End of a sport

[kuma]

Football as we know it in the states will cease to be around in 5 - 10 years.

Maybe sooner. To many head injuries. To many law suits.

To many serious crimes by NFL players effecting overall quality and standard

that was once a game that set a high bench mark in US sports.

Even if this statement is true; Baseball is the american pastime,

but football is closer to god, I don't think the football god(s) will

be able to save the NFL.

[stigmata]

Same with afl football here in Australia.

Totally different game to what I grew up with

[SCgarman]

The United States may cease to exist as a country before the NFL. The way things here are going. IMO

[MIKA27]

The United States may cease to exist as a country before the NFL. The way things here are going. IMO

If Donald Trump becomes your next President, I think your prediction may be correct

[shlomo]

Bahahaha....the NFL is not going anywhere.

[Guest Robertfarr13021]

The nfl has more power than our federal government. Its only going to get bigger and stronger

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[dubleuhb]

If hillary, bernie , cruz or Donald Trump becomes your next President, I think your prediction may be correct

FIFY, were basically screwed

[Warren]

fwew that's a relief. I was hoping you didn't have any inside information about Olympic standard pole dancing.

[El Presidente]

They may change the rules. They did it here for Rugby League .....and that is one tough game.

The game if anything will get faster with more pure atheletes. I would miss that aspect of NFL.

Epitaphs have been written for more than a few contact sports over the years. If anything they have not only survived, but have become stronger.

[Ken Gargett]

Bahahaha....the NFL is not going anywhere.

agree 100%. sure, they may make changes (don't be surprised if a condition of being drafted is signing contracts to protect the NFL from legal action from head injuries etc) but there is so much many in it, going nowhere.

and while it appears the prohibition on US politics appears to be temporarily in limbo, it does seem we are going to have an election between fred flintstone and the snake from the garden of eden. not that we can be very proud of our lot.

[El Presidente]

and while it appears the prohibition on US politics appears to be temporarily in limbo, it does seem we are going to have an election between fred flintstone and the snake from the garden of eden. not that we can be very proud of our lot.

That is why you are banned as a Mod

[Ken Gargett]

That is why you are banned as a Mod

charming.

and had i not been banned, i would have been able to jump on this immediately, rather than pullout the old gasoline can.

something about better inside the tent pissing out, than out pissing in, springs to mind.

[Fuzz]

fwew that's a relief. I was hoping you didn't have any inside information about Olympic standard pole dancing.

Gymnastics already has the horizontal beam event, so why can't they add the vertical bar?

[Duxnutz]

Football as we know it in the states will cease to be around in 5 - 10 years.

Maybe sooner. To many head injuries. To many law suits.

To many serious crimes by NFL players effecting overall quality and standard

that was once a game that set a high bench mark in US sports.

Even if this statement is true; Baseball is the american pastime,

but football is closer to god, I don't think the football god(s) will

be able to save the NFL.

Bull dust. And I actually don't mind Trump running for president.......

[LGC]

NFL players are above the law. Tons of money is made from football. Money is more important than injuries. The sport will be around...

[helix]

Football is like apple pie in the US will be around forever.

[riazp]

NFL aint going no where. the all mighty dollar says so. Too much money being made by this league, just on sports books and fantasy alone. That is the reason why the NFL is the biggest sport in North America and dare i say the second biggest in the world after proper football aka soccer.

[saintsmokealot]

[wabashcr]

There's definitely something to this. I don't think football is going away in 5-10 years, but I do think its popularity is at or near its peak. The more information that comes out about brain injuries and the risks of playing, the more parents are going to refuse to let their kids play. My understanding is that youth football participation has been on the decline for awhile now. As far as elite professional athletes go, unless you're a top quarterback, you make more money playing baseball or basketball. And you also have a much longer career in those sports.

On top of that, the violence is a huge attraction. If they keep changing the rules to eliminate the violence, eventually a good number of people will start to lose interest.

