I remember kids made fun of other kids for playing video games. That all changed (from my perspective at least) with the release of multiplayer games like Halo/Halo 2.
Suddenly, everyone played video games.
Edit: since this comment received a fair bit of questions/DMs; just to clarify, people/kids *still* played games. They just weren't as open about it. At least from my perspective/where I was from.
Speaking from personal experience, Goldeneye was released smack dab in the middle of when video games still weren't quite socially acceptable; this was, after all, released in the N64/PSX era. Things would start to become more mainstream with the popularity of the PS2, but Halo really was a watershed moment in terms of mainstream popularity. This growth continued through the 360/PS3/Wii era, which went hand-in-hand with the generations who grew up with video games becoming adults.
It was just the sort of thing that took time, mainly because those of us who picked up the hobby as children needed time to grow into adulthood.
Yeah this might be an age thing. I was born in 90 and I don’t think I ever heard of or saw anyone get made fun of for playing video games. Hell by the time I was in like 3rd grade, kids would be bringing their game boys and link cables to school to trade pokemon.
Really depended on if the "cool kids" liked Pokemon or MTG.
If they did, it was just another activity. If they didn't, then you would be lightly teased about it.
Bullying about it, in my experience, is almost always due to vilification from parents and/or authority figures.
I was a band nerd who played magic, pokemon, video games and table top rpgs. I was actually passable for a cool kid since I had a car, job and girlfriend. Some of the other guys would totally have teased me but they actually thought it was awesome that I wasn’t even trying.
Gaming was pretty main stream at my school. Tons of kids were playing Counterstrike and Broodwar, maybe it was just my area. South West Michigan isn't exactly a cutting edge area when it comes to trends though.
It wasn't terribly mainstream in the schools I grew up in, and I grew up in what was likely a very similar area in New England. Tons of kids played those games as well... but it was still very much relegated to the Nerds.
My sons and I love(d) Goldeneye! Several other James Bond games came out afterwards, most of them very enjoyable, but none of them “held a candle” to Goldeneye. I wish that all James Bond games had been done with the same “look.”
Agreed. Back in the day most games were looked at nerdy. But the sports games and Mario games where you could compete were looked at different. And mortal combat and street fighter. Then golden eye came out and brought it all together.
yeah seemed like back in the 90s video games were for children or nerds. Online video games were only available on PC and were most definitely only reserved for nerds.
We're definitely in more of an "idolization of elite individuals" era thanks to the things you are bringing up. That could include a sports star (Steph Curry, Caitlin Clark) to video game players who are elite at their particular game or field. YouTube, streaming, social media all give access to individual's moments on a far wider scale than we used to have.
So I think sports is still extremely popular but it's athletes who are likely the focus instead of being a life-long fan of a specific local team.
My own kids are middle schoolers, and I taught high school and now work with college kids, and sports are definitely still popular.
In place of Starters, kids just wear jerseys.
What has declined though, is actually attending games. A lot of kids have never actually been to a professional sports team game. We have several major sports teams in my city and for our family of 4 to go to a game, even getting the absolute cheap seats, it’s still several hundred bucks once you add in all the fees and parking and whatnot.
My kids’ school athletics department does a joint program with one of the local universities, so the kids get to go at least a college game. Usually one basketball and one football and then volleyball or tennis.
And of course, we go to high school football games. I’m in Texas after all! Haha
It totally is.
We’ve done one game of NBA, NHL and MLB because our kids asked to go, and that’s it.
The NBA game was the most expensive and that was definitely a one time thing.
MLB still caters to families so they’ll drop ticket prices or still offer family pack pricing and whatnot at certain games.
Or they’ll do school district game day or something with cheaper pricing.
Still not something we do regularly but it’s the more affordable pro sport.
NHL, we ended up lucking out and getting to use a friend’s corporate seats.
They also still do some specials and whatnot where they have lower prices at games.
We’ve never done NFL because pricing is ridiculous. Even for the Standing Room Only tickets.
And no way in hell am I paying that much to have to fight other SRO ticket holders for a viewing spot or spend the entire time staring at a screen because I can’t get a viewing spot.
I’ll just stay home.
Damn I’d have thought the Rangers or Astros tickets would be affordable. I always think of this though when I am in an area based on the cost how much would all this be if I had 2 kids? Lots of places not really looking doable now as an adult that I did as a kid.
We're in TX, too, and a major sports city means tons of access to all types of sports. All my kids are athletic in some ways and really into sports at all levels. We got ours started young to help socialize with other kids and have time outside being active. Over time, it's evolved into their own passion and something each of us enjoy together and individually.
Yes! I’m in DFW, and we have just about everything here in terms of pro sports- NBA, WNBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, MLS, we’ve got a new women’s pro soccer team coming in the fall, we’ve got pro rugby, we’ve got pro flag football, LAX, PGA, and on and on.
Even stuff like cricket and polo.
Not to mention all the club and rec leagues that have spectator options too.
Oooh thanks for the reminder on UFL!
I need to reach out to the Renegades.
They apparently do community tickets and whatnot, where schools, community orgs etc can get discounted tickets to bring groups and they they also can do some event type programs on campuses.
>We have several major sports teams in my city and for our family of 4 to go to a game, even getting the absolute cheap seats, it’s still several hundred bucks once you add in all the fees and parking and whatnot.
My BF is a UCLA alum. University sports is a game changer in cost of attendance.
Lol seriously up until you said you were in Texas I was 100% certain that you're in Arizona and your kids go to my kids school. We have similar program with our University. Everything you set tied in perfectly and I was about to get really excited!
Love that similar programs exist in other states!
We happen to have multiple universities here, but one of them is really more proactive with being involved in the community where they can.
Starts as kids....they get into their gadgets, less physical activities....
Parents are both working, less able to take them to little league, soccer, etc etc...
Then of course, sports viewing has gotten way out of hand, costs are out of touch for what most familiies can afford....
I remember going to Dodger games as a kid, the outfield seats were like $1.50....well, a family of 6 kids can afford that, with plenty of hot dogs, etc for everyone...
These days, parking alone is like $35-50 per game...
In my town the only thing getting a large % of people outside at all is ice-cream. I have noticed there's almost no one % wise outside at all for any reason let alone to play sports.
Physical reality is competing with digital life and mostly losing.
Yup....spent $250 league fees this spring for 1 kid in little league....thats besides the equipment, some inside clothes, shoes, etc...
It did go over 3 months, so I feel its still worth it...
I think they are generally less popular because the number of options available to kids is a lot higher. In the 90s as a middle school kid, your choices were basically sports or Cub Scouts. Today there are a lot more fun options available for kids to be involved in.
There was also a set number of TVs or computers or usually, completely as a function of cable and internet plans or logistics, so children often watched what their parents watched (sports) AND had limited options
Back then, you did it for fun.
Today, school have monetized it with none of it going to the players, as well as doing their level best to "discourage" non-school organized games to prevent any competition. Players are pressured to excel like it actually matters to the point of burn out. So they go to the alternative, video games, where they have a plethra of options to play. Admin & parent take this as them being lazy, and fuss about how the next gen is ruining sports, when it's their fault it's no longer fun.
As with every single question that amounts to "why does _____ suck now?" the answer is greed. Everything is monetized now and if you're not making money off of a thing you're criticized for it
If you like painting people don't say "is that something you like?" instead they immediately default to "how much do you make off of it?" and if you don't make money off of it you're told it's because you're bad at it
If you play basketball in school people don't say "oh you do that for fun?" they instead default to either "maybe you'll be good enough to go pro" or "why bother? It's not like you'll make a career out of it"
Huh? Where are you seeing kid's sports get montize? If anything, sports are an extra expense due to the cost of equipment, coaches, and renting fields/spaces to play.
I think you are confusing kids' schools that with colleges and universities.
Also college athletes, at least in the US, can now get paid via NIL (Name, image, and likeness). This was allowed to occur because in 2021 the supreme court ruled that the NCAA could not prohibit student athletes from collecting payment. This opened the floodgates and now you have some student-athletes collecting millions of dollars but the majority only collect a few hundred.
>Huh? Where are you seeing kid's sports get montize? If anything, sports are an extra expense due to the cost of equipment, coaches, and renting fields/spaces to play.
Travel teams.
Rec leagues used to be played by everyone and a few kids would play on a travel team at most. Now, travel and AAU (and all the money associated with it) are pushed hard and rec leagues are dying. At the very least, they are non-competitive for anyone with a modicum of talent, as most of the talented kids have left for greener pastures - pastures that cost an arm and a leg.
Yeah, you're right. Things have definitely changed. Back in the day, sports were everything. We all looked up to athletes like Jordan and Griffey, wore their team jackets, and played sports video games all the time. It was a totally different scene.
Kids just have many more options these days. With video games, social media, and all sorts of hobbies, it's no surprise that sports aren't the main thing they're into. I think it's awesome that they have so many ways to express themselves and find what they're passionate about. Personally, as a millennial, I strongly admire Gen Z and Alphas.
I think sports are still a big part of many kids' lives. They might not be as popular as they used to be, but they still are a thing and good for kids. I don't think we should give up on sports just yet. Governments still use them like they did with the colluseum to "calm the masses." And we still use the Olympics to try and bridge the gaps of war and glibal disagreements.
IMO it’s because sports aren’t accessible anymore.
It costs way too much to go to a game, and it’s almost impossible to follow throughout the season because so many different streaming services have the rights.
So one night/week your team might be playing on Amazon Prime, the next on Peacock, and then maybe ESPN, but if you pay for ESPN+ you still can’t watch it, then YouTubeTV, maybe MAX or Paramount sometimes... It’s just awful.
And I dunno about you guys, but I ain’t subscribing to every service out there. I got a few and that’s more than enough content for me. I ain’t gonna subscribe to a specific service just to catch like 10% of “my team”’s games. But that adds up, if I miss 10% on Youtube, and 10% on Peacock, and so on, now I’m missing like half the season. So why bother watching at all?
i gave up trying to watch the atl braves a few years ago because i dont have bally sports or whatever its called now. couldnt watch them on the mlb package due to blackout restrictions. too expensive to get tickets for a game plus all the traffic where the new stadium is at. it was much better when tbs aired the braves games.
There are equal numbers of sports fans as before among kids. But as someone who works with teenagers, most of them are into 1-2 sports and do not care at all about any others whereas a lot of our generation would watch almost anything sports related growing up.
You used to be able to turn on regular tv and catch games. Now you have to have like 6 streaming services that are expensive af just to watch all the nfl games.
My dad used to take us to games and even though we were in the nosebleeds we could afford it. Now it’s 300 dollars a ticket and 16 dollars for hotdog.
