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…which would probably eventually result in one involving penguins on a rampage.
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Not likely. In many states, including Texas, football would continue even if they added land mines to Middle School+ gridirons.
Oh, I spent 14 years in Texas, graduated high school there, and that's where my football playing days were spent. Believe me, I understand football isn't just a social activity it's a religion. For those of you who our outside the United States, the Allen Independent School District in Allen, Texas spent $60,000,000 to build a stadium with a capacity of 18,000 spectators that opened in 2012. It is the 5th largest high school stadium in the state, but so far as I know, has the distinction of being the only one of that size that exclusively serves one school.

There's so much cultural momentum behind football that it's decline won't happen overnight. But if safety issues aren't addressed at some point, it will decline as parents simply stop allowing their sons to go out and get brain damage knowing the odds of them turning pro are next to zero. It's tough to envision an America without the juggernaut that is the NFL, but boxing and horse racing used to be much bigger here than it is today, but how many kids do you know boxed as a youth?
 

but how many kids do you know boxed as a youth?
No where near where it was before (but that is largely because there isn't money in it and it isn't on network TV anymore, which happened over time for a variety of reasons, including some pretty shocking deaths in the ring). But there are definitely a lot of young people getting into things like olympic boxing and hoping to be professional one day. You won't see them as much in suburbs I lived in a city (moved out recently) and used to go to a boxing gym there where you saw a large number of young people training.

The other thing is, with boxing you really have to start young to be good. My grandfather won the golden gloves and was a pro (as were his brothers) and they all started at very young ages. I started much later in my early 20s so it really couldn't be more than a hobby for me

I will say, I love boxing, but as soon as I had nieces and nephews, I didn't want them getting their heads punched like I did (especially at a younger age)

With Football I think the injury rates are actually worse because tackling does considerably more damage (I did a bit of sanshou which allows body slamming and it was far, far worse than getting kicked or punched in the head in my opinion: I was almost always walking around with a concussion when I did it).
 


Oh, I spent 14 years in Texas, graduated high school there, and that's where my football playing days were spent. Believe me, I understand football isn't just a social activity it's a religion. For those of you who our outside the United States, the Allen Independent School District in Allen, Texas spent $60,000,000 to build a stadium with a capacity of 18,000 spectators that opened in 2012. It is the 5th largest high school stadium in the state, but so far as I know, has the distinction of being the only one of that size that exclusively serves one school.

There's so much cultural momentum behind football that it's decline won't happen overnight. But if safety issues aren't addressed at some point, it will decline as parents simply stop allowing their sons to go out and get brain damage knowing the odds of them turning pro are next to zero. It's tough to envision an America without the juggernaut that is the NFL, but boxing and horse racing used to be much bigger here than it is today, but how many kids do you know boxed as a youth?
Agreed.

Also going to throw this out there, but the NBA has much smarter with expanding their sport and league internationally than the NFL.

Moreover, I personally find rugby far more interesting to watch than American football, even if I don't yet understand everything that's going on in the former.
 


With Football I think the injury rates are actually worse because tackling does considerably more damage (I did a bit of sanshou which allows body slamming and it was far, far worse than getting kicked or punched in the head in my opinion: I was almost always walking around with a concussion when I did it).

Of the many concussions I've had, most were in football, then a few snowboarding, and only 1 in Muay Thai, after I got swept during a non-sweeping drill. Getting rocked in sparring wasn't even a thing really in all the years I did it, but that one sweep out of nowhere messed me up for days.
 

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