How fast will college football die?

[skibum]

High Schools know that their communities demand it. Very few don't have football teams and that number is not rising.

You're actually claiming that the number of high schools without football "is not rising." Really?

So those articles about schools dropping their teams are fake news?

Whitney Young high school in Chicago (where I used to be a volunteer coach in something other than football) actually fielded a team this year?

Centennial high school, just up the road from me in today in Maryland also fielded a team this year?

Wow, fake news really is everywhere.

The number of kids playing high school football is decreasing by 2 - 3% per year while the total number of kids participating in all sports is increasing, and total population of the US is also growing by about 1% per year.

Yes, more kids play football than any other sport, but that's not all on the "popularity of the sport." A lot of that is on the size of the roster as compared to the size of the roster on other sports. More high school male athletes play other sports than play football, and the numbers are getting more skewed each year.

 

[c502cid]

Soccer's issue is with headers. Heading the ball is already illegal for U11 and under. I expect that age to go higher over time, until it's completely legislated out of the game. Much more easily solved than football.

^^This^^ Every time I see a soccer ball come down from 40 feet in the air and smack into someones unprotected head I can't help but think that a helmet to helmet hit has nothing on this.

 

[dwyermj]

Interesting article on diagnosing CTE in the living on CNN today. Looks like they are getting closer.

 

[DBT]

My interest is waning due to over saturation, predictability, embalance (college), and boredom (NFL). Maybe boredom is a function of some of the other factors. But it’s more to do with games just being same old after same old and add to that over officiating and pace of play.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

My interest is waning due to over saturation, predictability, embalance (college), and boredom (NFL). Maybe boredom is a function of some of the other factors. But it’s more to do with games just being same old after same old and add to that over officiating and pace of play.

The NFL in particular is total crap. Gone are the days of Dan Marino and John Elway and Joe Montana tossing bomb after bomb in games where they snatched victory away with their offensive antics.

 

[skibum]

Pretty high quality article from WaPo on the struggles, good and bad, of high school football

DAMAGED BODIES, HEALING HEARTS

 

[SerenityBuff]

Not to worry, Dear Old CU is on the case.

 

[dio]

I haven't enjoyed the NFL for awhile now.... even when the Broncos were rolling my interest wasn't what it was like in the 90s and 00s.

The ref's are way too involved, and there is so much ticky tack stuff getting called, along with an inability to define what a freaking catch is... it makes the game a bore. Combine that with the fact that QBs can't be touched and the fact that big hits are way down (rightfully so to protect players brains).... it just isn't compelling.

College football is so much better because you see so many different styles, along with the tradition and passion and the drama that each came holds.

 

[sackman]

This Q-Collar could be one thing that might be able to prevent CTE. It restricts the flow of blood out of the brain causing the brain to have a tighter fit in the skull, thereby reducing the brain from sloshing around in the skull, which is the cause of concussions. Luke Kuechly is wearing one this season.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robert...in-function-in-football-players/#23bd23be148b

https://www.sporttechie.com/q-collar-bauer-neuroshield-concussion-prevention-canada-brad-keselowski/

https://www.si.com/edge/2016/06/15/...hnology-qcollar-neck-wearable-football-hockey

Restricting blood flow to the brain... what could possibly go wrong? I love this plan!!!

 

[MtnBuff]

Restricting blood flow to the brain... what could possibly go wrong? I love this plan!!!

Are they already testing it on allbuffs posters, on congress?

 

[Burrito]

Mine feels a little tight.

 

[azbuff]

With the billions and billions and billions of dollars at stake, someone is going to develop equipment that significantly decreases the risk of brain trauma, and probably pretty soon. If I were an NFL owner I'd be convincing my cohorts to pour tens of millions into developing such equipment. And I also wouldn't be wasting my time posting on AllBuffs.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

Mine feels a little sloshy

 

[NeverGiveIn]

With the billions and billions and billions of dollars at stake, someone is going to develop equipment that significantly decreases the risk of brain trauma, and probably pretty soon. If I were an NFL owner I'd be convincing my cohorts to pour tens of millions into developing such equipment. And I also wouldn't be wasting my time posting on AllBuffs.