I don't see the game going away. But I can definitely envision a time where it's no longer the behemoth it is now. I watched less NFL this year than I have in over 30 years. There are many reasons, but all taken together, there's definitely an undercurrent of fans that are tired of it all. It may not be measurable right now, but it will be soon.

[Ken Gargett]

There's definitely something to this. I don't think football is going away in 5-10 years, but I do think its popularity is at or near its peak. The more information that comes out about brain injuries and the risks of playing, the more parents are going to refuse to let their kids play. My understanding is that youth football participation has been on the decline for awhile now. As far as elite professional athletes go, unless you're a top quarterback, you make more money playing baseball or basketball. And you also have a much longer career in those sports.

On top of that, the violence is a huge attraction. If they keep changing the rules to eliminate the violence, eventually a good number of people will start to lose interest.

I don't see the game going away. But I can definitely envision a time where it's no longer the behemoth it is now. I watched less NFL this year than I have in over 30 years. There are many reasons, but all taken together, there's definitely an undercurrent of fans that are tired of it all. It may not be measurable right now, but it will be soon.

i understand what you say but when i was much younger, boxing was a much more noble sport than it is today and popular. it came under all sorts of fire and has dropped in popularity, partly because of injuries and partly because of the all-round dodginess of it.

but up pops this cage fighting or ufc or whatever it is. never watched it but it seems incredibly popular. yet it has to be more destructive and dangerous than boxing.

i think a lot more safeguards will come in for younger players. plenty of mums may prevent their kids playing but there will still be more than enough to fill the teams - think of the ever-increasing population of the states.

so many people who come from communities that are perhaps less prosperous than others see sport as an escape.

it will get bigger and bigger.

[mash]

The one and only thing that has affected how the NFL does business, and how they'll do it in the future, is the amount of money they get successfully sued for.

BTW, pet peeve. If something is excessive, it's "too".

[Corylax18]

Professional football is more popular, and profitable than ever. Probably the most Violent game of the year was the Bengals-Steelers game two weeks ago. It had the highest TV ratings of any game up to that point of the entire season. As much as (some) people complain about it, most people LOVE it (not the cheap stuff) me included.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/11/nfl-tv-ratings-continue-to-climb/

There are sports far more damaging to the brain/body than football, Boxing and MMA as mentioned above. Not mentioned is Youth Girls soccer/football, where the rate of concussions per thousand athletes is FAR higher than youth Football. Nobody is talking about youth soccer/football going away, even in the States.

The notion that NFL players commit crimes at a higher rate than society is completely false, the exact opposite is actually true. While Violent crimes and domestic Violence in particular, are much larger issues than other crimes NFL players still commit those crimes at roughly 50% the rate of society. By society I mean men 24 to 39 years old, if all age/gender demographics are included the numbers look much different, but really aren't accurate.

http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2015/8/25-31660_UT-Dallas-Criminologist-Tackles-Perception-of-NFL--_story-wide.html

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/

My opinion is that the raw athleticism of the players today has actually lowered the quality of the game. Head injuries are often a result of poor technique. Aussie football is just as fast paced and violent as the NFL, but they were almost no padding compared to the NFL. Aussie players need to tackle using form, go low, use your shoulder, wrap up. Their heads are inherently at less risk because of how they are playing. NFL players these days tackle by running as fast as they can towards an opposing player and delivering as much force as possible to a 2" contact patch between the top of their helmet and the side of the opposing players helmet. Wow, I wonder why the get concussions.

Different in 5-10 years, certainly. Gone, not a chance.

[Yagermeister]

As long as Goodell stops changing things I don't foresee any decline in popularity anytime soon.

[mygar]

Changes will have to be made or youth participation will slowly erode. Soccer is gaining steam in the states. I predict much more youth participation in the world wide sport...

[Ken Gargett]

i see that the two games on the weekend had a combined 99 million viewers in the states. plus how many more million around the world?

last year's superbowl, 115 million in the states, plus???? this year, they may top it.

doesn't sound like a sport in its death throes.