Football's Decline Reflects Socioeconomic, Racial, and Political Divides

As participation in tackle football falls, the sport's risks are increasingly borne by boys in poorer, more conservative areas, while flag football rises in popularity among youth.

• Football participation is declining across the US, with the sport's risks increasingly borne by boys in poorer and more conservative areas, according to a Washington Post analysis.
• Boys in the most conservative, poorest states continue to play high school tackle football at higher rates than those in wealthier and more politically liberal areas.
• White and Black males are playing tackle football at declining rates, while Hispanic boys increasingly take up the sport.
• Football's long-standing racial gap appears to be growing at the college level, with the proportion of White players declining, and that of Black players rising, at faster rates than national demographic changes.
• Flag football has surpassed the tackle version in youth participation in 2017, with more than 1 million children ages 6 to 12 playing flag football regularly in 2022, compared with about 725,000 in tackle football.

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