Well, part the problem is consumption of the risk. Helmets today are amazingly more sophisticated than in the past, but it almost encourages players to hit harder, because they feel safer with the fancy helmets. If the helmets get even safer, players will see that as an opportunity to hit even harder, unless the rules are changed and the cons outweigh the pros.

Also, if CU wants to "study" this, they need to do it collaboratively with the CU School of Medicine. The medical school being in a different city from the flagship CU campus has been a detriment to both over the years since the medical school moved downtown almost 100 years ago. There isn't an easy solution to this issue, but if they want to be serious about this kind of clinical investigation, it needs to be done with people you're affiliated with who know what they're doing. And actually, CU has experts on the faculty, with bona fides, not to mention the neurosurgery faculty are on the sidelines at every Bronco's game (as consultants for the NFL). Just seems like a missed opportunity to have that kind of study run by the (no offense intended) "integrated physiology" and "public health" camps, without any mention of involvement of clinicians. At least UCHealth has started being sponsors of the games and has some presence, just sayin they should take advantage of that relationship.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

Well, part the problem is consumption of the risk. Helmets today are amazingly more sophisticated than in the past, but it almost encourages players to hit harder, because they feel safer with the fancy helmets. If the helmets get even safer, players will see that as an opportunity to hit even harder, unless the rules are changed and the cons outweigh the pros.

Also, if CU wants to "study" this, they need to do it collaboratively with the CU School of Medicine. The medical school being in a different city from the flagship CU campus has been a detriment to both over the years since the medical school moved downtown almost 100 years ago. There isn't an easy solution to this issue, but if they want to be serious about this kind of clinical investigation, it needs to be done with people you're affiliated with who know what they're doing. And actually, CU has experts on the faculty, with bona fides, not to mention the neurosurgery faculty are on the sidelines at every Bronco's game (as consultants for the NFL). Just seems like a missed opportunity to have that kind of study run by the (no offense intended) "integrated physiology" and "public health" camps, without any mention of involvement of clinicians. At least UCHealth has started being sponsors of the games and has some presence, just sayin they should take advantage of that relationship.

From the sounds of it this a conference wide initiative that will involve numerous institutions, not just CU Boulder.

The Pac-12 Conference announced today that CU Boulder has been selected to lead its Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Concussion Coordinating Unit (PCCU), a multi-year, multi-site research initiative that will establish best practices and clinical infrastructure for advancing education on traumatic brain injury in student-athletes through the use of SyncThink EYE-SYNC technology, a world leader in neuro-technology with foundational intellectual property in eye-tracking.

CU Boulder will serve as the coordinating institution for the PCCU in collaboration with the NCAA’s Concussion Assessment Research and Education (CARE) Consortium, with researchers and staff working to establish objective data collection protocols across all Pac-12 Conference member institutions and implementing measurable goals for assessing concussions in student-athletes. The CARE Consortium was jointly created by the NCAA and Department of Defense.

SyncThink, a California-based technology company, will allow the PCCU to integrate cutting-edge technology into its research efforts. Founded by Dr. Jamshid Ghajar, director of the Stanford Concussion and Brain Performance Center, the company’s EYE-SYNC® device is an FDA Class II medical device that is an integrated, head-mounted eye-tracking virtual reality system used for recording, viewing and analyzing eye movements in support of identifying visual tracking impairment.
As a part of this program, each participating institution will receive two EYE-SYNC® devices to capture objective brain health metrics among its member institutions and to support national research on concussion currently underway within the NCAA.

Matthew McQueen, an associate professor of Integrative Physiology, will serve as one of the primary research investigators along with Theresa Hernandez of CU Boulder and Dawn Comstock of the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and the Colorado School of Public Health.

All Pac-12 conference members will be phased into the PCCU over a three-year period, with CU Boulder acting as the conference’s administrative and operations coordinating unit

 

[cu3x]

the National Football Foundation has been running ads with a Mrs Martin, whose 3 sons were all successful players. She says it's taught them life's lessons and then tells parents, "you can't be afraid of them being injured".

nice to see how the nff is spending it's money

 

[hokiehead]

another take. maybe football isn't dying, just moving. interesting quote from Roger Pielke at CU.

