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Half of Americans Don't Want Their Sons Playing Football, Poll Shows

Double Barrel

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
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Half of Americans Don't Want Their Sons Playing Football, Poll Shows

Women and elites in particular want to keep their boys off the gridiron.

Television ratings are up and merchandise sales are booming, but longer-term trends don’t look as rosy for football. According to a new Bloomberg Politics poll, 50 percent of Americans say they wouldn't want their son to play the sport and only 17 percent believe it’ll grow in popularity in the next 20 years.

These are grim numbers for a sport that’s seeing an onslaught of negative attention, including a parade of National Football League players accused of abusing their wives or children; a team name so offensive that some news organizations refuse to print it; and, perhaps most troubling to parents, the growing body of evidence that repeated blows to the head can cause long-lasting brain damage. The sport’s troubles have caught the attention of Congress, whose members hauled a league official to Washington for a Senate hearing earlier this month. Individual lawmakers have proposed ending the league’s tax-exempt status and putting its coveted anti-trust exception up for a five year review.

The finding suggest that, over the course of time, football could go the way of boxing, a marquee American sport in the early part of the 20th century that declined amid a similar set of dynamics: changing perceptions of its brutality and star athletes making headlines for violent crimes.

Full article
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I wonder what the poll results would be if they just asked parents in Texas? :thinking:

I guess the moral of the story is enjoy the NFL while we have it. We might be seeing its peak right now.
 
Double Barrel said:
I wonder what the poll results would be if they just asked parents in Texas? :thinking:

I guess the moral of the story is enjoy the NFL while we have it. We might be seeing its peak right now.
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I think we have seen its peak, actually. It'll be easier to recognize in the coming years, of course. If there are equipment changes that can be implemented to greatly mitigate the risk of future cognitive damage, then that might save them. Of course, if those changes can be made and are not made for financial reasons, it could completely sink them if it gets out. Otherwise, you're looking at a complete change of the fundamental rules of the sport into what will essentially become some form of flag football.
 
eriadoc said:
I think we have seen its peak, actually. It'll be easier to recognize in the coming years, of course. If there are equipment changes that can be implemented to greatly mitigate the risk of future cognitive damage, then that might save them. Of course, if those changes can be made and are not made for financial reasons, it could completely sink them if it gets out. Otherwise, you're looking at a complete change of the fundamental rules of the sport into what will essentially become some form of flag football.
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yep. Safety concerns and shifting demographics in this country will most likely mean that soccer ends up being the big sport in a matter of decades.
 
Does that mean I won't need to renew my PSL 18 years from now? (I think the term was 30 years.)
 
Force fields will eliminate most injuries and football will continue to rule. As in rodeos, hockey or auto racing, spectators want to see the collision not the injury. I guess same could be said for pornos.
 
My best friend has two young sons, he plans on letting them play football, unless they don't make Varsity in high school by the end of their sophomore year. He sees no point in them running their bodies into the ground if they don't have a future scholarship in it.
 
The1ApplePie said:
My best friend has two young sons, he plans on letting them play football, unless they don't make Varsity in high school by the end of their sophomore year. He sees no point in them running their bodies into the ground if they don't have a future scholarship in it.
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Seems kind of odd to let them play all that time then when they are a few years from being adults tell them no.

What if they love playing? Sophomore year seems a little late to pull the chord.

And I know some guys that were one year letterman that got scholarships. I also know some people that walked onto college teams and ended up with full rides.
 
I made the decision to not pursue football past college. I wasn't a guaranteed draft pick or anything, but I could have pursued it. It wasn't the on field stuff though. I only had one injury that took me an off season to recover from and I didnt get any concussions. It was the lack of freedom that got me.

I'm not going to steer my kids away though. I'll let them make those choices but I will encourage some type of physical sport.

Don't care if it's golf or tennis or swimming....whatever.

Football does make me nervous for my kids to a degree. But it's just one of those things in life. Teach proper technique and pray (or hope) for the best.
 
Double Barrel said:
I wonder what the poll results would be if they just asked parents in Texas? :thinking:

I guess the moral of the story is enjoy the NFL while we have it. We might be seeing its peak right now.
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Funny how it took Paul Tagliabue 17 years to build the NFL into a Juggernaut and only 8 years for Roger Goodell to destroy it.
 
xtruroyaltyx said:
Seems kind of odd to let them play all that time then when they are a few years from being adults tell them no.