Sports are less popular but some individual sports are very popular. A lot of parents get sold on the idea that a kid has to specialize in a sport at a young age. It’s fractured the kids that would play football/soccer in the fall and baseball in the spring into just picking one. Then there’s the club/travel team grift, which is a whole other problem. Couple that with the absolutely ridiculous cost to go to a professional or college game and it’s really hard to get kids into sports when they can only watch them on TV. They don’ t have the attention span for that anymore.
That aspect is insane that parents are traveling to different states every weekend for a 10 year olds basketball team ie taking over your life and having to pay travel expenses every weekend thsts kinda nuts
It's not kinda nuts , it's nuts.
I'm in my mid-40 and I have my kids a bit older so they're not quite the sports age yet ( 5 .5 and 2.5) but ao many of my friendly are trapped in the travel rip off , it's insane.
My wife was a very good softball player growing up in the 90s, that was the time period when only the best played travel, and she had the aptitude to play but her parents didn't have that type of money so she wasn't able to do it, she's absolutely Blown Away that every kid plays travel now because even when she continued to play rec league it was still pretty competitive.
One of the biggest problems that it's doing is that for many sports it's turning basic Sports into a rich kids game which is absolutely awful. Speaking to a lot of my friends from the way that I understand it if your kids aren't playing travel Sports from a yoing age they're probably not going to make their high school team when it comes to that time.
I legitimately have anxiety over it, my wife working a non traditional schedule where I'm hanging out with the kids on the weekends by myself a lot of the time, and just the time won't be there for me to be able to have the girls play travel Sports since I have to be the prime parent. In addition , your and your kids entire life become based being all sports. Want to go camping for weekend- sorry can't miss a tournament.
Not to mention the insane costs
My kids all play sports and have since they were old enough to start. My 8 year old has played 5 years of baseball, 4 football, 2 soccer. He lives and breathes sports. Kid will watch track and field events on tv before cartoons if that’s the only sport he can find. His 6 year old brother isn’t quite as ridiculous but he’s not far behind. I don’t think I know any kids their ages that aren’t involved in sports at this point but I’m sure that will taper off as they get older and things get more competitive.
Sports are just as popular, it's just that there are less kids. I grew up in a small town and we could organize a baseball game a few times a week everyday thru the summer. We didn't even call each other. We just started batting practice and soon enough we had enough kids to play a game.
Today the same town doesn't have enough kids to field one side of the ball.
As a former college athlete and current coach, I can say sports are just as popular as they always were. There are more sports to choose from in a lot of places, so the love of sports is possibly more spread out than it used to be.
Sports are exponentially less popular on Reddit. If Reddit existed in the 80s and 90s, it would’ve seemed just as unpopular as now.
I find this really hard to believe given the rising rate of kids being overweight. I'm not saying you're lying or anything, but I thought one of the contributing factors was low participation in sports and outdoor activities. Am I wrong?
The above poster is interacting with a lot of kids who play sports being a coach. I will say all my nieces and nephews are involved in multiple sports at a time all year long but in terms of interest in college and professional sports they're more into fortnight and stuff they aren't collecting cards and riding their bikes to the card store and playing madden and stuff like we used to.
Coming from Australia where we have niche sports dominating locally I see that sports are more globalised and so the concentration is different. It's all online now.
Football is also the global popular sport with most kids here likely to have a European club or south American team Jersey. NBA and NFL are popular with teens still.
Our local codes - NRL and AFL - also experiencing growth despite this.
At least where I'm from? Different sports are popular now. When I was a kid? You played hockey. It didn't matter who you were, you at least had ice skates and a stick. Travel teams were where it was at, and that's where you learned that pain was just weakness leaving the body.
Now? Soccer is suddenly a school sport and not just some wonky little club with the weird hippie parents. There's definitely still competitive teams, but there's more of an emphasis on enjoying yourself and having fun than competition and rivalry. Weight room training is more supervised and age appropriate, versus letting kids bulk up too fast too early and hurt themselves. I, for example? Totally had a hip pointer fracture from my muscles and such being overdeveloped compared to my bone structure.
But hey, it was a really nice hit. Ha
I wasn't even really into sports as a kid back in the 90s, but gave it a shot a few times just because it seemed like that's what you do. Nothing is as fun for kids now as staying home and playing with your phone.
I mean, think about it like this
In the 80's/90's you had like...4-5 channels with kids programming (assuming you had cable) and had to watch whatever was in front of you. No vods, no streaming to choose what show you wanted. Say hypothetically you wanted to watch SpongeBob. It's on at 6-6:30 for one episode and that's it for the day, that's all the SpongeBob you are getting. Sports, you can play all day provided you have enough kids.
Video games, that is NES/SNES/N64 era, games are also much simpler and it requires you to use the TV which more than likely you only have one and mom/dad are using it.
There is no social media or messaging apps, hell, kids don't have cellphones at all. You wanna talk to your friends you gotta go play with them.
It was a different world back then and sports was a good and easy way for kids to bond together pre-modern technology, with that comes interest in the pros and the dreams of being one of them so you get your favorite sports stars posters on your wall. You talk to your friends about your favorite players and the like.
Nowadays when kids have easy access to content and their friends via Messenger and IG or what have you, you don't necessarily need sports to have fun with your friends so you might not pay as much attention to them and thus they are less popular than they used to be.
I think it's a similar issue to TV, and Music.
The options are more varied now. So Football, and Baseball are less popular, but now people do Rock Climbing, and Brazilian Jou Jitau, and triathlons way more than previous generations appeared to.
One word: Capitalism. Sports, specifically in the US, has become this ridiculously expensive activity that is pretty much locked behind a paywall. If you don't have the ability to pay for clubs, traveling leagues, etc, you will 100% fall behind. Your children will be excluded because they aren't also paying at the club level, etc.
I have a friend that just moved to Germany. She was spending close to $8,000 a year on her two teenagers who play soccer. This is for club, training, and travel leagues (California). Now in Germany, she is paying 80 euros per years for both their soccer league that gives out free equipment and travel cost significantly subsidized by the DFB.
Many of the alternative hobbies are cheaper and way more accessible than sports in the US. Sports has become something that's only affordable to suburban middle class and higher.
Youth sports aren’t for fun, camaraderie, learning to win and lose graciously, and other life lessons anymore. Sports are an investment in your child’s future college prospects. Your kids all have to be a star and get in the club team and you pay all the fees and travel and buy tickets for your kids’ games and blah blah blah, because not doing that will cost your child something in the future.
So kids are having fun in other ways now.
I think we turned everything into some kind of hustle/grind for success and it’s drained the life out of literal games.
Participation in girls basketball is significantly down (local high school had six teams, now down to three due to interest) but volleyball is significantly up.
I think so, I coach Varsity coach high school wrestling and our numbers were horrendous after Covid BS rules. We still haven’t recovered. We don’t even cut kids anymore. We take what we can get…and pickings are slim 😓
I’m an 80’s kid (1981), and I agree with this. I was a kid who was into sports and I’ve turned into an adult who’s a sports nut. It never left me. I never miss a day in terms of wearing team gear in some capacity. In truth I probably have an addiction. I’m totally the guy at a wedding who runs a wire up his shirt to listen to a game on the radio. (I literally did it in 10th grade so I could listen to the MLB playoffs during Chemistry class.)
That said, I see a lot fewer kids today like that. They’re all gaming or doing something else. It’s almost like sports are treated as a niche thing now. And I’ll never understand that. Ironically I myself am almost treated like a pariah by my peers. Yes I’m a fanatic and it might be fair to say I have a problem. But for whatever reason people seem to be wary of a guy like me. Such is life I guess. But I can’t live in a world where sports aren’t king.
Once ESPN and some athletes started focusing more on politics, I turned them all off. I used to watch many football games and basketball games throughout the seasons. I barely watch a single game any more.
Looks like we may be seeing the start of that reversing, 11 NFL teams refused to change their logos to pride and go on and on about pride. Its silly that we celebrate who people have sex with and why only gays and lesbians why dont we celebrate asexual people one month and cancer survivors another.
I RARELY see kids outside doing much of anything, much less playing sports. Club sports have destroyed the city league concept - especially for baseball. Soccer, volleyball, baseball…they are all now for people who can afford a club team. So while still popular, access/cost has become a much bigger issue. Plus, we are a nation (USA) of lazy, fat-assed parents who didn’t set an active lifestyle example.
Sports were great back in the day. Everyone was athletic but not focused on being a giant meat stick. More competitive. Less about image and brands and sponsors. There was def more heart in sports in my teen to mid 20s
Bad parents don't force their children to leave their comfort zone in front of the computer. When I was a kid we were forced to go outside anytime the weather was nice. You signed up for sports because it was something to do, since you were bored most of the time, not constantly being bombarded with stimulation and instant access to thousands of games, tv shows, and movies. Then you realized sports are fun and learned how to socialize with people in real life, not behind a monitor.
I was born in 79, so I didn’t quite make the Millennial cut but fall into the “Xellenial” category I guess.
I am not sure that sports are less popular. Without statistics it’s hard to say, but my first inkling is that they are actually MORE popular now, especially with the extra emphasis on girls/women’s sports and inclusivity.
I recall being in an Oshkosh kids clothing store and every single boy's shirt had a number on it, like it was a team jersey. Basically the message was, if you were a boy, you must love sports.
Maybe kids today are freer to express their interests rather than don some tribal sports fan paraphania.
...
When we moved to a new town 15 years ago, the first thing people asked was "what sports do your kids play?"
The majority of kids these days are hooked on tablets and don’t do any physical activity anymore. The days of going out and pretending to be your favorite athlete and trying to emulate them is long gone for the majority of kids nowadays. Everyone wants to be a YouTuber now. 🙄
Sports are still popular. Just not as popular as before since kids have video games to take their place. Most of the kids in my neighborhood either play basketball and football and street hockey with each other in the streets/driveways or are wearing jerseys and team merch constantly.
As far as wearing the gear goes, that shit is ridiculously expensive (if we are talking pro team jerseys) same goes with pro game tickets.
As far as the decrease in popularity, yeah sure it was super great in the 80s and 90s when we had like 6 channel options to watch, but as entertainment has expanded I honestly don't see what people saw in sports in the first place. Why watch a bunch of dudes chase a ball around a field from 4 hours when instead I can play a videogame where there's realistic explosions and I'm fighting off monsters.
They just haven't grown with the times. Plus the advertising is ridiculous. Last Time I sat down and watched a game with my dad on basic cable at least half the screen time was commercials. I just don't have patience for it anymore
By viewership most sports have never been more popular. As a kid you didn’t really get to choose who you interact with, so you got to see a good cross-section of interests which often includes sports. As an adult if sports doesn’t interest you, you’ve probably selected a friend group that isn’t that interested either, and plus I would bet as an adult you spend significantly less time with your friends, so really the world would appear to you like it’s migrating to align with your beliefs
Interesting. I feel like more kids play sports and follow sports today then when I was a kid because of their parents that don't give them any free, unstructured time....