Take a closer look and you'll find that while football participation is waning in some parts of the country, elsewhere it is holding steady or even growing.
Two football hotbeds, Florida and California, might give a more accurate view of what football will look like in the future: a regional sport, similar to hockey, lacrosse, field hockey and boy's volleyball but still substantially larger.
“Let’s say these number accelerate. It may change the nature of the game,” said Roger Pielke, a professor at the University of Colorado and director of its Sports Governance Center who has studied the issue. “Maybe it’s a southeastern thing.”

USAToday link

 

[DBT]

Restricting blood flow to the brain... what could possibly go wrong? I love this plan!!!

Seems to have worked for most of the posters on this board.

 

[DBT]

another take. maybe football isn't dying, just moving. interesting quote from Roger Pielke at CU.

USAToday link

Shouldn't this be in the "Now we take you to Florida" thread?

 

[skibum]

Seeing these numbers without population change numbers over the same time period only tells half the story.

If the trends mirror population growth (or decline), is it really a change?

In Michigan for example, a lot of schools have moved from 11 man football to 9 man because the size of the school has shrunk. I wouldn't say "high school football is dying in Michigan," as much as I would say "Michigan is dying." Florida is a reversal of that.

Texas is Texas, and what I think you see there is population (and high school) consolidation as rural areas and small towns die rather than football seriously shrinking - I also wonder if there's been a concurrent uptick in 7 & 9 man ball.

More interesting are Washington and California, where it appears that football is declining despite population growth (although something similar to TX could be driving some of those numbers in both).

And most interesting are Minnesota and New Mexico, where participation appears to be growing faster than population. It would be interesting to drill down into the numbers to see what's really going on there. (For instance, there could be local conditions that have led to a bunch of new schools coming on line during this particular 5 year period (like a state wide school building initiative approved in 2009)).

 

[AeroBuff99]

Seeing these numbers without population change numbers over the same time period only tells half the story.

If the trends mirror population growth (or decline), is it really a change?

In Michigan for example, a lot of schools have moved from 11 man football to 9 man because the size of the school has shrunk. I wouldn't say "high school football is dying in Michigan," as much as I would say "Michigan is dying." Florida is a reversal of that.

Texas is Texas, and what I think you see there is population (and high school) consolidation as rural areas and small towns die rather than football seriously shrinking - I also wonder if there's been a concurrent uptick in 7 & 9 man ball.

More interesting are Washington and California, where it appears that football is declining despite population growth (although something similar to TX could be driving some of those numbers in both).

And most interesting are Minnesota and New Mexico, where participation appears to be growing faster than population. It would be interesting to drill down into the numbers to see what's really going on there. (For instance, there could be local conditions that have led to a bunch of new schools coming on line during this particular 5 year period (like a state wide school building initiative approved in 2009)).

I have never heard of 7 and 9 man football. 8 man is most common, and 6 man is played in Colorado and Texas (and a few other unsanctioned places). I looked it up though and 9 man is played in Minn, ND, and SD. I haven't found anywhere that plays sanctioned 7 man football (not to be confused with 7v7 touch/flag games).

 

[skibum]

I have never heard of 7 and 9 man football. 8 man is most common, and 6 man is played in Colorado and Texas (and a few other unsanctioned places). I looked it up though and 9 man is played in Minn, ND, and SD. I haven't found anywhere that plays sanctioned 7 man football (not to be confused with 7v7 touch/flag games).

9 man also exists in Michigan, maybe it's an upper Midwest thing?

I thought I read an article somewhere recently that mentioned 7 man as an alternative (I think the article was about schools in Missouri?), but it's possible I was thinking of the 7on7 summer camps and other touch versions of the game.

 

[CULifer]

I haven't enjoyed the NFL for awhile now.... even when the Broncos were rolling my interest wasn't what it was like in the 90s and 00s.

The ref's are way too involved, and there is so much ticky tack stuff getting called, along with an inability to define what a freaking catch is... it makes the game a bore. Combine that with the fact that QBs can't be touched and the fact that big hits are way down (rightfully so to protect players brains).... it just isn't compelling.

