The end of college football

[Capitol Shock II]

I think it's going to happen. I think that the NFL is doomed and I don't think that you can abolish pro football without doing the same thing to college. The problem is lawsuits due to injury bankrupting the NFL. So does college football evolve into an amped up version of flag football or do other sports fill the void left behind by the sport. Or both?

Universities won't be tearing down their stadiums when football goes away so you either change the game to minimize injury and brutality and continue to use the stadiums or start using them for other sports like soccer.

If this happens, expect college basketball to be the huge winner and watch how a change away from football to basketball completely changes the college conference landscape. Expect WSU to be one of the big, big winners when this happens. Not only will the Shocks be part of a Major Conference but expect everything about WSU basketball to get better including scheduling, revenue and coverage.

I really, really like college football but in my opinion it's only a matter of time before it's retired.

[SubGod22]

If anything like that happens, it's 20+ years down the road. And I don't think football is going away.

[ABC]

I've wondered the same thing. So many injuries, deaths, suicides, at all levels of football.

I have no idea of attendance or TV ratings or down, but I know I've lost some interest.

Maybe Teddy Roosevelt was right.

[rrshock]

Football will most likely undergo a major change. No amount of padding in a helmet can protect these guys anymore.

[mattdalt]

If anything like that happens, it's 20+ years down the road. And I don't think football is going away.

Taking a more global approach, isn't the downfall of football inevitable? It does not translate internationally, (baseball and basketball have proven they do). Societies, eventually evolve away from the more brutal of sports, see the downfall of boxing. UFC is up, but no one would think of it in the league of baseball, basketball or maybe even hockey.

Forget lawsuits, as parents refuse to allow their children to participate in football, it will die through atrophy.

I think the thing that will shock most is not that football will eventually die, but the rapid rate at which this change will occur.

[ABC]

Taking a more global approach, isn't the downfall of football inevitable? It does not translate internationally, (baseball and basketball have proven they do). Societies, eventually evolve away from the more brutal of sports, see the downfall of boxing. UFC is up, but no one would think of it in the league of baseball, basketball or maybe even hockey.

Forget lawsuits, as parents refuse to allow their children to participate in football, it will die through atrophy.

I think the thing that will shock most is not that football will eventually die, but the rapid rate at which this change will occur.

I played high school football and was pleased when both of my sons played in middle school. However, they both gave it up as they got to high school. At the time I was disappointed, but now with some hindsight, I am pleased they chose other sports. (swimming, cross country and track)

[SubGod22]

I played high school football and was pleased when both of my sons played in middle school. However, they both gave it up as they got to high school. At the time I was disappointed, but now with some hindsight, I am pleased they chose other sports. (swimming, cross country and track)

I thought you said they chose sports? :)

[RoyalShock]

I would not allow my 7th-grader to play football simply because the risk of a life-altering injury is too high for me to accept. Besides, if you don't start sending your kid out to get pummeled by the 5th grade, they've missed the bus.

But at least here in the Buhler district I'm a statistical outlier. Football is more popular than ever and I just don't see that changing any time soon. As long as the team is winning people will want to be a part of it. It will probably take a death or permanent paralysis for that to change.

In the interest of full disclosure, I love marching band. It was a big thing for my oldest son and probably will be for my other son. I would not miss football at all, but I would miss watching the marching band.

[shockmonster]

I would not allow my 7th-grader to play football simply because the risk of a life-altering injury is too high for me to accept. Besides, if you don't start sending your kid out to get pummeled by the 5th grade, they've missed the bus.

But at least here in the Buhler district I'm a statistical outlier. Football is more popular than ever and I just don't see that changing any time soon. As long as the team is winning people will want to be a part of it. It will probably take a death or permanent paralysis for that to change.

In the interest of full disclosure, I love marching band. It was a big thing for my oldest son and probably will be for my other son. I would not miss football at all, but I would miss watching the marching band.

Interesting that some people feel this way. But I wonder what the statistical chance that a catastrophic injury happens to a high school aged player. I would think that it would be extremely low. The professionals that they point out are having head/brain injuries in later life have taken many more head shots that would be considered medically dangerous that take years to affect them. I have a feeling that Alzheimers disease happens just as often to people who have never played football as to those who have. I just don't see the connection to high school football.

