I think it would be popular.

I don't hate either America or college football. In fact I am a fan of both.

That does not change the reality that football has stagnated economically when compared to other sports.

And to be clear, this has been a consistent concern. I was against the stadium expansion in the 90s. I feared that it was throwing his money after bad. I don't think that my initial reaction was wrong.

It will be because the business model completely outgrew the original structure of the sport.

It will not be because of global popularity…

Americans don't give a crap about cricket (which I would be has a much smaller roster size than the NFL, but I don't care about it enough to look it up) nor do we give a shit about soccer.

Rest assured that if we as a country did though, we'd be the best at it. Who gives a shit how football is doing globally? It's still by far the #1 sport here, and people tune in to watch the Super Bowl around the world.

What a very weird tangent to take this thread into, and you do it here of all places?

Too many players, too few games to keep up with other sports financially.

I just threw the cricket part in a a rather surprise comparison. Baseball and basketball have much higher earning potential in the US anyway.

is hurting economically?

of any major sport. To your point, they aren't hurting, but other sports are doing better.

each other how much better they are than us knuckle dragging rubes.



EDIT: Just want to add, I'm not lumping ndhouston in with the "social elites" I reference above, and honestly, I think your reaction to him was a bit too much. I think he's clearly letting his European perspective skew his opinion, but I didn't get the sense he was trying to be anti-football.

it deserved the mocking.

I had one up last night but had to go to bed and didn't want to post and run so I deleted it.

It is just an awful post.

ism was abound above and it definitely miffed me. It was a strange direction to dovetail the whole thread... yeah, cricket in Mumbai will take down the NFL.

Don't turn a discussion of ESPN into "American football" is a second rate sport.

They'll be throwing dirt on both of us before soccer or cricket is mainstream in the USA.

CTE may take down football in this country eventually, but other sports won't.

Or that top American athletes will look to move to Mumbai for the money? The rest of the world loves soccer because it's cheap to play and they don't have Football.

of the factors you mention. It may accelerate, but I don't see it having any sort of significant effect on the game. I think the bigger issue is that due to CTE and the perceived toxic masculinity of the sport, a lot of parents don't want to let their kids play football anymore, particularly in middle class and affluent parts of blue America. Because of that, I can see football beginning to skew even poorer and more southeastern than it already does. I think it could end up being somewhat similar to hockey, but bigger obviously, in the sense that football will likely be followed nationally at the professional level but really only played regionally at a high amateur level.

From a college football standpoint, I think this clearly most affects the Pac 12. HS Football participation in California is declining at a time when overall HS sports participation is increasing. Missing a year for covid may just accelerate this decline. USC is always only a coach away from winning NCs, but beyond that, I'm really not bullish on the Pac 12 top-to-bottom being able to match the SEC or Big10 in terms of quality anytime soon.

I feel like using the average salary for a 200 player league (and you used the average of the most valuable franchise) vs a 1600 player league is unfair.

For those unaware of cricket lingo, he's your "third baseman" playing for the bunt when Aaron Judge is batting. The silly mid off is the "first baseman" in the same situation. In all seriousness a couple of high level cricketers have died from injuries.

the market sizes (demand) well exceed the supply of pro cricketeers.

Offensive