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SALT LAKE CITY — The NFL season is here. It's time to get out your favorite team’s jersey or hat, sit down, and watch your team play on Sunday ... or Monday ... or Thursday.
There are so many good memories that I have watching NFL games throughout the years. While I still keep tabs on the league, I can’t say I’m a big fan anymore. Why? Because being aware of the player's health issues has changed the way I perceive the league, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
The NFL’s TV ratings have dropped in recent years due to politics and protests. But that's not keeping NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other league executives awake at night; it’s the injuries and the drop in participation that's putting the future of the NFL most at risk.
There’s always been a serious and violent injury issue with the league and football, in general. It’s not really a surprise that over the last few years we’ve seen players retire at a younger age. Recently, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck retired after a “cycle” of injuries, rehab and attempted comebacks.
Some people, including Colts fans, booed and questioned Luck’s decision. Yes, it's a shame that injuries cost Luck his career. But here's what I don’t get: fans booing and questioning the decision of another adult that is not harming himself or others. Luck is retiring because the joy of football is gone for him. He’s taken a beating for years, both in the pros and college, and no one should question him about how he feels physically.
Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who retired in the offseason at 29 years old, praised Luck’s decision to pursue health instead of being in constant pain.
“Gronk” recently said he is getting treatment to help with his injuries, such as a serious quad injury he suffered during Super Bowl LIII — injuries that took the joy out of football. While his teammates celebrated a win over the Los Angeles Rams, Gronkowski said he was in bed crying as the injury — which he said lingered for two months after the game — kept him from sleeping.
Good for Luck and Gronkowski for getting out of the league when they no longer felt happy about playing. In the end, money can’t buy happiness and can’t buy your body’s ability to recover from serious injuries.
Injuries have always been a part of the game. But with athletes continuing to get stronger and faster, the seriousness of the injuries will likely go up, as well. As a result, parents are choosing other sports for their kids to participate in.
Since 2008, the number of participants in high school football has declined, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. During that same timespan, participation numbers in most other sports, including basketball and soccer, have risen.
One neuroscientist and former college football player told Vox recently that he believes youth football will be “considered unthinkable” 50 years from now.
The risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a major reason football participation has gone down. In a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, CTE was found in 99% of deceased NFL players’ brains that were donated to science.
In 2016, the NFL finally acknowledged the connection between football and CTE. A federal judge ruled in favor of former players who sued the NFL in a class-action lawsuit in 2015, with the NFL ordered to pay $5 million to thousands of former players who claimed to have suffered from CTE or other nerve or brain damage, including advanced Alzheimer's disease and ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, among other issues.
Concussions, CTE and other bodily injuries will continue to push parents away from letting their children play football. Other sports like soccer and baseball have serious injuries, too. But let’s be honest: those sports are considered less violent and there is less risk of serious injury to athletes.
No sport is truly safe. But with so many former football players discussing CTE and the concussions they suffered when they played, football has taken a hit both in participation and in the eyes of parents.
The early retirement of stars like Luck and Gronkowski isn't helping steer parents or kids to the sport. If anything, it's validating their decision to keep children out of football.
It’s not just parents who have influenced the change in football participation numbers, though. Teenagers are on social media and have grown up with “SportsCenter,” so they regularly see their idols sustain an injury, retire early, or, for those truly talented, get $100-million contracts and have long careers.
Those high contracts, though, are being awarded to the NBA, MLB and European soccer players. Football has high contracts, but most are not fully guaranteed. So, why would, for example, a teen who is both a baseball and football talent choose the latter sport? Why not pursue a career in a sport that guarantees most of your money and possibly puts you at less risk of suffering a life-long injury?
While making a big contract isn't the most important thing for teens, they are a lot more informed than previous generations.
The average career span of an NFL player is only 3.3 years, according to the NFL Players Association. Meanwhile, other sports have longer average career spans and have options to play in a minor league system, like Triple-A in baseball and the NBA’s G League.
With all this information, a teen knows the NFL may not be the long-term solution to help the family, let alone be a long-term career or the best for long-term health.
The NFL has made changes to its rules and equipment to help combat serious injuries. Youth football’s governing body has also made changes to help combat injuries. Both are trying to save football from losing its grip as America’s favorite sport.
Do I enjoy watching the NFL? At times, but not as much as I used to. It’s not because I feel a certain way about the league, or that my team hasn’t won, or even that I’m trying to be politically correct or “woke.”
For me, the reason the NFL is not as great as it used to be is that perpetuation of serious injuries to the athletes has made it evident the league doesn't take action — only taking action once the problem became too obvious to deny. Players are suffering serious injuries that could alter their long-term health, and all of that is not something I like seeing as a fan.
Perhaps, naively, I didn’t realize the consequences players endured when I was younger. Now, with all the information we have in front of us, the NFL just isn't as fun to watch as before.
I guess you can say the joy isn’t there for me as a fan.
