Really? It’s already common knowledge that this sport damages brains, yet you are stil providing your time and money to it? Why wound that stop in the future?
There is growing awareness and I expect the media to increasingly focus on this issue and throw it in our faces moving forward. We’ll see but I think in 5 years it will be represented as “politically incorrect” to be an NFL fan, unless the brain injury issues are explicitly addressed.
I have a slightly different view of this. Yes, it is common knowledge that the sport damages brains, and yes people continue to watch it, and yes there will be continued and growing focus on it, and these aspects will impact the sport negatively as it relates to $$ and viewership. For me, though, what I have seen in the last several years is that through the most recent CBA between the NFL and NFLPA, contact in practice is severely limited in an effort to protect the players health, and the result has been a noticeable decline in the quality of the product. Specifically, what I mean is, football is a violent sport, and to be good at it requires a tremendous amount of repetition and practice. Because of the newer rules limiting the amount of contact in practice, interior play (O Line and Defensive front 7) is atrociously poor from a historic POV. And it is only getting worse. Add to that, that because the QB's are not being protected nearly as well by their offensive line, many other things are being legislated out of the game in an effort to protect the guys that can't be protected by their teammates any longer....and the game is becoming harder and harder to watch because of the poor interior play, and the incessant regulatory imposition on the flow of the game by the refs. Don't read the above as a complaint, but simply an observation.
Add to all of that that participation is dramatically declining at the High School level. Lower participation on a year over year basis (shrinking talent pool), a quality level in play that is declining on the steady, and an oversight by leagues and refs that is making the flow of the sport less and less enjoyable, increasing coverage of all of the negative impacts of the sport on the body/brain.....circle back around to declining participation, etc, etc.....
The sport is in a death spiral, and pretty soon it is not going to be recognizable on any level of play (High School through the NFL) because the quality is going to continue to get worse, and the legislation is going to continue to get worse. I say that in 10 years, the powers that be are going to have a critical situation on their hands because revenue will be on a dramatic decline, and the younger talent pool will be less than compelling.