College football is so much better because you see so many different styles, along with the tradition and passion and the drama that each came holds.

My sentiments almost exactly. If college players start getting paid quite handsomely, I think that'll be the death of that passion and some of the unique styles that make college football so much fun to follow.

 

[Jens1893]

Kareem Abdul Jabbar on why he thinks the NBA is America's league of the future

I never quite looked at it from this angle, but I think he has a point.

This prediction has nothing to do with the athletes themselves, their level of skill, their heart, or their commitment to their sport. Professional athletes are generally the highest expression of what the human body is capable of doing and therefore inspiring to the fans to reach higher and strive harder. In that way, no sport is superior to any other sport. But when it comes to professional sports, some are more inspirational, more exciting, and more entertaining to the general public than others and those sports take on a symbolic meaning for Americans. They come to represent our core values. They represent not just who we are, but who we want be.

Baseball once ruled all other sports as America’s pastime because it reflected the laid-back, less confrontational mood of America in the 1920s and 1930s. It was highly strategic, required precision teamwork, but moved at a pace reflective of hot summers in rural towns across the country. Football’s popularity rose with the increasing aggression of the America at home and abroad. Football embodied an America who faced all challenges head on, forcing its will on opponents through skill, guile and brute force. We were a country taking bold risks in order to succeed and football was the riskiest of team sports.
But America has changed and with that change we are seeing a shifting away from hoisting football on our collective shoulders. Although football remains our most popular professional sport, that popularity has been declining over the past five years, from 67% saying they were fans in 2012, to 57% in 2017. Professional baseball has also fallen 2% during that time. However, professional basketball has risen 3%. Before anyone starts blaming Colin Kaepernick, let’s remember that he first took a knee in 2016 and that the fan base erosion had already been strong several years before that.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...s-future-kareem-abdul-jabbar?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

[jizzrag85]

Kareem Abdul Jabbar on why he thinks the NBA is America's league of the future

I never quite looked at it from this angle, but I think he has a point.



https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...s-future-kareem-abdul-jabbar?CMP=share_btn_tw

Absolutely not. The NFL has become boring but I would rather watch the Browns and the niners battle it out than watch an NBA game. The game is boring, slow, the refs are even worse than the NFL, the players flop and it’s dominated by 2 teams. Or whoever the athletes have decided they want to crown the next champ. The NBA is terrible.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

Absolutely not. The NFL has become boring but I would rather watch the Browns and the niners battle it out than watch an NBA game. The game is boring, slow, the refs are even worse than the NFL, the players flop and it’s dominated by 2 teams. Or whoever the athletes have decided they want to crown the next champ. The NBA is terrible.

Soccer!!!

 

[MtnBuff]

Soccer!!!

You forgot the sarcasm font.

 

[jizzrag85]

Soccer!!!

I’d rather watch baseball and soccer honestly, I just can’t stand basketball. It’s just LeBron running full steam and jumping into people and getting a foul. His flopping is on another level, it’s embarrassing. At least the warriors can shoot but I’m sick of watching them win.

 

[BuffLuke80]

9 man also exists in Michigan, maybe it's an upper Midwest thing?

I thought I read an article somewhere recently that mentioned 7 man as an alternative (I think the article was about schools in Missouri?), but it's possible I was thinking of the 7on7 summer camps and other touch versions of the game.

I thought Rashaan Salaam played 9 man in HS, is that not right? Anyway, ive never heard of 7 man, 6 man, sure. My little nephews played 6 man down in Texas. Jesus, they light up the scoreboard, I know that, fun to watch.

 

[MtnBuff]

Rashaan played eight man football in HS.

The most common variants of the game at the HS level are the 8 man game and the 6 man game. Big differences being in the 8 man game you have three ineligible players on offense, the center and two guards. In six man everyone is eligible to receive a pass but the player receiving the snap from center has to complete a transfer of the ball (pass or handoff) to another player from behind the line of scrimmage.

Also field sizes are reduced to 40 yards wide. In 8 man it is usually 100 yards long but in some states may be the six man length of 80 yards.

Mostly these versions are played by rural schools or private schools that don't have sufficient enrollment to field regular 11 man teams.