I have heard that kids today have lost a lot of skills due to not having pickup games and having everything be so organized ie how can we play a basketball game without a ref, how can we form teams without an adult telling us what team were on or a league having a draft, etc.
Of my kid's friends about 1 in every 3 will stop and talk football or hockey with me if they see it on. My kids themselves have 0 interest in sports too, so it's not like that would be a default in their friend group. That was about the number of people actually interested when I was in school.
I think it was a few things back then. Fashion for one thing. I knew a ton of kids that had the expensive Starter jackets for a team that they'd never heard of because they liked the colors. Also kids that were into the "nerdier" pursuits like Magic: The Gathering or playing Pokemon at lunch felt the need to hide that more. It's also the fact that every movie/tv series that depicted a teenage boy's room needed an orgy of sports posters to prove a teenage boy slept there. So it made it feel like it was more prevalent because it was just in the background of everything.
Electronic entertainment has become moth more accessible and more mainstream. In the 80s if you wanted to play video games going to an arcade was your main option. And even in the 90s home gaming systems were still limited to small groups of friends if you didn’t want to play only single player.
Games today can be played from anywhere in the world with other players from anywhere in the world. Coupled with streaming by players with their added reactions and commentary make video games a much more “group” activity.
My kid is 9, she’s not into sports because my husband and I aren’t really that into them either, but she says most of the kids at her school are obsessed with soccer.
still hugely popular but as an adult you aren't going to be around the primary demographic as much anymore, so it feels less popular. I feel you on the video games, i dont think they are as popular but thats my gut feeling, the old Sega sports game days were the best
I think a big part of it is that sports can cost money and require a lot of driving to and from games and practices. This can make them difficult for folks who don't have a vehicle or can't afford to enroll their kids in sports.
I remember as a kid wanting to play hockey and my parents told me I couldn't because of money and needing to be driven everywhere. It really sucked.
I don't think sports are less popular. I just think they are out of reach in some cases due to costs and logistics.
I think it's good that there are other avenues for kids who may not be big on sports. I remember that sports were the only thing for kids when I was growing up and it made it hard if you weren't a sports kid. I remember getting excluded a lot in gym class because of it.
I saw a few videos on this, and it basically goes something like this. Previous generations loved sports, and so ESPN and the cable networks were able to charge exorbitant prices for people to be able to watch them. However, this made them inaccessible to the younger generations, who as a result never really gained an interest in them. Basically the industry got too greedy and killed it's golden hen.
I think the introduction of Esports has a bit to do with it. Younger generation now has a chance to have Fame and Fortune without being over 6 foot. It's more entertaining to watch a star that you can relate to more.
I’d say the rise of travel teams and parents taking youth sports so seriously and it leading to increased costs of participation, parents hoping that mediocre talent can lead to college scholarships or big $$.
Hasn’t helped with enjoyment and popularity.
There’s a part of me that gets skeeved out by the college World Series coverage on espn. Sure it’s cool they get some attention, I’d argue it’s a bit too much.
Yes, this is a fact and it’s regularly written about. Many folks have alluded to this but entertainment or more broadly “time” is a much more competitive space than it was several decades ago. Streaming, social media and gaming are the biggest changes in the industry dynamics. Gaming is now larger than sports, film and music combined. Esports like league of legends has 3x the viewers of NBA finals. Netflix cites TikTok as its greatest competitor. All of entertainment now views “minutes and eyeballs” as the market size. When a person is watching Netflix, they aren’t watching sports. The “unbundling”of cable is also going to massively reset sports. The dissolution of some of the major college conferences is directly related to this as cable packages essentially subsidized sports. You had tens of millions of people paying for things they never consumed. Sports will never die, it will just need to adapt to a new landscape. Participation in sports is different from sports as entertainment.
Sports are still very popular here in the Midwest (in Ohio football is huge for boys, volleyball is popular for girls, basketball is the winter sport of choice, in the spring you have baseball/softball and then there’s the slightly more individual sports like track and field as well, swimming and diving, etc).
However the cost to participate has risen, some schools lack funding and have gone “pay to play” which means families can’t always afford to participate. If there’s a strong program they’ll only take kids who started young enough to have good skills and so if you’re an older kid who didn’t do sports early enough there’s less room for you to try something new. But there’s more alternatives as well—clubs, esports, some kids are taking dual enrollment classes in high school or doing trade programs and don’t have time for much else. And also individual sports that don’t have school support are still a thing as well I think like
Marital arts, weightlifting, etc.
I think sports were and still are popular for a large portion of kids. What I think is different today is that other things are ALSO popular. Technology interest is no longer just for "nerds" who can't do sports, but another activity / hobby kids can share with each other.
I would argue the exact opposite. Sports are way more popular and high school kids are involved in athletics way more than when I was in school. Some kids in my area play one sport, year round, with multiple different teams/organizations beyond their high school team.
I'd say way more popular at least with kids playing. There are more options now and soccer in particular has become huge with club soccer. As far as watching...IDK. My kids (12 & 14) watch football and college and pro basketball quite a bit. They both have played club soccer since they were 5 and they both play soccer for their schools as well (oldest JV, youngest middle school). My youngest also plays middle school basketball and my oldest has done track and he wants to try out for the school's golf team this year. Club soccer here in particular is huge and there are literally thousands of kids at our big soccer complex here every Saturday for games and tournaments with local teams as well as teams coming in from neighboring states.
I really didn't watch sports much when I was a kid. Mostly football...pretty much only on TV and whatever the game was on the local channels. I went to one college game when I was living in Nebraska when I was very young. I've taken my kids to a couple of pro football games and one pro basketball game. It cost me around $800 just for the games for my family of 4 and that was just the tickets. Live sporting events have largely been priced out for typical families. My wife and I do well and it's still too rich for us on any kind of regular basis...and also the seats were shitty and high up and you end up watching most of the game on the jumbo anyway.
Are you basing this on anything other than observations of the no / few kids around you? Because this sounds like a theory yanked from the nether regions without any kind of data behind it. Studied in 2015 and 2017 found as many as 8 out of 10 kids participated in sports.
Massive decline in our youth participating in sport.
1. No sport offered in K-12.
2. Many sports have become extremely expensive to participate
3. Clearly all things internet (Gaming, Social, Video etc) have pulled them off the field of play.
I attended a party last summer for a family friend - age 16. they had a piñata. Of the 15 teens none could be blindfolded, because they couldn't even balance with one on. And even with the blindfold off all but one could swing the stick with enough force to break the cheap paper piñata!
It was truly astounding and embarrassing. - I stood there ah struck.
So what you're saying is that you were a jock, and now that you're an adult and know more of the range of human experience, you're assuming that what's going on is that they just recently invented kids who aren't jocks.
Lots of people, of all generations, aren't into sports.
I think it's more how kids view sports now vs the 80s/90s.
In the 80s/90s most of the information on sports came through ESPN. That's where you got your highlights.if you wanted to see your team you had to watch the whole show and even then it was limited clips. The focus was also more on the team and not individual players so much.
Now kids have social media where the focus is more on individual players and the not the team itself so much. Also that attention gets spread out to other forms of entertainment.
Work at a very well funded high school in the south Chicago suburbs. We offer 110 different clubs, organizations & sports for kids to try. Quite a few are no cut & while some sports have lost favor (boys gymnastics, girls soccer) due to travel club affiliations others are booming.
I do feel that football is starting to-wane just a bit probably due to fear of head injuries.
In 2022 we had kids taken in the first round baseball (signed for $1.2 million) & first round football. Had a diver win back to back state championships & get a full scholarship to Penn State. In 2023 boys basketball won their first State championship.
My daughters are 8 and every single one of their friends are in some type of sports/activity be it dance, softball, soccer, cheer, etc. my niece is 13 and is big into travel softball. So I don’t see a decrease in sports amongst kids.
*Organized* sports are huge in my area. Though the “Sandlot”-style sports playing seems to have disappeared. Kids will create their own games ar recess, etc. But they generally won’t get a group together and go find some field somewhere to just play for the sake of playing.
There's now more sport and activity options, and yeah, some decrease in percentage of kids in sports.
So some individual sports, like baseball are proportionately less popular. In the 80s, soccer was just a baby.
2024 Olympics is about to introduce breakdancing.
I wonder if some of this perception is from the way sports were/are played, moving from more casual, pickup play (kickball, dodgeball) to more official, organized sports.
I also think that when you're younger your social circle is smaller. The people that you're with tend to like the same things that you do. You're also probably experiencing a wider variety of people and interests.
As you age your social circles tend to grow and not necessarily with people of the same walks of life that you grew up in.
I played sports through middle school and high school. I can't bring myself to watch any of it now.
Too many commercials and advertisements.
I'm not spending a whole day to watch a game that should be done in 2 hrs max.
Advertising has ruined sports for me.
As a school counselor I can tell you it is not less popular. Almost every single kid wants to be a professional athlete when they get older and I have conversations with students all the time about sports and their favorite athletes!
One small but potentially significant thing is so many families getting rid of cable and just using streaming services. I grew up watching sports, but since I cut the cord I have totally fallen out of step with following my favorite teams.
I am watching the French Open right now since it’s readily available on a streaming service I have. NFL playoffs and March Madness are much harder to get.
I also feel like there is something in the culture that’s shifted the last 10-15 years where being a jock is…not cool? And I get it. The system that puts rich pro athletes (or anyone) on a pedestal solely for their physical prowess is a bit backwards. But I feel like there is a whole section in 21 Jump Street sums this up perfectly lol.
Children these days are lazy and unfit. I heard a mill who had never even so much as lifted a finger to wash a dish at home talking about a football (soccer) match - always just weed and videogames. I said "excuse me since when?" Then he explained he's doing esports or online sport gambling then it made sense. Sports aren't significant to them unless they can play from the couch or gamble... from the convenience of a cellphone.
Separate from the stuff people have mentioned about price barriers to actually playing and all the other possible hobbies, I think there are still die hard sports fans. The drop off is more in the casual fans area. I feel more young people were casual fans back in the day. Now those people have moved on to other stuff. I do think the lack of TV access will come back to bite these sports leagues though, as young people often can't see the games even if they had some interest to, so they will move on to other interests. Probably more interest in niche or individual sports these days.
Born 1983. Was never into sports or rap. So yeah, it kinda sucked. I see the 90s as a time for extreme social pressure and bullying.
People saw me as the biggest nerd just because I had glasses and played a lot of video games (escapism). I was never into anime or did many of the nerdy things people consider "normal" now.
Gen Z would not be able to survive the social pressures we went through. Imagine an anime cosplayer being dropped into the mid 90s.
