[dfwgator]

The NFL has a big problem that’s going to hit in a few years.

Young kids just aren’t into football like their parents were. They are gravitating more to soccer. You’re more likely to see a poster of Lionel Messi in a kid’s room than for any football player.

And you even have Bo Jackson saying that he won’t allow his kids to play football. In 20 years, football might be facing the same fate as boxing. And it wasn’t so long ago that boxing was the biggest sport in the country.

[Obadiah]

I honestly think you are spot on. Anecdotal evidence seems to bear this out. This changeover has been building slowly but steadily. And now I sense the momentum is picking up in pace.

I am seeing numbers of really athletic kids now participaing, not just the chubby wannabes who alternate soccer with band practice.

[Alberta's Child]

I agree with you. I think there’s also a trend of people just getting bored with many forms of commercialized entertainment. That’s why ratings are down across the board — not just in the NFL.

[notdownwidems]

The NFL has a big problem that’s going to hit in a few years. Young kids just aren’t into football like their parents were.

They are gravitating more to soccer. You’re more likely to see a poster of Lionel Messi in a kid’s room than for any football player.

That's a problem for the NFL, but not the biggest problem; that is, the game STINKS...it is so boring watching referees confer after every other play...watching an instant replay 10 times from every angle while everyone pontificates whether his knee was down or not, the arcane rules that call one player for taunting while the next one is doing the very same thing with no call...it's maddening. And the final straw: the rule change that gives the receiving team the ball on the 25 yard line after a touchback, the EXACT OPPOSITE of what they should have done, virtually guaranteeing more of the most boring play in football, the touchback. The game has become legalistic, stultifying and BORING.

And that's not even factoring in the 20 or so minutes of commercials every hour. Stupid, mind-numbingly stupid commercials,OH SO politically correct with just the right mix of minorities and women; which make me feel I have lost IQ points just being exposed to them

Now THAT's what's really wrong with the NFL, which has been all but eliminated from my household.

[ctpsb]

With all due respect I disagree with the soccer is catching on and is better than football angles.

First of all soccer is again being shown this time as really, really ready to break into the big league as compared to all the other times is has also been described thusly. This has been said now for over 30 years with citations of youth soccer being popular. Youth soccer has been popular now for these same 30 years but professional soccer may be a little more popular now but even with the higher ratings of 33% the average attendance was 3,439 as compared to the NHL’s (considered America’s FOURTH most popular pro sports league) average attendance of 17,500 in spite of unchecked immigration from other countries [who are more likely to be soccer fans] the last few years.

With all due apologies to Bo Jackson and LeBron James who also said he wouldn’t let his kids play football youth and those on this board who say football isn’t as popular as soccer youth football participation increased again last year to 1.23 million despite the media’s continued assault on the game.

http://usatodayhss.com/2016/survey-shows-increase-in-youth-football-participation

There will always be more youth soccer participation than football as 1.) Youth soccer numbers include girls and 2.) There is no equipment such as helmets to buy and is less physically dangerous for younger athletes and rightfully so most parents opt for this as a first option in youth sports.

Don’t know how top NFL players’ jersey sales stack up to Lionel Messi’s Barcelona club jersey sales of 1.15 jerseys but the NFL had merchandise sales last year of 1.55 billion dollars.

And while soccer has no commercials not sure if that’s good or bad but no offense if there was a commercial break one probably wouldn’t miss much as there would probably be no score or any other change of situation such as field position.

Soccer is a physically demanding and difficult sport but just because people are mad at the NFL right now (and rightfully so as I also support the boycott until the NFL get’s its’ PR and Social Justice Warrior tendencies out of its’ system) I just am getting a little tired of the claims that soccer is now ready to take over America.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Boxing was never the biggest sport in the country.