Seriously, the NFL is worried that what happened to baseball -- youth turning to play soccer in the spring instead of baseball, growing into adults that don't watch professional baseball nor buy tickets -- will happen to football next, if fall soccer encrouches.
NFL, NFL Players Association put up $2.5M four years ago to start USA Football, a non-profit to promote/support amatuer football in America. Check out their web site, usafootball.com
My worry is that as high schools get bigger in terms of student body population, and as America continues to urbanize, fewer boys will every learn to knock the crap out of each other and keep going. Football unfortunately is becoming a sport of behemoths, discouraging young men from playing a phyically adverse game that involves hard contact. Maybe lacrosse will become our next teen national physical contact sport and save our national manhood -- soccer sure as hell won't.
I'll grant you soccer is a sport, and is physically demanding, but it does not involve near-fighting conditions, complete with hitting, intentional physical and physcological intimidation -- and bell-ringing and bloodletting.
We need men that can fight, not dance around a ball.
Yeah, but no one gets hurt in baseball unless there is a fight, and NFL guys are weenies compared to Rugby players.
Nothing happens in baseball, hell, the players either sit on their asses half the game, or stand still in a field for the other half. Occasionally, they hit then run,but then they just stand there, waiting. No thanks........
Soccer's grace is that anyone can play it, nearly anywhere you have enough room and a ball. I am constantly amazed at how many freepers feel threatened by a sport, its so childish.