Less kids playing football

[GMDGator]

"The nation's largest youth football program, Pop Warner, saw participation drop 9.5 percent between 2010-12, a sign that the concussion crisis that began in the NFL is having a dramatic impact at the lowest rungs of the sport."
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/...rops-nfl-concussion-crisis-seen-causal-factor

I see this in MS football as well. This does not bode well for the future of the NFL. When kids stop playing, they stop watching and as adults do not attend overpriced games. There are several schools in our district that have a hard time fielding teams in middle school and I presume those same kids were playing pop warner when this study came out.. I think in 10 years the NFL will look totally different.

 

[SGG]

In our league, we went from having 4-5 teams in each age group to having 1 team of peewee (age 6-7), 2 teams of junior (age 8-10), and 2 teams of senior (age 11-13).

I honestly can't pinpoint any single thing being responsible for it, other than kids just maybe not having the "want to" they once did for competitive sports.

That's a really steep dropoff in one year though.

 

[GMDGator]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/23/
It I happening everywhere.

 

[MidwestChomp]

This doesn't surprise me. When we lived in Gainesville my wife worked at a doctor's office. A former UF/NFL player was a patient there. They talked a lot. He was very reluctant to let his sons play football. I think this is the case, especially with former players. They don't want to risk their kids getting hurt.

 

[BMF]

Not surprising w/ the society we live in.

But this is happening in all youth sports. The rise of year-round leagues has killed the participation levels. Baseball has really taken a hit.

 

[GMDGator]

"
This past Monday, USA Football released the results of a study conducted by the Physical Activity Council that found a modest increase in youth participation (ages 6-14) in tackle football: a 1.9 percent increase from 2.128 million participants in 2014 to 2.169 million in 2015.

USA Football has attempted to spin these numbers by limiting the timescale to 2014 and 2015. But rewinding to 2010 reveals that youth football has seen a precipitous drop in participation over the past half-decade. In November 2013, the Fainaru brothers (authors of League of Denial) cited a USA Football study that found a drop in youth participation (again aged 6-14) from 3 million in 2010 to 2.8 million in 2011."
http://www.vocativ.com/298019/youth-football-participation-is-plummeting/

 

[GMDGator]

"
This past Monday, USA Football released the results of a study conducted by the Physical Activity Council that found a modest increase in youth participation (ages 6-14) in tackle football: a 1.9 percent increase from 2.128 million participants in 2014 to 2.169 million in 2015.

USA Football has attempted to spin these numbers by limiting the timescale to 2014 and 2015. But rewinding to 2010 reveals that youth football has seen a precipitous drop in participation over the past half-decade. In November 2013, the Fainaru brothers (authors of League of Denial) cited a USA Football study that found a drop in youth participation (again aged 6-14) from 3 million in 2010 to 2.8 million in 2011."
http://www.vocativ.com/298019/youth-football-participation-is-plummeting/

"
This is a disconcerting trend for the NFL since youth football is one of the league’s biggest marketing arms. Early participation draws kids into the game’s culture and creates fans for life. The NFL should have no problem filling its rosters with a talent pool closer to 2 million athletes than 3 million, but a shrinking youth player base today means a smaller devoted fan base in the league’s future.

And if the NFL was scared of a 10 percent drop, the numbers reported this week, showing a decrease in participation of over 25 percent in the past six years, must have league executives scared in a way that feels quite unfamiliar."

 

[diehardg8r]

I live in Hampton Roads and it's dwindling here as well, and football is king in this area.

 

[GMDGator]

My guess is there is more to it than just the concussion issue... When the NFL decided to make it an out of sight ticket price, fans gradually find other things to do.

 

[AugustaGator]

So let's get more athletic debt!

 

[rogdochar]

Participation is down because Mac is a bad recruiter.

 

[ATXGator]

As a parent I am not thrilled with the idea of my son playing tackle football. A couple weeks ago we were at a friends game (10 year olds) and on the last play the QB on the opposing got hit (late hit) and was knocked out for about 2 or 3 minutes at least. It is scary when you see that for a 10 year old.

If my son really really wants to play then fine, but we certainly are going to try to steer him to playing other sports first.

 

[BMF]

I live in Hampton Roads and it's dwindling here as well, and football is king in this area.

What part of HR? I'm TDY here for a year, living in East Beach (near Little Creek).

 

[diehardg8r]

Chesapeake, Great Bridge area.

 

[BMF]

Chesapeake, Great Bridge area.

Any Gator bars in the area? I usually leave town on the weekends, but may be here in November a weekend or two...

 

[diehardg8r]

There is a Gator club actually, I think they meet downtown Norfolk at the sports bar on Granby st just down from the federal courthouse. I'll google the name for you.

Baxters.
I was there for our NC game when we smoked UCLA and actually got interviewed by the local TV after the game.............I was hammered.

 

[BMF]

There is a Gator club actually, I think they meet downtown Norfolk at the sports bar on Granby st just down from the federal courthouse. I'll google the name for you.

Baxters.
I was there for our NC game when we smoked UCLA and actually got interviewed by the local TV after the game.............I was hammered.

Cool, I actually work in downtown....

 

[Albert]

I live in NE Louisiana, and it is happening at an alarming rate here. I help coach my son's 10 yr old team sponsored through the YMCA, and the league numbers are dropping drastically.
The problem at least here is baseball, particularly travel baseball played year round. Where every kid gets to be a star. Where teamwork and being a good teammate isn't very important. Where you don't have to relentlessly test your will for the entire game. Where Mommy and Daddy can find you a team where you can start and shine if you really suck, and if you are talented the organization will pay your way. It really sucks and I fear for the type of adults this will create. Getting off my soapbox now.

 

[AugustaGator]

Need to go back to leather helmets and no face-masks.

 

[BMF]

I live in NE Louisiana, and it is happening at an alarming rate here. I help coach my son's 10 yr old team sponsored through the YMCA, and the league numbers are dropping drastically.
The problem at least here is baseball, particularly travel baseball played year round. Where every kid gets to be a star. Where teamwork and being a good teammate isn't very important. Where you don't have to relentlessly test your will for the entire game. Where Mommy and Daddy can find you a team where you can start and shine if you really suck, and if you are talented the organization will pay your way. It really sucks and I fear for the type of adults this will create. Getting off my soapbox now.

This is what I was talking about in my post (#3 above) about the year-round leagues.

When most of us were kids, we played whatever sport was in season....hung up the gear and played whatever sport was in season.

There's a great article in the WSJ about it, the numbers are alarming:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-baseball-is-losing-children-1432136172

But MLB faces headwinds that have been years in the making and forces that are outside its direct control. In 2002, nine million people between the ages of 7 and 17 played baseball in the U.S., according to the National Sporting Goods Association, an industry trade group. By 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, that figure had dropped by more than 41%, to 5.3 million. Likewise, youth softball participation declined from 5.4 million to 3.2 million over the same span.