Major sports that will not survive the 21st century as we know them

[Dick Whitman]

As we all know, boxing and horse racing used to be sports 1 and 1a in America. Not so much any more.

With all of the talk around here about "what's the matter with sports x," it's probably worth considering which sports will fade in the public consciousness over the next few decades. At some point, after all, the NFL won't exist any more. MLB won't exist any more. College sports as we know them won't exist any more.

The candidates:

• The NFL. It's the most popular sport in America, but trouble looms. The concussion issue has made the game less entertaining and thinned the ranks of amateur players. Ratings are already down. Millenials want to spend their Sundays climbing mountains and drinking IPAs, not watching football all day.
• The scotch neat of major professional sports, MLB. Does anyone under 35 watch? Does anyone under 70 watch after football starts?
• High school sports. People already have lost interest, in large part. Elite players don't even care about their school seasons.
• College sports. Grouping these together. Students are staying away from games. Football can't seem to get a playoff system that sticks. Basketball has been reduced to a three-week gambling extravaganza.
• College baseball. As we know from the "how to fix college basketball" thread, everybody ****ing loves college baseball. It is exempted from this discussion.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Goodness, you're in a way today.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Goodness, you're in a way today.

We already know that college baseball will be OK, due to the high ratings in Starkville.

 

[sgreenwell]

I'm bored so I'll play this hypothetical game!

- I don't know what percentage chance I'd give it, but of the four major professional sports, the NFL seems the most likely to collapse, given the concussion issue. I still think it's far more likely than not that it exists in 2100, although the form or makeup of the players might be completely different. It seems like the sport most tied to technology in terms of survival. (Are there equipment adjustments or medical research that can address some of the concussion concerns? Or conversely, will more research come out that shows they're even more damning than first thought?)

- After the NFL, I think the organization with the biggest chance of collapse is the NCAA. They've already lost some amateurism cases, re: video games, and college athletes are only going to get thirstier as the NCAA TV contracts get bigger and bigger. Heck, the professional sports leagues are greedy! Right now, they seem content to use college sports as an unofficial minor leagues. But if you're the NFL and the NCAA is wobbling (way more than it is now), why not be bastards and setup a region-based minor league system?

 

[I Should Coco]

SJ.com won't be around. We'll all be dead, and there won't be any newspapers to hire future "sports journalists" to replace us.

Have a nice day, everybody!

 

[SFIND]

Nothing will survive the 21st century as we know it. Might as well debate whether the Earth as we know it will survive the 21st century.

 

[MisterCreosote]

****, it's a 50-50 shot that we even survive until 2021.

 

[JohnHammond]

NHL and full body-checking hockey. With CTE and painkiller overdoses, look for a game closer to the women's game. Fighting will be gone within 10 years.

High school sports, which will largely be to changes in the education system. More schools are pushing a German-style system that spits kids into college or vocational tracks. Plus add the growth of charter schools.

 

[LongTimeListener]

So what's going to be the No. 2 sport behind women's soccer?

 

[MisterCreosote]

So what's going to be the No. 2 sport behind women's soccer?

I believe SJ style is "the futbol."

 

[Ace]

As we all know, boxing and horse racing used to be sports 1 and 1a in America. Not so much any more.

With all of the talk around here about "what's the matter with sports x," it's probably worth considering which sports will fade in the public consciousness over the next few decades. At some point, after all, the NFL won't exist any more. MLB won't exist any more. College sports as we know them won't exist any more.

The candidates:

• The NFL. It's the most popular sport in America, but trouble looms. The concussion issue has made the game less entertaining and thinned the ranks of amateur players. Ratings are already down. Millenials want to spend their Sundays climbing mountains and drinking IPAs, not watching football all day.
• The scotch neat of major professional sports. Does anyone under 35 watch? Does anyone under 70 watch after football starts?
• High school sports. People already have lost interest, in large part. Elite players don't even care about their school seasons.
• College sports. Grouping these together. Students are staying away from games. Football can't seem to get a playoff system that sticks. Basketball has been reduced to a three-week gambling extravaganza.

Wait. What's your second bullet? Is that a continuation of football or is that a new sport?

 

[SnarkShark]

So what's going to be the No. 2 sport behind women's soccer?

Field hockey

 

[Stoney]

So what's going to be the No. 2 sport behind women's soccer?

Drone ball.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Wait. What's your second bullet? Is that a continuation of football or is that a new sport?

Sorry. Meant MLB.

 

[Batman]

Auto racing would be my first thought. We might not even be driving out own cars in 30 years, and then when race cars get collision-avoidance systems it really will just be watching cars driving around in a circle for three hours.
Throw in declining attendance, high overhead, fewer sponsor dollars ... if NASCAR survives as a relatively major entity to 2100 it'll be a miracle.

 

[User 149557]

Or what if because it's the only place to watch actual human beings drive, motorsports become wildly popular?

 

[SpeedTchr]

High school sports are huge in many areas. They aren't going anywhere.

If cities get wise to the money grubbing and start cutting billionaires off when they beg for welfare, the pro leagues may be in some trouble.

 

[Batman]

The decline of car culture and the advance of technology will hurt NASCAR just as much. It's funny to me that it has the admittedly well-earned reputation of being a dumb redneck sport when a lot the guys in the shop -- and even a few drivers -- have engineering degrees. That's going to become more and more prevalent as the older generation retires and dies and the next one, the one that grew up programming cars instead of wrenching on them, rises up.
If NASCAR still exists in 50 or 60 years, I can see it being more like high-speed drone racing than traditional auto racing.

 

[Starman]

High school sports as most of us know them will be gone by 2040.

Because of concussion risk and safety/insurance costs, football will become a highly specialized and exclusive club activity.

Anybody "serious" about their sports will be enrolled in highly focused youth academies by fifth or sixth grade. They'll attend charter schools or home-school for part of the day, and spend the rest of the time training for their sport.

The kids left in regular high schools will probably still play sports, but it will be more like intramurals in emphasis, quality of play and spectator/media interest.

There will be no delusion that anybody playing high school sports will get a scholarship in anything.

Crowds will fall off to parents and immediate families. That will be it.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Agree with Starman. (Wait, what?)

I also think schools will benefit from the change.