I got this off JSOnline:
Troy Aikman is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He’s in the College Football Hall of Fame. He’s a National Football League lead game analyst for a broadcast network, Fox.
So since his first year in the NFL in 1989 until now he has had a pretty good seat from which to view the popularity of pro football.
You might not expect Aikman to be someone to predict the NFL won’t be as popular, say, 20 years from now. But that’s exactly what he said last week in Los Angeles, during a panel discussion about bringing an NFL team to that city. He did not say what sport would replace football in popularity.
"I believe, and this is my opinion, that at some point football is not going to be the number one sport," Aikman said. "You talk about the ebbs and flows of what’s popular and what’s not. At some point, the TV ratings are not going to be there. I can’t justify that because the numbers say otherwise (now), but I guess time will tell."
Concern about concussions could have an impact on football’s popularity.
Aikman said he does not have a son, but he doesn’t know if he would encourage him to play football.
"I wouldn’t tell him he couldn’t play football," Aikman said. "If he wanted to, I would say, ‘OK, great.’ "
But "with other sports, you want your kids to be active and doing those types of things," Aikman said.
Aikman suggested televised NFL football might be spread out over too many days.
"At one time, watching football was an event," Aikman said. " ‘Monday Night Football’ was a big event. Now you get football Sunday, you get it Monday, you get it Thursday and, late in the year, you get it on Saturday."
Fans in Los Angeles, like fans who can’t see Thursday night games on the NFL Network, may have grown used to that absence.
"People in Los Angeles realized, ‘You know what, life’s OK without the NFL.’ If I’m an owner, I don’t want any fan thinking that."
I may have to agree with Troy. Long range future of football at the collegiate and NFL level may indeed fall out of the number spot in American sports.
50-60 years ago many sports fans probably never imagined the baseball would tumble from the top favorite sports spot. But it has and it seems to be slowly sliding down.
My guess is there are a number of reasons why baseball dropped off. Player union and salaries. Owners greed and stubborness. Not adapting to the market.
I see the same issues coming up with football. College has become a mega-business for big schools. And with it, ticket prices and related costs are slowly putting the game out of reach for true fans and making it too professionalized also. Players are becoming major celebrities. Not only locally, but nationally.
The NFL is there too. Rising salaries, new stadiums that burden owners, fans and taxpayers. Advertising costs seek to raise revenues and those too come back to bear down on the consumer with higher prices.
It begs the question too: At what point does the desire to win become diluted by the money and power that engulf its participants? How many college players worry more their playing future than how they can help their team win? How many pro-players just show-up on Sundays knowing they paycheck will be deposited if they catch that pass or not, or tackle that runner or not?
Yeah, I think Troy might be right. Like he said "guess, only time will tell". And will I live long enough to see it?
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