The Washington Post has an interesting series on the current state of youth/high school football, looking at the factors impacting participation (economics, safety concerns, etc.). The whole series is pretty good... here's the intro article:
The Changing Face Of America's Favorite Sport
For decades, few things have united America as consistently and completely as football — the autumnal obsession of small-town Friday nights, the ritualistic centerpiece of college-town Saturdays, the communal Sunday religion of a staggering percentage of the populace. In American culture, the game stands virtually alone in the way its appeal cuts across demographic lines.
To examine the way the demographics of football are changing, The Post analyzed decades of high school and college sports participation data and state-by-state demographic trends. The Post also conducted a nationwide survey, asking the same questions as a 2012 survey about attitudes toward kids’ participation in the sport, and interviewed dozens of young people, parents, coaches, administrators and experts across the country.
They look at some specific states to give a bit more detail on the national story. They cover California, Texas, Mississippi, and (most importantly) Ohio (specifically the Dayton region).
In a Midwest football hotbed, an economic divide
DAYTON, Ohio — The 50-yard-line of Welcome Stadium, the home field of Dayton’s five public high school football teams, sits just a few Hail Marys from the west bank of the river that bisects the city. The Great Miami River — overwhelmingly Black on the west side, overwhelmingly White on the east — has long symbolized Dayton’s acute divisions by any number of metrics: race, income, life expectancy, access to healthy food.
These days, you can add football to the list. Across the Miami Valley, once a cherished hotbed of football talent, the landscape is increasingly divided into haves and have-nots. And the latter group seems to grow in number every year, as urban and rural programs wither and football power concentrates in the suburbs.
As we look at recruiting (and transfers and roster management and NIL and...) I thought this might be worth sharing with the 11W hivemind.
(Mod Edit: Deleted a few paragraphs for brevity.)