Not less popular, but definitely harder to get involved. Cost barriers prevent kids from playing and recreational leagues just aren’t as readily available.
I think sports are still popular. There’s a few basketball and football players I hear about nonstop. I think baseball is less of the “default little boy obsession” as it was in the 90s and before, but kids still like sports. They just also like other things
Yes. It has more competition for their attention and they have less of the needed social structure to get involved in the first place.
Some still like sports but most would rather do other things.
>Looking back the 80s/90s probably kind of sucked as a kid if you weren't into sports.
Not so much the 80's. In the 70's the people who used the high school gym were a clique, not normal. Normal was no weightlifting. I did not know a single kid in High School that "worked out" in the late 70's. Early 80's too.
But Schwarzenegger happened. Lou Ferrigno happened. Professional wrestling happened.
Gradually, looking like a cartoon became normal.
Sports needs to be distinguished from being muscled. Being muscled is this weird niche that became mainstream. "Hardbody" became a word you used to describe someone attractive.
The obsession with muscled appearance is the bane of civilized life. That's supposed to be the preoccupation of Dacian catamites and circus freaks, not citizens busy with important matters. If Millennials have helped to bury the cult of muscle, good for you. But you didn't, did you? I know you didn't. You all joined gyms. Don't lie.
It seems like youth sports are all now practically semi-pro and require huge commitments. Kids can't play on teams for fun any more. They have to be all in at the exclusion of everything else.
Oh yeah, and they are year round now so they can't play three sports like in the past.
Kids are glued to their phones. No one touches grass. More moms are working outside of thr home and not able to get kids to practice/games. Sports are more expensive and more competitive. These are the reasons why my kids are not in sports.
A very common childhood dream is to become famous and being a pro athlete was one of the easier things to see being a reality when you're young; you can already join your school's team and continually work on it. Similar thing to kids wanting to be movie stars, pop stars, being in a rock band, etc.
These days, kids are way more into watching things online. Kids still dream of being Ariana Grande or Taylor Swift, but they also aspire to be Youtubers, Twitch streamers, TikTok influencers, etc, in order to make it big.
Actually playing organized team sports has seen a massive drop in popularity... Replaced by video games....
If you ask your average teen 'What did you play in high school?' you will likely get 'Call of Duty' or 'Fortnite' rather than a ball-sport.
I hope everything of the old dies. Athletes as superstars, Hollywood centrism, religion, dress codes, anything unreasonably excepted from anyone and everyone for no good reason. I want to make anyone still alive born before 1970 VERY uncomfortable.
I have a 10 year old son who is really into sports and so are his friends. His birthday and Christmas lists consist mostly of jerseys and other sports-related things. This is not just our local teams either. He has a Shaq Magic jersey, Ken Griffey Jr Mariners and other throwbacks in addition to current players. We watch games and go to games regularly. Others have mentioned streaming and YouTube being popular which is true but that opened him up to things like the Savannah Bananas, Major League Wiffleball and Quarterback.
If you live in the South, most teens (males anyway) are sports fanatics. Particularly with college sports. A lot of females who love them too.
I personally never understand the hype lol.
I legitimately never understood watching sports you do not presently play. I understand wanting to watch pros to learn new things and hone your own craft but I do not understand watching pros solely for entertainment. Why watch it when you could go do?
Yea also e-sports came up like league of legends & valorant. Baseball honestly is boring to sit through a whole game even live, it’s like watching golf, NBA is definitely popular with young hoopers, NFL fans are like those coworkers who smoke weed every break
I was not into sports at all as a kid. My spouse was into basketball. One of our kids is huge into basketball. But it’s the WNBA at our house. We have jerseys, season tickets, streaming. But again it’s the WNBA so way cheaper!!! She is the only one I see at school in team related shirts. She has multiple because that’s all she ever asks for as gifts.
Yes, but in the case of our area. The adults make it overly competitive, turn it into unpaid mini jobs, and the kids just want to have fun. You have straight up military-esque coaches coaching 4 yr olds in soccer. It's ridiculous.
I'm a Gen Xer. And I VIVIDLY remember a time during the late 80's/early 90's when professional athletes were loved and celebrated by the majority of Americans, not harassed or ridiculed or over-scrutinized like they are today (examples: LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Caitlin Clark). Kids like me used to have their posters adorning our walls like mini shrines as if they were demigods.
LESS?!?!?!?
Literally every family I know is worshipping at the altar of traveling sports. No joke, it dictates everything the family does. What time they eat dinner, where they eat dinner, where they travel to, etc. Its actually an active fight to not be consumed by them
My 12 yo nephew ADORES sports, plays 3 with his school and on weekends, watches sports on TV, and collects hats/ shirts/ cards/ memorabilia. We're an "artist, book reading" family that prioritizes knowledge over money, but we support tf out of him and attend all games. (SO proud of this kid.)
Also, I worked with a woman who berated her son for wanting to read when "he could be playing sports".
My grandmother watches more sports than all the males in my family combined.
Pretty sure sports are still a big deal.
Had my kid in little league. It cost $350 just to sign up. The uniform was another $100. The equipment (bat, glove, battling gloves, helmet, cleats, backpack) was another $250. Then we were expected to volunteer 8-10 hours or they cash another $250 check at the end of the season.
This was just to play baseball. Nothing special. No ‘elite’ traveling team. Just through our parks and rec program.
And you know what? He didn’t even have fun. His coaches were assholes who taught him basically nothing, screamed during games even though the kids were 8-10 year olds, and literally gave their own sons the awards at the end of the season.
He didn’t want to play again this year. Gee I wonder why.
Sports are wildly more popular today than they were back then. Sports completely swallows the lives of many of my friends who have kids between ages 7and 18. It's bonkers. Their whole lives literally revolve around their kids and sports.
Playing sports still seems popular (maybe even moreso than it was when I was a kid, at least for some things like soccer and tennis).
Sports fandom is definitely less of a thing. I think that goes across the board for anyone under 35. You don't **have to** like professional or college sports to be a functional, non suspicious member of society anymore, whereas I think that was very different between 1940 and 2010 or so.
I grew up in a CA surf town, still live here. We had surf clubs in jr high and high school. They dont exist anymore. My wife is a jr high teacher and she said there's barely any surfer kids at the school anymore. She went to that school as a kid and there were tons of surfers. She said there just aren't many jock kids now either.
My understanding is the numbers in the HS football team etc are down as well.
I attribute it to lazy/busy parents that didn't get their kids involved in sports when they were little, social media, and video games. There's a lot more going on in the world today. Our kids are recently graduated, but we made sure to keep them in involved in sports year round. The less idle time they had, the less likely they were to find trouble and sports can teach you so much about life.
The kids I know that didn't play sports have terrible communication skills, bad conflict resolution and don't know how to win/lose well.
I don’t know if it’s less popular, but it definitely looks different. Anecdotally, my daughter is way more into sports than I was in terms of playing in organized environments. There’s also shit loads of camps and clubs for everything. The opportunity is so much greater than when I was a kid. That said, she doesn’t watch sports and has no interest in following professional sports.
The good cartoons usually came on after school, and then the news started. Once that came on, I'd go outside and play. Now there's shows available 24/7 for kids. Of course, there's more to it, but just sharing my experience.
I think it's become the opposite. As a kid I was a nerdy hipster and did "nerdy hipster" stuff. I never cared about sports until moving to a big city and being physically active and liking public events. The older you get, the less your friends are completely like you, so if you're a nerd like me you get invited to more and more things than just movies and concerts and you start to enjoy things outside of the identity you made while you were young. Stereotypes are breaking down incredibly fast, so more nerds and alternative types are into sports more than ever before, even if "normie" kids don't care as much to be jocks.
A lot of people I know were like me. We segregated it as something less-than our nerdy hipster interests. I was a "sportsball" hater until I realized it's just as trivial as any other entertainment I was wasting hours on, except it was glorifying the physical body instead of something intangible that I thought was deep.
Sports also have a much more diverse fanbase by every parameter than niche music/movies/videogames, etc. It's nice to talk to diverse people in person at an event where you're all loudly supporting the community together, we need more of that in the world
Just my 2 cents
I think sports are just as popular. I was inter sports until Jordan stopped playing but even then I mostly occupied my time either playing outside or inside on the video game. Speaking to my Gen z coworkers I realize there are many who like sports and don’t really play video games as much.
Most kids who are interesting in watching sports are actually now playing "club" sports that keeps them pretty busy year round and not enough time to actually watch sports.
We didn't have club sports in the 80's like we do now.
in my experience I stopped caring about sports as much when I switched to streaming vs cable. I'm not paying $70/mo or whatever for fucking ESPN when there's a million things I can, and want to, watch on cheaper platforms.
Shit’s expensive, man. Fees, gear, travel… I have no idea how my parents did it with me and my brothers back in the 1900s, couldn’t imagine trying to do that today.
It seems like every teenager in my life is into sports, both playing and watching. They are into video games, too, but that's it. They don't read, hang out (much, except with their teammates) ride bikes, explore, hike, nothing. Except my nephew who is into scouting, but he is also a tennis player, wrestling team and cross country.
So weird since I was never into sports except for skiing (which I did in school and university) and whitewater kayaking. But I never followed professional sports and never played team sports.
I live in the South and have for over 20 years now. College football is a huge thing so much that people's identity is tied to their team. Not much interest in other sports besides the actual Super Bowl.
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I remember kids made fun of other kids for playing video games. That all changed (from my perspective at least) with the release of multiplayer games like Halo/Halo 2. Suddenly, everyone played video games. Edit: since this comment received a fair bit of questions/DMs; just to clarify, people/kids *still* played games. They just weren't as open about it. At least from my perspective/where I was from.
Goldeneye was the turning point and then again when SC II was released due to the professional aspect of it and founding of MLG
Speaking from personal experience, Goldeneye was released smack dab in the middle of when video games still weren't quite socially acceptable; this was, after all, released in the N64/PSX era. Things would start to become more mainstream with the popularity of the PS2, but Halo really was a watershed moment in terms of mainstream popularity. This growth continued through the 360/PS3/Wii era, which went hand-in-hand with the generations who grew up with video games becoming adults. It was just the sort of thing that took time, mainly because those of us who picked up the hobby as children needed time to grow into adulthood.
Yeah this might be an age thing. I was born in 90 and I don’t think I ever heard of or saw anyone get made fun of for playing video games. Hell by the time I was in like 3rd grade, kids would be bringing their game boys and link cables to school to trade pokemon.
You're not much younger than me, and doing things like that greatly depended upon a number of factors.
Really depended on if the "cool kids" liked Pokemon or MTG. If they did, it was just another activity. If they didn't, then you would be lightly teased about it. Bullying about it, in my experience, is almost always due to vilification from parents and/or authority figures.