[Capitol Shock II]

I think that our society has crossed the threshold of change from a "How can we make this work" society to a "It's just too big of a risk to try" society. Back in the day, there would be enough people out there that would figure out a way to save the game through innovation of some sort. Now it's just too dangerous and brutal to try.


We just don't seem to have as much of the "Right stuff". The risk / reward ratio has been reduced also. Why risk it all for greatness when you know that whatever success you achieve will be taken from you in some way or somebody will tell you that you can't risk it all for some reason.

[The Mad Hatter]

Interesting that some people feel this way. But I wonder what the statistical chance that a catastrophic injury happens to a high school aged player. I would think that it would be extremely low. The professionals that they point out are having head/brain injuries in later life have taken many more head shots that would be considered medically dangerous that take years to affect them. I have a feeling that Alzheimers disease happens just as often to people who have never played football as to those who have. I just don't see the connection to high school football.

There have been studies done that suggest that high school players are at even higher risk of head/neck injury than college players:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/the-risk-of-high-school-football-tackles/

Even more importantly, there have certainly been major spinal injuries at the high school level. The odds of a paralyzing injury are not high, but the outcome is so severe that even low odds will naturally weight higher on parent's minds:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/369537-percentage-statistics-for-football-players-serious-injury/

Seven cervical cord injuries with incomplete neurological recovery occurred to football players at the high school level and one occurred at the college level, according to the 2009 Annual Survey of Catastrophic Football Injuries. This makes the rate of this serious injury 0.46 and 1.33 per 100,000 players, respectively. The majority of cervical cord injuries occur during games. Between 1977 and 2009 -- including the nine players previously mentioned: 253 high school players, 34 college players, six recreational players and 14 professionals suffered an incomplete recovery from a cervical cord injury.

Also, there have been concussion related deaths at the high school level:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/29/2375925/concussion-deaths-have-changed.html

Football has the highest concussion rate (75% chance of concussion) and people who have gotten 1 concussion are at higher risk of getting future concussions:

http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html

Are those overall rates of catastrophic injury low? At one level, yes. Compared to most activities, even other sports, no. The risk may or may not have an impact on how parents view the children participating in football moving forward, but the concerns have a legitimate basis.

[Kung Wu]

I think that our society has crossed the threshold of change from a "How can we make this work" society to a "It's just too big of a risk to try" society. Back in the day, there would be enough people out there that would figure out a way to save the game through innovation of some sort. Now it's just too dangerous and brutal to try.

Apparently someone needs to figure out a way for football to adopt the airbag helmet:

http://www.hovding.com/en/how

[shockmonster]

I got a concussion one time swimming when I was a kid falling off of a slide Should I not swim or slide anymore? It's more likely to be injured driving in a car and having an accident. Should I not drive anymore?

[MadDog]

Whats going to kill college football is the cost to the ordinary fans that attend the games. I hear people here complain about $30 game tickets for Shocker basketball. Try having KSU football tix. My goal line seats easily cost $300 per game for some terrible games and those always fun middle of the night drives after a night game. When the kids are out of school those tickets are gone!

[The Mad Hatter]

I got a concussion one time swimming when I was a kid falling off of a slide Should I not swim or slide anymore? It's more likely to be injured driving in a car and having an accident. Should I not drive anymore?

This is not an argument. We all realize that there is inherent risk (of varying degrees) with every activity. The issue was never whether danger existed at any level. The issue is at what point are the risks high enough and the benefits low enough to make an activity not worthwhile.

On the point of swimming, certainly concussions can be received from a variety of activities. The point is that (as I note above) football is substantially more likely to result in concussions than other activities. Let me put it this way: you can get mercury poisoning from eating too much fish and you can get mercury poisoning from drinking a vial of pure mercury. That does not mean that eating fish is just as dangerous as drinking mercury.

In regard to driving, being in an automobile is clearly an very, very dangerous activity. The reason it is accepted is that the benefits of doing so (or at least the problems of not doing so) are so high that the danger becomes acceptable. Most basic economic/social activity is predicted on use of cars in our society, so there is little choice but to accept the danger. Playing sports on the whole is not nearly as essential as driving, much less playing football when there are less risky sports options on the table.

Once again, this is not an absolute issue of whether we should or should not continue playing football. Some people may find the risk worthwhile. Some may find ways to mitigate those risks. The point is that the risks are high enough that it is not an unreasonable reaction for parents to question whether their child playing football is worthwhile.