Youth football leagues around the country are witnessing drops in participation. What does this mean for the future of the NFL’s viewership?
Everyone seems to have an answer when it comes to the decline in NFL interest this year. The easy answer is there is no one simple answer and the best answer could be is a number of solutions exist.
According to Forbes, one reason for the decline in TV ratings could be as a result of declining participation numbers at the youth level and that could spell trouble for the NFL down the road.
Popular opinion has steered concern for the NFL’s ratings dip toward Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests, the presidential election, new ways to watch the games and, at times, a football season that hasn’t been as scintillating as others. While those may contribute to a few channels changed for next Sunday’s slew of games, the NFL should also pay mind to the dwindling activity going on in youth football leagues around the country and how that could affect their viewership long-term.
Participation rates in youth football leagues are down nearly 14 percent from its peak in 2009. Part of this concern stems from the decline in the birth rate from 2007-09, caused by the onset of the recession, which leaves youth leagues and schools a smaller pool of child and student-athletes to pull from.
Though it also stems from shifting sports interests among children and their families. The Bill George Youth Football league, based in the Chicago area, witnessed a drop of 22 total teams from 2015 to 2016 when 190 teams dipped to 168 in just a year. The allure of soccer is tugging players out of pads and onto the pitch, but shifting family dynamics are also cause for the change. Moms–not dads–are calling the shots on which sports their kids play more and more.
That’s not to say the NFL isn’t trying. A director of youth football for the NFL has spent $1 million on flag football programs and another $2 million on instructing gym teachers the game so they can incorporate it into their curriculums. The NFL, in conjunction with Heads Up Football, is also making a push to inform coaches on safe tackling techniques that they can pass on to their teams.
Even with all the work dedicated to preserving football’s traditional contact-based, 11-on-11 style of play, it’s flag football that’s seeing the most rapid growth nationwide. More surprising is the highest bumps in participation are coming from an unlikely source: girls. Young women are carrying the increased interest in football, as 2015’s recent uptick in participation wouldn’t have been possible without girls getting involved.
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So yes, football is still alive and well in the country, but not in a way that harkens back to the old days. Younger generations of Americans have made it clear they’re becoming less enamored with the game’s classic contact-based form and are leaning toward the recreational style of flag football. Now it’s on the NFL to figure out how to get these newer football fans in front of their TV.