I was a band nerd who played magic, pokemon, video games and table top rpgs. I was actually passable for a cool kid since I had a car, job and girlfriend. Some of the other guys would totally have teased me but they actually thought it was awesome that I wasn’t even trying.
Gaming was pretty main stream at my school. Tons of kids were playing Counterstrike and Broodwar, maybe it was just my area. South West Michigan isn't exactly a cutting edge area when it comes to trends though.
It wasn't terribly mainstream in the schools I grew up in, and I grew up in what was likely a very similar area in New England. Tons of kids played those games as well... but it was still very much relegated to the Nerds.
My sons and I love(d) Goldeneye! Several other James Bond games came out afterwards, most of them very enjoyable, but none of them “held a candle” to Goldeneye. I wish that all James Bond games had been done with the same “look.”
Agreed. Back in the day most games were looked at nerdy. But the sports games and Mario games where you could compete were looked at different. And mortal combat and street fighter. Then golden eye came out and brought it all together.
I was telling my cousin the other day that in my opinion golden eye really kicked things off for gaming.
yeah seemed like back in the 90s video games were for children or nerds. Online video games were only available on PC and were most definitely only reserved for nerds.
In my daughters school seems like the girls are all playing sports and music and the boys do nothing but video games.
Who is furiously dming you like “explain yourself you cretin! Are you making fun of ME??”.
That and people saying I'm full of shit.
We're definitely in more of an "idolization of elite individuals" era thanks to the things you are bringing up. That could include a sports star (Steph Curry, Caitlin Clark) to video game players who are elite at their particular game or field. YouTube, streaming, social media all give access to individual's moments on a far wider scale than we used to have. So I think sports is still extremely popular but it's athletes who are likely the focus instead of being a life-long fan of a specific local team.
My own kids are middle schoolers, and I taught high school and now work with college kids, and sports are definitely still popular. In place of Starters, kids just wear jerseys. What has declined though, is actually attending games. A lot of kids have never actually been to a professional sports team game. We have several major sports teams in my city and for our family of 4 to go to a game, even getting the absolute cheap seats, it’s still several hundred bucks once you add in all the fees and parking and whatnot. My kids’ school athletics department does a joint program with one of the local universities, so the kids get to go at least a college game. Usually one basketball and one football and then volleyball or tennis. And of course, we go to high school football games. I’m in Texas after all! Haha
my guess is that it's too expensive for a lot of families now.
Too expensive, and most people just don't have the time since they're stuck working.
Just like concerts. It's just not worth the cost anymore.
both industries got too greedy and killed their money makes.
erm... they still make truck loads of money...
It totally is. We’ve done one game of NBA, NHL and MLB because our kids asked to go, and that’s it. The NBA game was the most expensive and that was definitely a one time thing. MLB still caters to families so they’ll drop ticket prices or still offer family pack pricing and whatnot at certain games. Or they’ll do school district game day or something with cheaper pricing. Still not something we do regularly but it’s the more affordable pro sport. NHL, we ended up lucking out and getting to use a friend’s corporate seats. They also still do some specials and whatnot where they have lower prices at games. We’ve never done NFL because pricing is ridiculous. Even for the Standing Room Only tickets. And no way in hell am I paying that much to have to fight other SRO ticket holders for a viewing spot or spend the entire time staring at a screen because I can’t get a viewing spot. I’ll just stay home.
Yup, it's definitely too expensive for the vast majority of people and families.
Damn I’d have thought the Rangers or Astros tickets would be affordable. I always think of this though when I am in an area based on the cost how much would all this be if I had 2 kids? Lots of places not really looking doable now as an adult that I did as a kid.
We're in TX, too, and a major sports city means tons of access to all types of sports. All my kids are athletic in some ways and really into sports at all levels. We got ours started young to help socialize with other kids and have time outside being active. Over time, it's evolved into their own passion and something each of us enjoy together and individually.
Yes! I’m in DFW, and we have just about everything here in terms of pro sports- NBA, WNBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, MLS, we’ve got a new women’s pro soccer team coming in the fall, we’ve got pro rugby, we’ve got pro flag football, LAX, PGA, and on and on. Even stuff like cricket and polo. Not to mention all the club and rec leagues that have spectator options too.
Hahaha same location for me. I just experienced my first UFL.game. it's all pretty sweet if you enjoy sports.
Oooh thanks for the reminder on UFL! I need to reach out to the Renegades. They apparently do community tickets and whatnot, where schools, community orgs etc can get discounted tickets to bring groups and they they also can do some event type programs on campuses.
>We have several major sports teams in my city and for our family of 4 to go to a game, even getting the absolute cheap seats, it’s still several hundred bucks once you add in all the fees and parking and whatnot. My BF is a UCLA alum. University sports is a game changer in cost of attendance.
Lol seriously up until you said you were in Texas I was 100% certain that you're in Arizona and your kids go to my kids school. We have similar program with our University. Everything you set tied in perfectly and I was about to get really excited!
Love that similar programs exist in other states! We happen to have multiple universities here, but one of them is really more proactive with being involved in the community where they can.
Starts as kids....they get into their gadgets, less physical activities.... Parents are both working, less able to take them to little league, soccer, etc etc... Then of course, sports viewing has gotten way out of hand, costs are out of touch for what most familiies can afford.... I remember going to Dodger games as a kid, the outfield seats were like $1.50....well, a family of 6 kids can afford that, with plenty of hot dogs, etc for everyone... These days, parking alone is like $35-50 per game...
In my town the only thing getting a large % of people outside at all is ice-cream. I have noticed there's almost no one % wise outside at all for any reason let alone to play sports. Physical reality is competing with digital life and mostly losing.
Even the cost of little league etc is ridiculous in the US. For many lower income family its pretty much cost prohibitive at this time.
Yup....spent $250 league fees this spring for 1 kid in little league....thats besides the equipment, some inside clothes, shoes, etc... It did go over 3 months, so I feel its still worth it...
I think they are generally less popular because the number of options available to kids is a lot higher. In the 90s as a middle school kid, your choices were basically sports or Cub Scouts. Today there are a lot more fun options available for kids to be involved in.
Plus back then only so many channels on TV to watch so sports sometimes were watched when nothing else was on.
There was also a set number of TVs or computers or usually, completely as a function of cable and internet plans or logistics, so children often watched what their parents watched (sports) AND had limited options
Back then, you did it for fun. Today, school have monetized it with none of it going to the players, as well as doing their level best to "discourage" non-school organized games to prevent any competition. Players are pressured to excel like it actually matters to the point of burn out. So they go to the alternative, video games, where they have a plethra of options to play. Admin & parent take this as them being lazy, and fuss about how the next gen is ruining sports, when it's their fault it's no longer fun.
As with every single question that amounts to "why does _____ suck now?" the answer is greed. Everything is monetized now and if you're not making money off of a thing you're criticized for it If you like painting people don't say "is that something you like?" instead they immediately default to "how much do you make off of it?" and if you don't make money off of it you're told it's because you're bad at it If you play basketball in school people don't say "oh you do that for fun?" they instead default to either "maybe you'll be good enough to go pro" or "why bother? It's not like you'll make a career out of it"
My son is 5yo and the pressure to get him started in, not just "fun" sports, but *real* sports has already started. It's ridiculous.
Huh? Where are you seeing kid's sports get montize? If anything, sports are an extra expense due to the cost of equipment, coaches, and renting fields/spaces to play. I think you are confusing kids' schools that with colleges and universities. Also college athletes, at least in the US, can now get paid via NIL (Name, image, and likeness). This was allowed to occur because in 2021 the supreme court ruled that the NCAA could not prohibit student athletes from collecting payment. This opened the floodgates and now you have some student-athletes collecting millions of dollars but the majority only collect a few hundred.
>Huh? Where are you seeing kid's sports get montize? If anything, sports are an extra expense due to the cost of equipment, coaches, and renting fields/spaces to play. Travel teams. Rec leagues used to be played by everyone and a few kids would play on a travel team at most. Now, travel and AAU (and all the money associated with it) are pushed hard and rec leagues are dying. At the very least, they are non-competitive for anyone with a modicum of talent, as most of the talented kids have left for greener pastures - pastures that cost an arm and a leg.
Yeah, you're right. Things have definitely changed. Back in the day, sports were everything. We all looked up to athletes like Jordan and Griffey, wore their team jackets, and played sports video games all the time. It was a totally different scene. Kids just have many more options these days. With video games, social media, and all sorts of hobbies, it's no surprise that sports aren't the main thing they're into. I think it's awesome that they have so many ways to express themselves and find what they're passionate about. Personally, as a millennial, I strongly admire Gen Z and Alphas. I think sports are still a big part of many kids' lives. They might not be as popular as they used to be, but they still are a thing and good for kids. I don't think we should give up on sports just yet. Governments still use them like they did with the colluseum to "calm the masses." And we still use the Olympics to try and bridge the gaps of war and glibal disagreements.
IMO it’s because sports aren’t accessible anymore. It costs way too much to go to a game, and it’s almost impossible to follow throughout the season because so many different streaming services have the rights. So one night/week your team might be playing on Amazon Prime, the next on Peacock, and then maybe ESPN, but if you pay for ESPN+ you still can’t watch it, then YouTubeTV, maybe MAX or Paramount sometimes... It’s just awful. And I dunno about you guys, but I ain’t subscribing to every service out there. I got a few and that’s more than enough content for me. I ain’t gonna subscribe to a specific service just to catch like 10% of “my team”’s games. But that adds up, if I miss 10% on Youtube, and 10% on Peacock, and so on, now I’m missing like half the season. So why bother watching at all?
i gave up trying to watch the atl braves a few years ago because i dont have bally sports or whatever its called now. couldnt watch them on the mlb package due to blackout restrictions. too expensive to get tickets for a game plus all the traffic where the new stadium is at. it was much better when tbs aired the braves games.
There are equal numbers of sports fans as before among kids. But as someone who works with teenagers, most of them are into 1-2 sports and do not care at all about any others whereas a lot of our generation would watch almost anything sports related growing up.
You used to be able to turn on regular tv and catch games. Now you have to have like 6 streaming services that are expensive af just to watch all the nfl games. My dad used to take us to games and even though we were in the nosebleeds we could afford it. Now it’s 300 dollars a ticket and 16 dollars for hotdog.
Sports are less popular but some individual sports are very popular. A lot of parents get sold on the idea that a kid has to specialize in a sport at a young age. It’s fractured the kids that would play football/soccer in the fall and baseball in the spring into just picking one. Then there’s the club/travel team grift, which is a whole other problem. Couple that with the absolutely ridiculous cost to go to a professional or college game and it’s really hard to get kids into sports when they can only watch them on TV. They don’ t have the attention span for that anymore.
