September 5th announcement:
Less than two months later:
PORTLAND, Ore. – With just a few games left in the season, the Madison High School Varsity Football team will forfeit its remaining games.
The varsity team started out with 72 players but those numbers have dwindled to 27, due to injuries and other players quitting the team. District officials told KGW those injuries included 10-12 concussions or possible concussions.
Meanwhile concussion lawsuits against the NCAA have been piling up. Sarah Ganim has a report here.
but this one is easy
I suspect High School full contact varsity football will be gone from a lot of high schools in the next 3-5 years – this is just one isolated incident but perceptual fear if a very big deal. Same reason that everyone that now coughs in your near vicinity has ebola …
Of course Nike didn’t pay the whole cost, they just contributed the bare minimum needed to get their brand into the newspaper story.
If you think it’s bad that colleges are becoming NFL and NBA feeder teams, wait until the curtain is pulled back on the high-school level.
don’t think that is going to happen – I suspect “club” football leagues for players 16-18 will form and players will be recruited from that pool, rather than high school.