What if they love playing? Sophomore year seems a little late to pull the chord.

And I know some guys that were one year letterman that got scholarships. I also know some people that walked onto college teams and ended up with full rides.
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He was going to be a coach once, so love of the game is not the issue. If they don't have a future in it, he doesn't want them being used as glorified tackling equipment in practice, leading to health problems down the road. This is certainly built on his own high school experience.
 
The1ApplePie said:
He was going to be a coach once, so love of the game is not the issue. If they don't have a future in it, he doesn't want them being used as glorified tackling equipment in practice, leading to health problems down the road. This is certainly built on his own high school experience.
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Hey his kids. I wasn't accusing him of not loving the game. Was just commenting that it seemed kind of odd to me. No malice.

Some kids bloom late. Id just imagine that when the time comes he'd have other stipulations besides not making varsity.

This past weekend I went to a friends wedding with a bunch of guys that are still my best friends that I playedwith in school. About 6 of us are still really close. 2 of us played past highschool.

Those guys are my brothers.

Jmo, but I think it's going to be tough to rip them out of that environment if they love playing.
 
Double Barrel said:
I hope you're right. I'll never be a fan.
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I don't think the demographic shift is going to spell doom. Football is big in Mexico and South America in terms of viewing popularity. They just don't have a well developed pro-league. Their HS and college programs have been growing substantially.
 
Women and elites in particular want to keep their boys off the gridiron.
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I dunno, that in my view, makes the report look a little skewed. I'd venture to say that most of the kids playing are not from those categories. Most of the non-elites are just happy their kids are involved in some activity that keeps them off the streets. And the men for the most part have the most influence when it comes to the kid being allowed to play.

If indeed there is a decline, it will begin at the high school level and trickle up.
 
American football will always be alive in some form or fashion.

But if it does die, I ain't watching no goddam soccer.
 
infantrycak said:
I don't think the demographic shift is going to spell doom. Football is big in Mexico and South America in terms of viewing popularity. They just don't have a well developed pro-league. Their HS and college programs have been growing substantially.
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I don't think it will spell doom for football. But, it will probably mean that soccer will slowly become more prominent in this country, with a lot of young athletes playing it that might have payed football.

I think eventually soccer will be one of the big three as hockey continues its decline in popularity and baseball eventually loses the interest of a faster paced society. I'm talking decades from now, though, so nothing alarming about it.
 
Double Barrel said:
I don't think it will spell doom for football. But, it will probably mean that soccer will slowly become more prominent in this country, with a lot of young athletes playing it that might have payed football.

I think eventually soccer will be one of the big three ...
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Not without some rules changes, it won't. Any sport where no one wins will never be that popular with Americans. Of course, we may just be a holding country full of non-Americans, so in that case, who knows?
 
eriadoc said:
Not without some rules changes, it won't. Any sport where no one wins will never be that popular with Americans. Of course, we may just be a holding country full of non-Americans, so in that case, who knows?
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And that is the crux of the matter.

Also, don't forget that many people are fans of a sport because they played it as kids. So it stands to reason that the more kids are playing soccer, then the greater chance they will be fans as adults.

However, I say that, and I played soccer as a kid but have no desire to watch it as an adult. So maybe all these projections are just food for thought.
 
Well, I've got a kiddo that plays multiple sports: football, baseball, basketball, wrestling & golf.

He just had his third concussion--only the 2nd one was from sports.

We've had some long talks about being careful and communicating with one another if he doesn't feel right. Problem is--and I'm not just saying this because he's my son, he's a machine on the field. He's had former pro players, state championship coaches and the like, comment on how good he is. He's only an 8th grader and he's 6' tall and weighs 205 lbs--plays D-end and tight end, and he's the kicker/punter. He's got ridiculous hands and can really move for a kid of his size.

And the bottom line for me is this...
He absolutely LOVES THE GAME. It's his heart and passion.
He struggles in school with ADHD and severe dyslexia--but he absolutely excels in sports. He's a natural leader.

We've talked about just focusing on baseball and golf and letting some of the other sports go--but it hurts my heart to even think about it, because FB is so much a part of his passion and drive. I have little doubt that he'll be able to score a scholarship--and can probably score one to a D-1 school. But the concussions scare the heck out of me.

But what am I supposed to do? I'm not gonna wrap my kid in bubble wrap and nerf and send him out into the world.

It's a difficult thing....
 
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