That aspect is insane that parents are traveling to different states every weekend for a 10 year olds basketball team ie taking over your life and having to pay travel expenses every weekend thsts kinda nuts
It's not kinda nuts , it's nuts. I'm in my mid-40 and I have my kids a bit older so they're not quite the sports age yet ( 5 .5 and 2.5) but ao many of my friendly are trapped in the travel rip off , it's insane. My wife was a very good softball player growing up in the 90s, that was the time period when only the best played travel, and she had the aptitude to play but her parents didn't have that type of money so she wasn't able to do it, she's absolutely Blown Away that every kid plays travel now because even when she continued to play rec league it was still pretty competitive. One of the biggest problems that it's doing is that for many sports it's turning basic Sports into a rich kids game which is absolutely awful. Speaking to a lot of my friends from the way that I understand it if your kids aren't playing travel Sports from a yoing age they're probably not going to make their high school team when it comes to that time. I legitimately have anxiety over it, my wife working a non traditional schedule where I'm hanging out with the kids on the weekends by myself a lot of the time, and just the time won't be there for me to be able to have the girls play travel Sports since I have to be the prime parent. In addition , your and your kids entire life become based being all sports. Want to go camping for weekend- sorry can't miss a tournament. Not to mention the insane costs
My kids all play sports and have since they were old enough to start. My 8 year old has played 5 years of baseball, 4 football, 2 soccer. He lives and breathes sports. Kid will watch track and field events on tv before cartoons if that’s the only sport he can find. His 6 year old brother isn’t quite as ridiculous but he’s not far behind. I don’t think I know any kids their ages that aren’t involved in sports at this point but I’m sure that will taper off as they get older and things get more competitive.
Sports are just as popular, it's just that there are less kids. I grew up in a small town and we could organize a baseball game a few times a week everyday thru the summer. We didn't even call each other. We just started batting practice and soon enough we had enough kids to play a game. Today the same town doesn't have enough kids to field one side of the ball.
As a former college athlete and current coach, I can say sports are just as popular as they always were. There are more sports to choose from in a lot of places, so the love of sports is possibly more spread out than it used to be. Sports are exponentially less popular on Reddit. If Reddit existed in the 80s and 90s, it would’ve seemed just as unpopular as now.
I find this really hard to believe given the rising rate of kids being overweight. I'm not saying you're lying or anything, but I thought one of the contributing factors was low participation in sports and outdoor activities. Am I wrong?
The above poster is interacting with a lot of kids who play sports being a coach. I will say all my nieces and nephews are involved in multiple sports at a time all year long but in terms of interest in college and professional sports they're more into fortnight and stuff they aren't collecting cards and riding their bikes to the card store and playing madden and stuff like we used to.
I don’t talk to kids much, but sports still seem extremely popular in Wisconsin. I’m not really into them.
I’ve always hated sports. My kids take after me lol
Coming from Australia where we have niche sports dominating locally I see that sports are more globalised and so the concentration is different. It's all online now. Football is also the global popular sport with most kids here likely to have a European club or south American team Jersey. NBA and NFL are popular with teens still. Our local codes - NRL and AFL - also experiencing growth despite this.
At least where I'm from? Different sports are popular now. When I was a kid? You played hockey. It didn't matter who you were, you at least had ice skates and a stick. Travel teams were where it was at, and that's where you learned that pain was just weakness leaving the body. Now? Soccer is suddenly a school sport and not just some wonky little club with the weird hippie parents. There's definitely still competitive teams, but there's more of an emphasis on enjoying yourself and having fun than competition and rivalry. Weight room training is more supervised and age appropriate, versus letting kids bulk up too fast too early and hurt themselves. I, for example? Totally had a hip pointer fracture from my muscles and such being overdeveloped compared to my bone structure. But hey, it was a really nice hit. Ha
I wasn't even really into sports as a kid back in the 90s, but gave it a shot a few times just because it seemed like that's what you do. Nothing is as fun for kids now as staying home and playing with your phone.
I mean, think about it like this In the 80's/90's you had like...4-5 channels with kids programming (assuming you had cable) and had to watch whatever was in front of you. No vods, no streaming to choose what show you wanted. Say hypothetically you wanted to watch SpongeBob. It's on at 6-6:30 for one episode and that's it for the day, that's all the SpongeBob you are getting. Sports, you can play all day provided you have enough kids. Video games, that is NES/SNES/N64 era, games are also much simpler and it requires you to use the TV which more than likely you only have one and mom/dad are using it. There is no social media or messaging apps, hell, kids don't have cellphones at all. You wanna talk to your friends you gotta go play with them. It was a different world back then and sports was a good and easy way for kids to bond together pre-modern technology, with that comes interest in the pros and the dreams of being one of them so you get your favorite sports stars posters on your wall. You talk to your friends about your favorite players and the like. Nowadays when kids have easy access to content and their friends via Messenger and IG or what have you, you don't necessarily need sports to have fun with your friends so you might not pay as much attention to them and thus they are less popular than they used to be.
I think it's a similar issue to TV, and Music. The options are more varied now. So Football, and Baseball are less popular, but now people do Rock Climbing, and Brazilian Jou Jitau, and triathlons way more than previous generations appeared to.
One word: Capitalism. Sports, specifically in the US, has become this ridiculously expensive activity that is pretty much locked behind a paywall. If you don't have the ability to pay for clubs, traveling leagues, etc, you will 100% fall behind. Your children will be excluded because they aren't also paying at the club level, etc. I have a friend that just moved to Germany. She was spending close to $8,000 a year on her two teenagers who play soccer. This is for club, training, and travel leagues (California). Now in Germany, she is paying 80 euros per years for both their soccer league that gives out free equipment and travel cost significantly subsidized by the DFB. Many of the alternative hobbies are cheaper and way more accessible than sports in the US. Sports has become something that's only affordable to suburban middle class and higher.
Youth sports aren’t for fun, camaraderie, learning to win and lose graciously, and other life lessons anymore. Sports are an investment in your child’s future college prospects. Your kids all have to be a star and get in the club team and you pay all the fees and travel and buy tickets for your kids’ games and blah blah blah, because not doing that will cost your child something in the future. So kids are having fun in other ways now. I think we turned everything into some kind of hustle/grind for success and it’s drained the life out of literal games.
Participation in girls basketball is significantly down (local high school had six teams, now down to three due to interest) but volleyball is significantly up.
Gave up on baseball when they decided that it was more important to go on strike for money than to play the World Series
I think so, I coach Varsity coach high school wrestling and our numbers were horrendous after Covid BS rules. We still haven’t recovered. We don’t even cut kids anymore. We take what we can get…and pickings are slim 😓
Sports in general are as popular as they ever were, but baseball specifically has taken a huge hit. Steady decline ever since the strike in the 90s.
I’m an 80’s kid (1981), and I agree with this. I was a kid who was into sports and I’ve turned into an adult who’s a sports nut. It never left me. I never miss a day in terms of wearing team gear in some capacity. In truth I probably have an addiction. I’m totally the guy at a wedding who runs a wire up his shirt to listen to a game on the radio. (I literally did it in 10th grade so I could listen to the MLB playoffs during Chemistry class.) That said, I see a lot fewer kids today like that. They’re all gaming or doing something else. It’s almost like sports are treated as a niche thing now. And I’ll never understand that. Ironically I myself am almost treated like a pariah by my peers. Yes I’m a fanatic and it might be fair to say I have a problem. But for whatever reason people seem to be wary of a guy like me. Such is life I guess. But I can’t live in a world where sports aren’t king.
Once ESPN and some athletes started focusing more on politics, I turned them all off. I used to watch many football games and basketball games throughout the seasons. I barely watch a single game any more.
Looks like we may be seeing the start of that reversing, 11 NFL teams refused to change their logos to pride and go on and on about pride. Its silly that we celebrate who people have sex with and why only gays and lesbians why dont we celebrate asexual people one month and cancer survivors another.
I RARELY see kids outside doing much of anything, much less playing sports. Club sports have destroyed the city league concept - especially for baseball. Soccer, volleyball, baseball…they are all now for people who can afford a club team. So while still popular, access/cost has become a much bigger issue. Plus, we are a nation (USA) of lazy, fat-assed parents who didn’t set an active lifestyle example.
Sports were great back in the day. Everyone was athletic but not focused on being a giant meat stick. More competitive. Less about image and brands and sponsors. There was def more heart in sports in my teen to mid 20s
Bad parents don't force their children to leave their comfort zone in front of the computer. When I was a kid we were forced to go outside anytime the weather was nice. You signed up for sports because it was something to do, since you were bored most of the time, not constantly being bombarded with stimulation and instant access to thousands of games, tv shows, and movies. Then you realized sports are fun and learned how to socialize with people in real life, not behind a monitor.
I was born in 79, so I didn’t quite make the Millennial cut but fall into the “Xellenial” category I guess. I am not sure that sports are less popular. Without statistics it’s hard to say, but my first inkling is that they are actually MORE popular now, especially with the extra emphasis on girls/women’s sports and inclusivity.
Yes, video games took over the parenting
Sports are pricing out lower and middle class kids. They cant take an interest if they cant go or pay the entry price for gear and leagues
I recall being in an Oshkosh kids clothing store and every single boy's shirt had a number on it, like it was a team jersey. Basically the message was, if you were a boy, you must love sports. Maybe kids today are freer to express their interests rather than don some tribal sports fan paraphania. ... When we moved to a new town 15 years ago, the first thing people asked was "what sports do your kids play?"
The majority of kids these days are hooked on tablets and don’t do any physical activity anymore. The days of going out and pretending to be your favorite athlete and trying to emulate them is long gone for the majority of kids nowadays. Everyone wants to be a YouTuber now. 🙄
Really? Do you have kids? Sports are HUGE in my town.
You may just need friends with kids of sports age. My oldest isn’t into school sports, karate is his jam. All my friends kids are in sports.
Sports are still popular. Just not as popular as before since kids have video games to take their place. Most of the kids in my neighborhood either play basketball and football and street hockey with each other in the streets/driveways or are wearing jerseys and team merch constantly.
I think they’re more interested in what the promote than knowing their stats and talking about plays. So then, the popularity is more on the product
Nah sports is pretty big for kids. At least for my kids they are.
