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Originally Posted by ScreamingViking
I agree.
But if the traditional North American prolate spheroid football leagues face a steep legal cliff sooner rather than later, the disposable income of the "older" generations of fans will be up for grabs.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
I wouldn't say the demise of the NFL and CFL due to class action lawsuits is never going to happen, but I doubt it will be anytime soon. 20 years from now I expect that the NFL and CFL will still be more or less doing their thing as they are today.
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I think that its more likely that we would see some signifigant changes to how the game is played rather than anything dying off. That's exactly what drove a lot of the changes to football over 100 years ago. Too many people were getting hurt or dying so they changed rules, added pads, etc. Ironically it may be back towards a rugby style of play. Not that it doesn't have it's own concussion problems but it seems to be a a level less than that of football.
Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
I think rugby has room for growth in the same way that a penny stock might go up from 10 cents a share to 25 on some rumours. I mean, it could eventually become a heavy hitter in North American sports, but that might be 50 or 100 years from now.
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We're right at the first step of that coming to be (if it does) with Major League Rugby entering it's third season and up to 12 teams. I don't think they'd ever catch up to MLS but I could see them finding sustainability at a level similar to pro lacrosse. Another Canadian team to join the Arrows would go a long way to boosting the profile in Canada.
Not to mention the Wolfpack, who just signed Sonny Bill Williams, one of the most famous players of either type of rugby. I'm obviously a rugby fan so I know all about him, but does he have much name recognition to the more casual sports fans here? Most people have at least heard of the All Blacks but probably not specific players?
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