OT: The Future of Football

[QuantumMechanic]

Interesting (long) read over at SBNation.

The TL;DR version is that the author thinks the game is going to be forced to change a lot.

Football 3.0 is coming. This is what it will look like

 

[Simpelton]

I see football evolving into far more of a skill-first sport in the future. I don't think the physical element will ever be entirely removed, but I do think that penalties like unnecessary roughness will continue to be expanded in increasing efforts to mitigate injury. A point may arrive where football players resemble basketball players much more than they do now, that the battle of the line of scrimmage will become more about zone denial vs zone penetration instead of power against power, and that penalties will prevent the big power footballer from being as effective as he is right now.

I think it's very possible to play a game of professional football without quite the level of aggression and violence the game's played with today.

I also think, and this is my honest prediction, that it's going to take some poor guy DYING on the field to force the NFL to go in that skilled direction instead of the "traditional" emphasis on power football. For as long as the sport is governed by old men, it will face the future only reluctantly and only when it has no choice.

 

[Joker]

Well,I'm too clumsy to put this politically correct but the infusion of casual,formerly peripheral viewers of the sport will eventually be the death knell of the NFL as we hardcore lifetime fans know it.

 

[oldrover]

 

[fightingirish595]

Remove the facemask

 

[fnordcircle]

I'd be fine with this. In fact, the sooner the better. Anything to stop hearing about people like Joe Thomas who are having memory issues.

Junior Seau, Corwin Brown...players I loved. I'm fine with anything that reduces head trauma.

 

[VectorPrime]

The inevitable demise of football as we now know it is one of the big reasons why I am so adamant that we should maximize the time we have with Brady for as long as possible. Who cares about 10 years from now when the sport might literally not exist in its present form? We should be enjoying the privileged position we are in now since it'll never happen again.

Yes I'm pissed they didn't trade Jimmy.

 

[Tony2046]

That is a great article.

A couple of thoughts.

1. I never thought of the Insurance and liability angle at the high school level. He mentions that Insurance rates may become so expensive that schools may shut down their football programs altogether. That sounds like it would impact lower income schools much more dramatically than others. What are those kids going to do?

2. At the college and NFL level I wonder if they will require players to sign some sort of acknowledgement that basically states "you understand that you could get hurt playing football" to insulate themselves from lawsuits.

3. The league had an opportunity to get out in front of the CTE issue numerous times but have definitely blown it. Nobody trusts what they have to say at all. If they had handled it differently or more transparently they may have at least sustained some level of trust but instead it's BS scandal after BS scandal to distract people from the real issues.

4. I do think there are many professions that are inherently dangerous so football didn't have to be on its own island but they put themselves there by denying CTE wasn't thing to begin with.

 

[Deus Irae]

Well,I'm too clumsy to put this politically correct but the infusion of casual,formerly peripheral viewers of the sport will eventually be the death knell of the NFL as we hardcore lifetime fans know it.

All 4 main sports are busy trying to kill the golden goose.

1. Football wants to become flag football
2. Hockey wants to become speed skating
3. Basketball wants to become the WWE (fake tough guy drama) combined with a 3 point shooting contest
   
4. Baseball wants to eliminate pitching inside, contact of any kind, strategy, and children viewers

And that's before you even get to the idiocy of their drug and conduct policies.

 

[Dr Pain]

Look up Sprint Football. "In sprint football, players must maintain a weight of 178 lb (81 kg) or less and a minimum of 5% body fat to be eligible to play. The end result of these weight restrictions is that, unlike conventional collegiate football which places a premium on body weight and strength, sprint football emphasizes speed and agility" Sprint football - Wikipedia

Imagine a pro game where every player is an Eddleman

 

[mosi]

Remove the facemask

Heck, remove the hard shelled helmets.

But honestly, the people playing now are bigger and stronger than ever before. Can't go back.

 

[Thelonious]

The handwriting is on the wall: the sissification of pro football has already begun. Eventually the rules will become so goddam fussy that the "game" will become unwatchable.

I'm already in the process of transitioning to MMA as a place to get my violence fix. I suspect I am not alone.

And please, let's not lament the loss of such a fine way to "build character." That has always been a complete crock of ****.

 

[mosslost]

All 4 main sports are busy trying to kill the golden goose.

1. Football wants to become flag football
2. Hockey wants to become speed skating
3. Basketball wants to become the WWE (fake tough guy drama) combined with a 3 point shooting contest
   
4. Baseball wants to eliminate pitching inside, contact of any kind, strategy, and children viewers

And that's before you even get to the idiocy of their drug and conduct policies.

Did you even read the article? Football is doomed inside of two generations because there will be no players unless they change the game.

 

[Bradyking12]

All 4 main sports are busy trying to kill the golden goose.

1. Football wants to become flag football
2. Hockey wants to become speed skating
3. Basketball wants to become the WWE (fake tough guy drama) combined with a 3 point shooting contest
   
4. Baseball wants to eliminate pitching inside, contact of any kind, strategy, and children viewers

And that's before you even get to the idiocy of their drug and conduct policies.

In other words the future will suck

 

[lamafist]

Well,I'm too clumsy to put this politically correct but the infusion of casual,formerly peripheral viewers of the sport will eventually be the death knell of the NFL as we hardcore lifetime fans know it.

I think the exact opposite is closer to the case -- if the NFL doesn't figure out that it needs to reverse its present strategy of containment, trying to hide, downplay and distract from the seriousness of the CTE issue, it will be the wholesale abandonment of the game by casual viewers that will sound the NFL's death knell.

"Casual viewers" aren't peripheral to the NFL or any other major sport, and haven't been since the licensing of their television rights became every sport's primary source of revenue. Currently, about half of all Americans consider themselves fans of the NFL to some degree. That's where the money comes from.

If the nation's stomach turns on football the way it did on boxing, the NFL won't survive the dry-up of its main revenue stream -- for obvious reasons, a multi-team sports league's structure and overhead won't allow it to down-scale as rapidly as boxing did.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

They'll just get them to sign waivers.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Football doesn't have an audience because there are so many players, there are players because there is an audience- and money. If you offered 500,000 dollars to anyone will to get kicked in the head and get a DEFINITE concussion- the line would be around the block to cash in. That money for POSSIBLE concussions will sell like hot cakes forever.

To kill football you need to kill the audience. Obviously they're trying but all this will do is help funnel money into some new hands.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Well, since the future of the game is currently in the hands of an all-time mediocrity like Roger I am not too optimistic.

 

[SalemPats]

If you don't like physicallity don't play. If you're a wimpy sportswriter who complains find another job. I'm sick of the ****ifcation of sports.

 

[Dr Pain]

They'll just get them to sign waivers.

Fewer kids will play, fewer schools will accept the risk and have programs. Colleges will cut back on practices and many programs will fold. The NFL's talent pool goes to hell. I think we have already seen a decline in players in the draft being ready for the NFL, especially quarterbacks. I think the crap teams we see which seems to be the rule rather than the exception, are the result. We just basically saw the Patriots skip the draft and those players they did take, have the physical skills to be trained.

I started playing football in 4th grade and played through college. I did not encourage my son to play.