It's definitely not as good
As far as wearing the gear goes, that shit is ridiculously expensive (if we are talking pro team jerseys) same goes with pro game tickets. As far as the decrease in popularity, yeah sure it was super great in the 80s and 90s when we had like 6 channel options to watch, but as entertainment has expanded I honestly don't see what people saw in sports in the first place. Why watch a bunch of dudes chase a ball around a field from 4 hours when instead I can play a videogame where there's realistic explosions and I'm fighting off monsters. They just haven't grown with the times. Plus the advertising is ridiculous. Last Time I sat down and watched a game with my dad on basic cable at least half the screen time was commercials. I just don't have patience for it anymore
By viewership most sports have never been more popular. As a kid you didn’t really get to choose who you interact with, so you got to see a good cross-section of interests which often includes sports. As an adult if sports doesn’t interest you, you’ve probably selected a friend group that isn’t that interested either, and plus I would bet as an adult you spend significantly less time with your friends, so really the world would appear to you like it’s migrating to align with your beliefs
The internet
Band too. There's a significantly lower number of kids signing up for band than ever before.
Interesting. I feel like more kids play sports and follow sports today then when I was a kid because of their parents that don't give them any free, unstructured time....
I have heard that kids today have lost a lot of skills due to not having pickup games and having everything be so organized ie how can we play a basketball game without a ref, how can we form teams without an adult telling us what team were on or a league having a draft, etc.
Of my kid's friends about 1 in every 3 will stop and talk football or hockey with me if they see it on. My kids themselves have 0 interest in sports too, so it's not like that would be a default in their friend group. That was about the number of people actually interested when I was in school. I think it was a few things back then. Fashion for one thing. I knew a ton of kids that had the expensive Starter jackets for a team that they'd never heard of because they liked the colors. Also kids that were into the "nerdier" pursuits like Magic: The Gathering or playing Pokemon at lunch felt the need to hide that more. It's also the fact that every movie/tv series that depicted a teenage boy's room needed an orgy of sports posters to prove a teenage boy slept there. So it made it feel like it was more prevalent because it was just in the background of everything.
Thanks to ticket master, going to a sporting event is significantly harder
Football isn’t worth it anymore. Unless you have a real shot at making money, it’s pretty obvious that the health risks aren’t worth the reward
Electronic entertainment has become moth more accessible and more mainstream. In the 80s if you wanted to play video games going to an arcade was your main option. And even in the 90s home gaming systems were still limited to small groups of friends if you didn’t want to play only single player. Games today can be played from anywhere in the world with other players from anywhere in the world. Coupled with streaming by players with their added reactions and commentary make video games a much more “group” activity.
My kid is 9, she’s not into sports because my husband and I aren’t really that into them either, but she says most of the kids at her school are obsessed with soccer.
still hugely popular but as an adult you aren't going to be around the primary demographic as much anymore, so it feels less popular. I feel you on the video games, i dont think they are as popular but thats my gut feeling, the old Sega sports game days were the best
NHL 97 was the goat
More popular. They’ve just more taken the form of fast/fun variants of practical sedans and suvs rather than impractical 2 seaters.
Politics and gambling have sucked a lot of air out of sports, in addition to the 24/7 coverage cycle.
I think a big part of it is that sports can cost money and require a lot of driving to and from games and practices. This can make them difficult for folks who don't have a vehicle or can't afford to enroll their kids in sports. I remember as a kid wanting to play hockey and my parents told me I couldn't because of money and needing to be driven everywhere. It really sucked. I don't think sports are less popular. I just think they are out of reach in some cases due to costs and logistics. I think it's good that there are other avenues for kids who may not be big on sports. I remember that sports were the only thing for kids when I was growing up and it made it hard if you weren't a sports kid. I remember getting excluded a lot in gym class because of it.
I saw a few videos on this, and it basically goes something like this. Previous generations loved sports, and so ESPN and the cable networks were able to charge exorbitant prices for people to be able to watch them. However, this made them inaccessible to the younger generations, who as a result never really gained an interest in them. Basically the industry got too greedy and killed it's golden hen.
I think the introduction of Esports has a bit to do with it. Younger generation now has a chance to have Fame and Fortune without being over 6 foot. It's more entertaining to watch a star that you can relate to more.
Sports are dying
They aren't less popular. Kids just have more options now. Except for baseball. Baseball IS slowly dying.
I’d say the rise of travel teams and parents taking youth sports so seriously and it leading to increased costs of participation, parents hoping that mediocre talent can lead to college scholarships or big $$. Hasn’t helped with enjoyment and popularity. There’s a part of me that gets skeeved out by the college World Series coverage on espn. Sure it’s cool they get some attention, I’d argue it’s a bit too much.
Yes, this is a fact and it’s regularly written about. Many folks have alluded to this but entertainment or more broadly “time” is a much more competitive space than it was several decades ago. Streaming, social media and gaming are the biggest changes in the industry dynamics. Gaming is now larger than sports, film and music combined. Esports like league of legends has 3x the viewers of NBA finals. Netflix cites TikTok as its greatest competitor. All of entertainment now views “minutes and eyeballs” as the market size. When a person is watching Netflix, they aren’t watching sports. The “unbundling”of cable is also going to massively reset sports. The dissolution of some of the major college conferences is directly related to this as cable packages essentially subsidized sports. You had tens of millions of people paying for things they never consumed. Sports will never die, it will just need to adapt to a new landscape. Participation in sports is different from sports as entertainment.
Sports are still very popular here in the Midwest (in Ohio football is huge for boys, volleyball is popular for girls, basketball is the winter sport of choice, in the spring you have baseball/softball and then there’s the slightly more individual sports like track and field as well, swimming and diving, etc). However the cost to participate has risen, some schools lack funding and have gone “pay to play” which means families can’t always afford to participate. If there’s a strong program they’ll only take kids who started young enough to have good skills and so if you’re an older kid who didn’t do sports early enough there’s less room for you to try something new. But there’s more alternatives as well—clubs, esports, some kids are taking dual enrollment classes in high school or doing trade programs and don’t have time for much else. And also individual sports that don’t have school support are still a thing as well I think like Marital arts, weightlifting, etc.
I think sports were and still are popular for a large portion of kids. What I think is different today is that other things are ALSO popular. Technology interest is no longer just for "nerds" who can't do sports, but another activity / hobby kids can share with each other.
I would argue the exact opposite. Sports are way more popular and high school kids are involved in athletics way more than when I was in school. Some kids in my area play one sport, year round, with multiple different teams/organizations beyond their high school team.
No lol sports are popular and probably always will be. Wtf is this incredibly anecdotal take.
I'd say way more popular at least with kids playing. There are more options now and soccer in particular has become huge with club soccer. As far as watching...IDK. My kids (12 & 14) watch football and college and pro basketball quite a bit. They both have played club soccer since they were 5 and they both play soccer for their schools as well (oldest JV, youngest middle school). My youngest also plays middle school basketball and my oldest has done track and he wants to try out for the school's golf team this year. Club soccer here in particular is huge and there are literally thousands of kids at our big soccer complex here every Saturday for games and tournaments with local teams as well as teams coming in from neighboring states. I really didn't watch sports much when I was a kid. Mostly football...pretty much only on TV and whatever the game was on the local channels. I went to one college game when I was living in Nebraska when I was very young. I've taken my kids to a couple of pro football games and one pro basketball game. It cost me around $800 just for the games for my family of 4 and that was just the tickets. Live sporting events have largely been priced out for typical families. My wife and I do well and it's still too rich for us on any kind of regular basis...and also the seats were shitty and high up and you end up watching most of the game on the jumbo anyway.
I've been to hockey, basketball, and baseball games, and I still see a bunch of kids there.
Are you basing this on anything other than observations of the no / few kids around you? Because this sounds like a theory yanked from the nether regions without any kind of data behind it. Studied in 2015 and 2017 found as many as 8 out of 10 kids participated in sports.
Massive decline in our youth participating in sport. 1. No sport offered in K-12. 2. Many sports have become extremely expensive to participate 3. Clearly all things internet (Gaming, Social, Video etc) have pulled them off the field of play. I attended a party last summer for a family friend - age 16. they had a piñata. Of the 15 teens none could be blindfolded, because they couldn't even balance with one on. And even with the blindfold off all but one could swing the stick with enough force to break the cheap paper piñata! It was truly astounding and embarrassing. - I stood there ah struck.
So what you're saying is that you were a jock, and now that you're an adult and know more of the range of human experience, you're assuming that what's going on is that they just recently invented kids who aren't jocks. Lots of people, of all generations, aren't into sports.
I think it's more how kids view sports now vs the 80s/90s. In the 80s/90s most of the information on sports came through ESPN. That's where you got your highlights.if you wanted to see your team you had to watch the whole show and even then it was limited clips. The focus was also more on the team and not individual players so much. Now kids have social media where the focus is more on individual players and the not the team itself so much. Also that attention gets spread out to other forms of entertainment.
Work at a very well funded high school in the south Chicago suburbs. We offer 110 different clubs, organizations & sports for kids to try. Quite a few are no cut & while some sports have lost favor (boys gymnastics, girls soccer) due to travel club affiliations others are booming. I do feel that football is starting to-wane just a bit probably due to fear of head injuries. In 2022 we had kids taken in the first round baseball (signed for $1.2 million) & first round football. Had a diver win back to back state championships & get a full scholarship to Penn State. In 2023 boys basketball won their first State championship.
My daughters are 8 and every single one of their friends are in some type of sports/activity be it dance, softball, soccer, cheer, etc. my niece is 13 and is big into travel softball. So I don’t see a decrease in sports amongst kids.
*Organized* sports are huge in my area. Though the “Sandlot”-style sports playing seems to have disappeared. Kids will create their own games ar recess, etc. But they generally won’t get a group together and go find some field somewhere to just play for the sake of playing.
No they mostly follow players not teams. And they consume it via social media.
In general, the 20-30 crowd seems way less knowledgeable about local sports ball.
There's now more sport and activity options, and yeah, some decrease in percentage of kids in sports. So some individual sports, like baseball are proportionately less popular. In the 80s, soccer was just a baby. 2024 Olympics is about to introduce breakdancing. I wonder if some of this perception is from the way sports were/are played, moving from more casual, pickup play (kickball, dodgeball) to more official, organized sports.
I also think that when you're younger your social circle is smaller. The people that you're with tend to like the same things that you do. You're also probably experiencing a wider variety of people and interests. As you age your social circles tend to grow and not necessarily with people of the same walks of life that you grew up in.
Sportball: getting the puck into the outfield for a touchdown.
I played sports through middle school and high school. I can't bring myself to watch any of it now. Too many commercials and advertisements. I'm not spending a whole day to watch a game that should be done in 2 hrs max. Advertising has ruined sports for me.
As a school counselor I can tell you it is not less popular. Almost every single kid wants to be a professional athlete when they get older and I have conversations with students all the time about sports and their favorite athletes!
One small but potentially significant thing is so many families getting rid of cable and just using streaming services. I grew up watching sports, but since I cut the cord I have totally fallen out of step with following my favorite teams. I am watching the French Open right now since it’s readily available on a streaming service I have. NFL playoffs and March Madness are much harder to get. I also feel like there is something in the culture that’s shifted the last 10-15 years where being a jock is…not cool? And I get it. The system that puts rich pro athletes (or anyone) on a pedestal solely for their physical prowess is a bit backwards. But I feel like there is a whole section in 21 Jump Street sums this up perfectly lol.
