Parents are killing football. Youth participation in America's big three sports has been falling, but falling much faster in football. The sport is dying from the roots up.
You need a more detailed analysis than that pal. Is youth participation going down across the board or is it only in certain demographics?
Study shows major drop in American youth sports participation http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/...s-participation-drop-decline-statistics-study Youth football participation drops http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...rops-nfl-concussion-crisis-seen-causal-factor
The reports are not conclusive to indicate anything in regards to the NFL. If the drop occurred because the parents of a bunch of scrawny, white, suburban kids stopped them from playing football it means nothing. I have seen these suburbanites. They are soft and have no balls whatsoever.
Hey... football is "football"! If you think it's too rough for you, then don't play. Take up badminton or something. (Personally, I do believe football is too rough and risky... but there are lots of other sports.) Wifey is a pediatric ortho doc. Says, "don't let your kids play football, ride a motorcycle, or jump on a trampoline... and if they skateboard, helmets + knee/elbow pads are a must". FWIW...
Troy Aikman suffered a lot of concussions too. Listening to his commentary you have wonder if he was born that stupid or if was all the concussions. Then they have him paired up with Joe Buck who seems to be a perennial nominee for Douche of the Year.
I don't really see a slow-down in youth football in the U.S. South, but we have a tradition of being a solid youth football support geography. I don't know about other areas in the U.S.