For many years, Americans have been told that eventually “soccer,” or football as the rest of the world knows it, will take take over as the most popular sport here. To date, nothing has prevented football (American), baseball, and basketball from being the dominant sports in the United States. Even auto racing, hockey, tennis, and golf enjoy spectator sport status that seems unlikely to be rivaled by what we call soccer. However, there was once a time when boxing was high on the list. Although boxing’s decline might have been caused by sheer mismanagement, the barbaric nature of boxing may have expedited its fall from grace. The question is this–on the news of yet another brain being damaged by playing football, is there a risk of football declining in popularity over the long term? The follow-up question is–why engage in all of this realignment for football purposes if football’s future has serious question marks?
The most recent news is that Junior Seau’s brain examination confirm what many expected–he suffered from the chronic brain damage that has afflicted many former NFL players. Specifically, Seau was determined to have “chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dementia, memory loss and depression.” The very popular Seau committed suicide in May 2012. Amazingly, according to ESPN, Seau was never listed as having a concussion. Nevertheless, it is obvious that Seau had numerous head collisions during his career. There is no reasonable dispute as to where the brain damage came from–it was football.
One wonders whether football can be made safe. While helmet technology can advance, there is nothing stopping the players from growing larger, stronger, and faster. The collisions are only going to get more violent. One can only hope that there is a way to use technology to prevent these collisions from devastating the lives of the players–both in the short-term and long-term.
To be sure, the NFL appears serious about addressing player safety. It is a double-edged sword. The players seem to question the sincerity of the NFL, as fines for violent hits seem more based on public relations than actually protecting the players. The addition of a weekly Thursday game seems to support the players’ position that the NFL is more interested in money than safety. At the other extreme, as the violent nature of football is curbed, a segment of the population (including the players) are going to resent the changes. So making the sport safer for the players may not necessarily lead to an equally popular product. Needless to say, football has a problem. As others have noted, there is no inherent reason why football must be popular.
But as this data continues to stream out, at some point parents are going to question whether they can responsibly allow a child to play football. We are already seeing that shift to soccer. In more affluent communities, lacrosse is surging in popularity. Perhaps the popularity of football has peaked. If football begins being perceived as a barbaric sport akin to boxing, it’s decline will be inevitable. Can football can avoid the appearance of being a modern-day sport of gladiators? We enjoy the bone-crushing hits, but we also enjoy it more when the recipient gets back up and walks to the huddle. That is a level of toughness that inspires awe. We don’t want our heroes, or even opponents, being seriously hurt. This is not Rome.
Moreover, unlike boxing, football requires a significant amount of equipment for each player. At some point, it may no longer be economical for schools to offer football. Or, stated otherwise, there may be eroding support for incurring the expense of football equipment. Football cannot sustain its level of popularity if fewer and fewer people are participating at the scholastic level.
In the college landscape, football is the cash cow. That cash cow depends on continued popularity. The football money is the reason why there has been realignment discussion daily for the past several years. It is also the reason why the Big East–with lagging football prowess–runs the risk of extinction. While basketball can pay for itself, football is so popular and profitable that it pays for all other sports. In fact, the revenue has gotten so enormous that it is justifying colleges shifting their allegiance from one region to another.
But what if football ceases to be as popular as it is now? Will all of this realignment have been for naught? Perhaps this is the reason that schools like Florida State are not so eager to run off to the Big XII. While football money is nice, a college exists to provide an education. Abandoning regional comraderie for a few extra football dollars may be shortsighted, especially if football’s popularity is peaking. At the very least, the aftermath will be a lot of strange bedfellows. One can only wonder what happens if and when the “buzz” of football money gives way to the hangover of football retreating in popularity. Those profiting from college football should be keeping a sharp eye on the health of the players. If the perception of football changes, the profitability of football will not be far behind.
The Confidential 