How long does football have left?

[Thucydides]

I just watched the movie “concussion” and then reading up more about the subject, I read out of 111 players tested for CTE, 110 of them were positive for CTE.

In further research, some high schools used to put out 4 teams are now barely able to fill one squad. Less and less parents are letting their kids play football.

There’s been cases of star wide receivers with interest from NFL clubs switching to soccer .

How close is BU to testing for CTE when the person is alive? 5-10 years ?

Where does football go from here?


Sorry if this has been talked about - I just watched the movie today.

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[Newsworthy]

I just watched the movie “concussion” and then reading up more about the subject, I read out of 111 players tested for CTE, 110 of them were positive for CTE.

In further research, some high schools used to put out 4 teams are now barely able to fill one squad. Less and less parents are letting their kids play football.

There’s been cases of star wide receivers with interest from NFL clubs switching to soccer .

How close is BU to testing for CTE when the person is alive? 5-10 years ?

Where does football go from here?


Sorry if this has been talked about - I just watched the movie today.

good movie.
football as we know it has been dead a few years now.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Quality of football will go down with fewer athletes choosing the sport over other options. While I don't think it will be entirely disappear, I woudn't be surprised if the game begins to see a significant decline in participation and revenue in 10-12 years.

 

[Roboturner913]

The significant decline has already started at the high school level. 7% drop in participation over the last 10 years. People are discouraging their kids from playing the game and I don't blame them for one second. Even as much as I love the game, I will strongly be discouraging my kids from playing when they get old enough. They love to watch it on TV, I'm afraid if I tell them I played they'll get obsessed with it and want to play themselves.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Less parents are letting their kids play, and out of the ones who are playing, it seems more of the multi-sport athletes are picking other sports.

The NFL will certainly continue to take hits in popularity and quality over the next decade, but it’s an absolute monster of an entity right now with so so many connections embedded throughout the American society. I don’t see the NFL going away within any of our lifetimes.

 

[John Price]

football will always be here

people are more annoyed with officiating than this

 

[alko]

And then:

Less parents are letting their kids play, and out of the ones who are playing, it seems more of the multi-sport athletes are picking other sports.

The NFL will certainly continue to take hits in popularity and quality over the next decade, but it’s an absolute monster of an entity right now with so so many connections embedded throughout the American society. I don’t see the NFL going away within any of our lifetimes.

And then:

 

[Spirit of 67]

I just watched the movie “concussion” and then reading up more about the subject, I read out of 111 players tested for CTE, 110 of them were positive for CTE.

In further research, some high schools used to put out 4 teams are now barely able to fill one squad. Less and less parents are letting their kids play football.

There’s been cases of star wide receivers with interest from NFL clubs switching to soccer .

How close is BU to testing for CTE when the person is alive? 5-10 years ?

Where does football go from here?


Sorry if this has been talked about - I just watched the movie today.

I don't think it's going anywhere, any time soon.

But there are underlying issues, such as health, that are major concerns for the sport. If they don't take them seriously, they'll be in trouble.

My BIL does a lot of economic forecasts and he too was saying that they're in trouble. He insists that investing in football (NFL specifically) is a really risky proposition right now.

 

[GKJ]

Once they develop the CTE test for people who are still living, we'll know exactly how long football has left.

 

[m9]

You never know what can happen in the future, but I think there is no end in sight for the NFL. If it's going away, we're looking at 15+ years before anything happens. The money involved in the sport keeps going up, and like any "dangerous" job you just pay people more to do it and there will always be people willing to do it.

ESPN & Fox just signed long-term deals to show MMA & boxing. The next NFL TV deals are expected to be the biggest ever. There's an appetite for sports with some risk, don't let a segment of soft people who hang out on social media all day fool you.

I do think it will be really interesting what happens to the sport at younger ages and into college, I do think that there will have to be some changes there.

Once they develop the CTE test for people who are still living, we'll know exactly how long football has left.

This will be interesting, but I think that it will actually be a good thing for the sport as they will be able to properly track when players need to stop playing certain sports because of head injuries. With so much technology in sports focused on preventing head injuries, you would hope the league keeps improving on this. Concussions being down 20%+ this year is a good start.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Reliable pre-mortem CTE testing might not make it extinct but will cause a huge revolution and change.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I expect Kickoffs and punt returns to be gone within the next decade. Team starts on the 25 after a score, mandatory fair catch

 

[m9]

Reliable pre-mortem CTE testing might not make it extinct but will cause a huge revolution and change.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends what the testing shows. Right now some people are thinking the worst and will blame everything on CTE regardless of causation.

 

[shmglsky]

I imagine it will become rugby but with forward passing.

 

[shmglsky]

I expect Kickoffs and punt returns to be gone within the next decade. Team starts on the 25 after a score, mandatory fair catch

Thank god Canadian football will never get rid of the kickoff. It's actually exciting (in our game).

 

[cutchemist42]

If hockey can survive with its low participation rate....I dont see a problem.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I don't think it'll truly ever die. Look how many changes hockey has gone through in the last 20 years. Changed the way we think about hitting, multiple significant rule changes (elimination of the red line, the trapezoid, no touch icing) and the game is pretty much in the same spot it was.

That being said, i would be not at all surprised to see Baseball surpass Football again as "America's game" or so to speak before i die (i'm 25 now, so theoretically a lot of time to pass)

But as for dying? Nah, evolve sure but it's gonna take a LOT of bad press to bring that plane out of the sky.

 

[The Burdened]

the demise of football is greatly exaggerated

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Will still be the #1 sport when we all die.

 

[alko]

Will still be the #1 sport when we all die.

You cant beat soccer worldwide.

 

[Fantomas]

As long as there's poverty and desperation there is American football.

 

[koyvoo]

This reminds of the arguments we had in the first or second century with all the social justice warriors saying we’ve evolved as a society far enough to understand that gladiators vs lions is for the barbaric

 

[shmglsky]

This reminds of the arguments we had in the first or second century with all the social justice warriors saying we’ve evolved as a society far enough to understand that gladiators vs lions is for the barbaric

Actually the Romans had a very good reason to have gladiator fights. It showed the Roman people what violence meant and kept them from rebelling.

 

[tacogeoff]

As long as there is money to be made and people that want to compete for big paydays the sport will be around for quite a while.

If the NFL fading away in the future is due to concussions then you can also expect the decline of the NHL as well. We will all be stuck with NBA, MLB and Soccer

 

[CTHabsfan]

As long as there's poverty and desperation there is American football.

Really? Then how does Yale University get so many young men to come out for the team?

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