people who were already experiencing symptoms and had concerns. Of course there's going to be a high percentage of the brains studied showing CTE. What I really want to see is the brain of a regular guy, who played football through high school.
3.Youth football offers no athletic advantage. 8 year olds tackling each other doesn't make them better football players when they're in middle or high school. Have your son play flag football or soccer when they're young; I think those will help overall athleticism more than trying to run around in pads that weigh as much as your son.
4. Football is still, and always will be, a great sport that I think is invaluable in building young men. I know that I haven't invested as much time in other sports as I have football, but I have seen the impact that it has had on countless kids. It's not the only thing that will help your son grow and mature into a respectable man, but I believe it's one of the best.
September 9th, 2017 at 8:37 AM ^
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September 9th, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 9:56 AM ^
I wonder why I never here of CTE studies say, soccer players from heading the ball for example.
September 9th, 2017 at 10:15 AM ^
September 9th, 2017 at 10:17 AM ^
clickbait by an uninformed "journalist"
September 11th, 2017 at 12:35 AM ^