What will American Football look like in 20-25 years? Will it even still exist?

What will American Football look like in 20-25 years? Will it even still exist?

Sure it will exist. I enjoy watching handegg, but I find hard to think that the number of people playing it won't descend with all those soccer moms wanting to protect their childs from head injuries.
If something, it probably have more players from other countries, both because the sport its growing internationally and because the NFL will want to boost the international market with a couple of japs, some mexicans, one or two hues and the good old europeans

high school football won't have tackling any more

college football will probably require some sort of bizarre waiver system that grants players the right to do some stupid early draft bullshit

nfl teams will probably start signing guys to guaranteed 5-year contracts with stipulations that they won't play after that

No.

NFL will be bankrupt due to lawsuits from former players with head injuries. Flag football will takeover but be less popular than baseball.

NFL has the best lawyers in the world, these players aren't getting shit.

Wew

They will just keep adjusting the rules a bit and be fine no helmet to helmet stuff etc.

the fact that you idiots think there will be american football in 20 years is laughable. there won't even be professional sports in 20 years. human civilization is just one nudge away from cascading collapse. enjoy it while it lasts.

no seriously

the #1 growing sport in america is UFC

Money will always be a higher priority than money

It will still exist. Tackling rules will be way different. Penalties that are fines now will be permanent bans.

>Money will always be a higher priority than money
Floyd is that you?

No hard helmets

Do they not teach kids how to tackle properly so neither are hurt badly?

it's a retarded sport

>money bigger than money
Are you concussed right now?

Surely they do Jamal, but like any sports, sometimes you aren't fast enough or acurrate enough. It happens.

I don't think highschoolers will pick Mixed Martial Arts as sports, not at the same rate as handegg

I doubt they would, but I think the solution is to go back to soft or smaller helmets. Players wouldn't be so careless as to disregard their safety if they didn't have that giant helmet on their head to protect them.

At worst I think leading with the helmet or spearing will be outlawed at all levels. Basically wrap-up or leg tackles only.

If things don't move quickly enough in the next five years, criticism will start to be directed at youth coaches for not doing their part to change the culture from the bottom up. "Old school" coaches will start to be forced out.

The next step in some states is flag football being the only thing allowable up to high school as more movements take place banning youth tackle leagues.

Regardless, even with these steps to enforce safety, the number of children going into football will dip more.

The talent level of those going into college or the NFL would also dip since they would have years of development taken away from them. Or else those select states would be the only ones supplying college and the NFL with players. Meanwhile the states that move from football to flag move onto other sports, too.

Sure, but flashy hits mean you get recognized and get more money

More players will get drafted from europe

It will look more like a mix of the CFL and Arena football. Passing will be heavily favored and defense will all but be a formality.

because of concussions, pee-wee football won't exist anymore, neither will middle school football. highschool football will be gimped and college athletics will separate itself from college universities. students won't get scholarships anymore and won't have to go to classes, they will get paid though and probably unionize. the NCAA and athletic directors can fight it all they want, but it won't matter. they will eventually lose.

Popularity will inevitably decline. 20 years from now, the NFL will probably be the third ranked league. inner city kids outnumber rural kids in America, and the divide is only getting bigger. inner city kids are favoring sports like basketball and soccer more and more every year.

Football will still be a favorite pastime in Southern states and the Midwest, but will grow more unpopular on both the west and the east.

Baseball will have a resurgence due to more young athletes turning to the game, the NBA will grow stronger as well. Soccer has the most potential to grow though. It's played outdoors in any condition, just like American football. the difference is, it's a global game where as American football has a very limited scope to just the North American continent. There are far more opportunities to make money in the various soccer leagues than in the NFL. Dominant American athletes will naturally shift towards soccer because if their are hundreds high quality teams in the world that would pay top dollar for them.

NFL should be proud of what it accomplished, but out of all of the American sports, it has the least room to grow. Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey all have much higher international followings. Cricket and Rugby are more internationally popular as well. Football will only grow with the size of the American population, where as other sports will grow with the size of the world.

A neutered version will be the norm as the game will be unrecognizable due to several rule changes which are left up to the subjectivity of the ruling official, these changes will be crusaded by "people" who actually have no interest in the sport whatsoever

I'm sure a lot do but I also watched a documentary about southern USA kids going to football camp during the summer and the coaches had absolutely no concern about safety or injury of the players. The coaches were making out like they were preparing people to go to war and die, and I can see the reasoning behind it to get the players psyched up, but it didn't seem like a healthy environment for the kids who were very easily manipulated to put their bodies on the line in order to make their family proud of them.