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Originally Posted by JHikka
This is probably the most important point for the future of the NFL and football as a whole. Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune highlighting the issue:
The NFL today is totally fine with growing franchise valuations and revenue streams still doing pretty well, but it's the long-term viability that's a bit of a concern. Youth participation takes a generation cycle (~15-20 years) to take hold and have its affect.
Osmo is correct when he says that the NFL has the lowest ceiling of any of the major professional sports. There's really no growth potential for expansion, they've priced out most markets domestically, and there's fewer and fewer youth playing (and fewer people going to games). Combine this with limited TV rights contracts and sponsors who may be wary of concussions (or disrespecting the anthem) and it's not looking overly positive on the horizon. Something will have to give if the league looks for growth in the near-term future.
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Sometimes I wonder if the NFL of the future won't be similar to the Running Man (remember that?) or Hunger Games.
Maybe not in the sense that players will be forced to take part, but at least that they'll be limited those willing to take on a high level of physical risk for extreme financial gain. (None of them from "good" families of course.) But the general public's appetite for the game itself is unlikely to diminish.
One could say that that's already been the case for a while in pro football, but I suspect that it may move even closer to sports like boxing and UFC when it comes to those optics.