Owatonna, MN Correspondent-Even though declining attendance at football games isn’t currently caused by fans not caring to watch an increasingly violent sport which causes too many severe injuries, fan interest may eventually decrease faster because of the injury issue. Because football athletes are bigger, stronger, and faster than ever, it’s a given that injuries will become more frequent and more severe. There is also a growing trend in sports toward more awareness about injuries, especially head injuries like concussions. In the forefront of that awareness is the discovery that many retired footballers from past generations are reporting severe brain issues such as Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Because of these issues, many parents of young football players are deciding to pull their sons from the sport. Many other teenaged athletes are making their own decisions and opting for a sport other than football because they fear the consequences of TBI as a result of too many concussions or one severe concussion. If fewer children never start playing football and the best athletes in the world choose other, less violent sports, the football talent pool will eventually decline, and the quality of the professional game will suffer.

In addition to concussions, it seems like other injuries are on the rise in pro football. It’s rare for a team to not lose several players for most or all of a season due to injury. And if too many of the best players on a team are sidelined for too long, fans will quickly tire of watching second-stringers play most of the games.

Pro football can combat the concussion issue by improving equipment, especially helmets, in a way that would provide more cushioning to the head and restrict the whiplashing motion caused by a hard hit. Rules can also be changed that would do more to protect players, such as outlawing any contact to the head or increasing penalties for those infractions. If nothing is done, injuries will continue to increase, and pro football will risk losing its position as America’s favorite sport. That day may come sooner than we think.

Myrtle Beach, SC Correspondent-No, concussions and violence are NOT the reason Football will lose its rank as America’s favorite spectator sport. The reason is because these big-old-baby players want to get political. When have you ever heard someone say “I want some politics in with my Football?” NEVER! We watch football to forget about our daily lives, to get away, to drink beer and have fun with our friends yelling at the TV. The LAST thing we want to see is some overpaid athlete protesting on the field. Especially, when they are protesting something they don’t REALLY know anything about. Why was Rosa Park’s protest so effective? Because she was LIVING IT. Find another way to raise awareness and get out of my football game.

Sheffield, Jamaica Correspondent-Pro sports, especially contact sports like football is a recipe for collisions and concussions. That’s not news to anyone.

In fact, we are so far ahead that studies have shown that football is linked to CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). CTE is a disease of the brain that affects those who sustain frequent trauma to the head. Sounds like the entire culture of football, eh?

Regardless, the love of football is not growing cold. Sure, the numbers at a game has declined speedily, but that does not amount to anything. Violence is simply not the reason why the attendance rank is falling.

People are no longer interested in being live and direct at a game because they have better things to do. Yes, I said it. Living is very demanding. It takes a lot out of you. To follow and keep up with every single game and be present take an enormous amount of precious time that people are now groping to get back.

To supplement, the seats are empty because of the cost associated with watching these games in person. Those seats aren’t cheap. They cost a pretty penny!

Might I add too, that it’s even more costly when you have to travel miles upon miles just to see the games.

Hell. To. The. No. My family and I don’t love football, but we sure as hell wouldn’t stand the cost associated with watching the games if we did have a love for it.

Things and time have changed. People have also realized that they have more important things to do with their time and money.

On that note, violence does not cause people to miss out on football. FYI, people love violence and just like sex, that stuff sells.

Gastonia, NC Correspondent-The increasing violence and head injuries have nothing to do whatsoever with the declining ratings for NFL football. We have proven long ago that we like our bread and circuses best when the circuses are bloody affairs, and seeing highly paid men slam their bodies into each other is the closest we have today to the Circus Maximus or Colosseum.

The NFL is losing its way because it’s become a political whipping boy. Colin Kaepernick let the genie out of the bottle, and now the players have become a rabble of protest-happy spoiled children wanting to continue to make millions while disrespecting the country that gives them the opportunity to work only a couple dozen times a year while making millions.

Another misstep has been the oversaturation of the TV landscape with games. Sunday used to be the Big Day, with Monday Night Football ringing a Cosell-fueled end to the football week, leaving us all hungry for the next week at 1 p.m. Eastern, when our pigskin warriors would again face off. Now there are overseas games airing at 9 a.m., Thursday Night Football, Saturday football in the last three weeks of the season and the NFL Network airing repeats of games 7 days a week. Watching the game is no longer a national event, and it’s become less important to miss the Sunday games when you’ve got multiple other chances to get your fix of televised brutality.

So, get your players in line, stop trying to play every day of the week…and maybe start calling a few more penalties on the Patriots, OK?

Cartwright-The NFL isn’t losing viewers because of the concussion issue. The NFL is losing viewers because of the national anthem protests and the injection of politics into the game by players. First, I could care less what any football player, or any athlete for that matter, has to say about anything, and I sure as hell don’t think any of them are qualified to be political commentators. They are entitled to their opinion just like anyone else but that doesn’t mean they should be allowed to use the game and their roles as platforms to push their views and opinions. When I tune in to watch a game, the players are on my time, and when they’re on my time, I don’t want to see or hear any of their political beliefs or their social justice stuff. They can do that on their own time off the field and off camera.

The NFL leadership, the players, and the owners are pretty stupid. They just can’t understand that their actions alienated about half of the country and half of their viewers. If you’re in business, you can’t afford to alienate half of your potential customers. If you do that, you’ll end up out of business. Best to keep your mouth shut and not get involved.

Here’s my personal experience with the NFL national anthem controversy. I got up one Sunday morning to watch the Ravens versus the Jaguars game in London. To my surprise, dismay and disappointment, the players took the knee during the national anthem yet remained standing for God Save the Queen. I promptly turned off the telecast and have yet to watch any NFL games since then. The NFL lost me as a fan that Sunday morning. They disrespected me. They disrespected our country. They disrespected our flag. This disrespected our national anthem. They disrespected all the men and women who have ever served and died for this nation. I lost all interest in the NFL, and I lost any respect I may have had for anyone in the NFL.

The coddled and spoiled little brats in the NFL who are sitting back in their big houses, driving around in fancy cars, going to parties, and living the high life are totally out of touch with reality. They know nothing of the people they claim to be concerned about, yet they are filled with righteous indignation over the social injustices in this country. What are they doing about it? Not a damn thing. They’re all talk and no action. If these issues were so important to them, why don’t they take the millions they get from their contracts and use that to help improve the lives of people in the inner cities? They want to raise awareness but they don’t want to take action to do something about it. It’s so much easier to just take the knee when the cameras are rolling and then go home and forget about it.

I for one am not willing to come back to the NFL until Commissioner Goodell, all of the owners, and all of the players formally and publicly apologize to me and the millions of fans like me who they disrespected and offended with their actions. Since that isn’t likely to happen, I will have a lot more free time on my hands on Sunday afternoons in the fall from now on. Oh, the things I will accomplish in that time. So here’s to you Mr. Stupid NFL Player for giving me back my Sunday afternoons!