I think it'll swing back a bit. Basketball has advantages as you detailed, and yet American basketball players are in decline. A high percentage of the top players are coming from outside the US.
Soccer is a phenomenal game, but I don't ever see elite leagues in the US. We'll see more Pulisics in Europe though.
The softening of American culture has had the biggest impact. Can't yell at players anymore or they fall apart. It's daycare now to coach a team, even at the pro levels.
I don't really see the need for the Jimmy style yelling these days. Players tune it out quick and the coach has to be replaced because of it.
My opinion is that there is plenty of incentive for these players to perform...money and bragging rights. Once those guys get on the field, they want to show off and perform and show who is the top dawg.
I guess you can argue that yelling can fix discipline...but I don't really get it. All the coach has to do is bench the player. If the coach can't do thay because of an owner like Jerry saying the star player has to play...i guess yelling might work. But I still don't get it.
Softening? I just think there are a lot of injuries and parents have turned their kids off. Local radio host Corby Davidson's wife won't let their kids play football due to risk of head injury or paralyzation.
Football is hard to organize. Lots of equipment, big fields are needed, decent weather ia needed, lots of participants are needed....it's kind of a pain in the butt compared to basketball which can be played indoors year round. New York and Chicago don't produce football players. They produce basketball players because it's so damn cold.
I think Americans are just going online...gaming ir creating content or something else. Sports and the athlete don't seem as popular as the jock once was back in the day. Computer skills, creating content or being a character online is more popular than athletes, imo.
Sports are just a pain in the butt to organize. Basketball is the only easy one because every recreation center in the US has what?....a basketball gym. You can play by yourself unlike football and soccer.
Also, I see kids not wasting their time with the Big American 4 Sports if they don't have the body size to eventually make money off it. There is a lot of wasted hours spent on Sports when most kids would never have a chance of turning it into a career.
Just kinda seems like organized team sports that are a pain to organize are slowly dying off.