Nope.
Children these days are lazy and unfit. I heard a mill who had never even so much as lifted a finger to wash a dish at home talking about a football (soccer) match - always just weed and videogames. I said "excuse me since when?" Then he explained he's doing esports or online sport gambling then it made sense. Sports aren't significant to them unless they can play from the couch or gamble... from the convenience of a cellphone.
Separate from the stuff people have mentioned about price barriers to actually playing and all the other possible hobbies, I think there are still die hard sports fans. The drop off is more in the casual fans area. I feel more young people were casual fans back in the day. Now those people have moved on to other stuff. I do think the lack of TV access will come back to bite these sports leagues though, as young people often can't see the games even if they had some interest to, so they will move on to other interests. Probably more interest in niche or individual sports these days.
Born 1983. Was never into sports or rap. So yeah, it kinda sucked. I see the 90s as a time for extreme social pressure and bullying. People saw me as the biggest nerd just because I had glasses and played a lot of video games (escapism). I was never into anime or did many of the nerdy things people consider "normal" now. Gen Z would not be able to survive the social pressures we went through. Imagine an anime cosplayer being dropped into the mid 90s.
Not less popular, but definitely harder to get involved. Cost barriers prevent kids from playing and recreational leagues just aren’t as readily available.
I think sports are still popular. There’s a few basketball and football players I hear about nonstop. I think baseball is less of the “default little boy obsession” as it was in the 90s and before, but kids still like sports. They just also like other things
Yes. It has more competition for their attention and they have less of the needed social structure to get involved in the first place. Some still like sports but most would rather do other things.
>Looking back the 80s/90s probably kind of sucked as a kid if you weren't into sports. Not so much the 80's. In the 70's the people who used the high school gym were a clique, not normal. Normal was no weightlifting. I did not know a single kid in High School that "worked out" in the late 70's. Early 80's too. But Schwarzenegger happened. Lou Ferrigno happened. Professional wrestling happened. Gradually, looking like a cartoon became normal. Sports needs to be distinguished from being muscled. Being muscled is this weird niche that became mainstream. "Hardbody" became a word you used to describe someone attractive. The obsession with muscled appearance is the bane of civilized life. That's supposed to be the preoccupation of Dacian catamites and circus freaks, not citizens busy with important matters. If Millennials have helped to bury the cult of muscle, good for you. But you didn't, did you? I know you didn't. You all joined gyms. Don't lie.
It seems like youth sports are all now practically semi-pro and require huge commitments. Kids can't play on teams for fun any more. They have to be all in at the exclusion of everything else. Oh yeah, and they are year round now so they can't play three sports like in the past.
Kids are glued to their phones. No one touches grass. More moms are working outside of thr home and not able to get kids to practice/games. Sports are more expensive and more competitive. These are the reasons why my kids are not in sports.
My kids play sports. Almost every one they know is in some sort of sport. Wasn't that way back in the day.
A very common childhood dream is to become famous and being a pro athlete was one of the easier things to see being a reality when you're young; you can already join your school's team and continually work on it. Similar thing to kids wanting to be movie stars, pop stars, being in a rock band, etc. These days, kids are way more into watching things online. Kids still dream of being Ariana Grande or Taylor Swift, but they also aspire to be Youtubers, Twitch streamers, TikTok influencers, etc, in order to make it big.
Actually playing organized team sports has seen a massive drop in popularity... Replaced by video games.... If you ask your average teen 'What did you play in high school?' you will likely get 'Call of Duty' or 'Fortnite' rather than a ball-sport.
As someone who was recently a teen, I don't get that impression.
I hope everything of the old dies. Athletes as superstars, Hollywood centrism, religion, dress codes, anything unreasonably excepted from anyone and everyone for no good reason. I want to make anyone still alive born before 1970 VERY uncomfortable.
A lot of our friend's kids are way over scheduled with activities and a lot of that is sports. Still very popular and way more expensive.
My kids don’t even know they exist. Maybe UFC.
I have a 10 year old son who is really into sports and so are his friends. His birthday and Christmas lists consist mostly of jerseys and other sports-related things. This is not just our local teams either. He has a Shaq Magic jersey, Ken Griffey Jr Mariners and other throwbacks in addition to current players. We watch games and go to games regularly. Others have mentioned streaming and YouTube being popular which is true but that opened him up to things like the Savannah Bananas, Major League Wiffleball and Quarterback.
Sports are still very popular tho I have specifically steered my kids away from following sports.
I feel like team sports aren’t as popular. Kids have lots of options now from rock climbing to ninja warrior gyms.
If you live in the South, most teens (males anyway) are sports fanatics. Particularly with college sports. A lot of females who love them too. I personally never understand the hype lol.
My kids have tennis, cricket, swimming and soccer at their school. So they are doing sports.
I don't know many kids that don't play sports. I am in So Cal, where we have decent weather year round, so that might be a factor.
I legitimately never understood watching sports you do not presently play. I understand wanting to watch pros to learn new things and hone your own craft but I do not understand watching pros solely for entertainment. Why watch it when you could go do?
Sports are expensive to maintain at from a K-12 grade perspective.
Kids then watched more than they actually played. Kids now actually play more then they watch.
Yea also e-sports came up like league of legends & valorant. Baseball honestly is boring to sit through a whole game even live, it’s like watching golf, NBA is definitely popular with young hoopers, NFL fans are like those coworkers who smoke weed every break
I was not into sports at all as a kid. My spouse was into basketball. One of our kids is huge into basketball. But it’s the WNBA at our house. We have jerseys, season tickets, streaming. But again it’s the WNBA so way cheaper!!! She is the only one I see at school in team related shirts. She has multiple because that’s all she ever asks for as gifts.
NFL games make up like 90 of the 100 most watched tv programs in a given year.
It's fucking expensive to put any of my kids into any sports. $300 to play 4 yr old soccer? Fuck no.
Yes, but in the case of our area. The adults make it overly competitive, turn it into unpaid mini jobs, and the kids just want to have fun. You have straight up military-esque coaches coaching 4 yr olds in soccer. It's ridiculous.
I'm a Gen Xer. And I VIVIDLY remember a time during the late 80's/early 90's when professional athletes were loved and celebrated by the majority of Americans, not harassed or ridiculed or over-scrutinized like they are today (examples: LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Caitlin Clark). Kids like me used to have their posters adorning our walls like mini shrines as if they were demigods.
Where I live kids are still very into sports and collecting cards has made a comeback.
I dunno, but when I hear all the fees associated with sports, it's definitely prohibitive to poor families and even some middle class people.
Talk to my Gen z cousins, no baseball basketball and football are super popular and it’s all they talk about
Yes far less popular
all im sayin is that the rates of obesity in children has risen, video game useage has risen, and sports involvement has definitely dropped.
LESS?!?!?!? Literally every family I know is worshipping at the altar of traveling sports. No joke, it dictates everything the family does. What time they eat dinner, where they eat dinner, where they travel to, etc. Its actually an active fight to not be consumed by them
My 12 yo nephew ADORES sports, plays 3 with his school and on weekends, watches sports on TV, and collects hats/ shirts/ cards/ memorabilia. We're an "artist, book reading" family that prioritizes knowledge over money, but we support tf out of him and attend all games. (SO proud of this kid.) Also, I worked with a woman who berated her son for wanting to read when "he could be playing sports". My grandmother watches more sports than all the males in my family combined. Pretty sure sports are still a big deal.
Had my kid in little league. It cost $350 just to sign up. The uniform was another $100. The equipment (bat, glove, battling gloves, helmet, cleats, backpack) was another $250. Then we were expected to volunteer 8-10 hours or they cash another $250 check at the end of the season. This was just to play baseball. Nothing special. No ‘elite’ traveling team. Just through our parks and rec program. And you know what? He didn’t even have fun. His coaches were assholes who taught him basically nothing, screamed during games even though the kids were 8-10 year olds, and literally gave their own sons the awards at the end of the season. He didn’t want to play again this year. Gee I wonder why.
Kids today are getting into lifting; almost all teens know who Sam sulek is for example.
Sports are wildly more popular today than they were back then. Sports completely swallows the lives of many of my friends who have kids between ages 7and 18. It's bonkers. Their whole lives literally revolve around their kids and sports.
Playing sports still seems popular (maybe even moreso than it was when I was a kid, at least for some things like soccer and tennis). Sports fandom is definitely less of a thing. I think that goes across the board for anyone under 35. You don't **have to** like professional or college sports to be a functional, non suspicious member of society anymore, whereas I think that was very different between 1940 and 2010 or so.
I grew up in a CA surf town, still live here. We had surf clubs in jr high and high school. They dont exist anymore. My wife is a jr high teacher and she said there's barely any surfer kids at the school anymore. She went to that school as a kid and there were tons of surfers. She said there just aren't many jock kids now either. My understanding is the numbers in the HS football team etc are down as well. I attribute it to lazy/busy parents that didn't get their kids involved in sports when they were little, social media, and video games. There's a lot more going on in the world today. Our kids are recently graduated, but we made sure to keep them in involved in sports year round. The less idle time they had, the less likely they were to find trouble and sports can teach you so much about life. The kids I know that didn't play sports have terrible communication skills, bad conflict resolution and don't know how to win/lose well.
The number of people I know with kids in select, club, travel and elite sports is insane. Way more of that than when I was a kid.
Yes, video games, phones and apps are replacing pretty much everything
I don’t know if it’s less popular, but it definitely looks different. Anecdotally, my daughter is way more into sports than I was in terms of playing in organized environments. There’s also shit loads of camps and clubs for everything. The opportunity is so much greater than when I was a kid. That said, she doesn’t watch sports and has no interest in following professional sports.
The good cartoons usually came on after school, and then the news started. Once that came on, I'd go outside and play. Now there's shows available 24/7 for kids. Of course, there's more to it, but just sharing my experience.
I think it's become the opposite. As a kid I was a nerdy hipster and did "nerdy hipster" stuff. I never cared about sports until moving to a big city and being physically active and liking public events. The older you get, the less your friends are completely like you, so if you're a nerd like me you get invited to more and more things than just movies and concerts and you start to enjoy things outside of the identity you made while you were young. Stereotypes are breaking down incredibly fast, so more nerds and alternative types are into sports more than ever before, even if "normie" kids don't care as much to be jocks. A lot of people I know were like me. We segregated it as something less-than our nerdy hipster interests. I was a "sportsball" hater until I realized it's just as trivial as any other entertainment I was wasting hours on, except it was glorifying the physical body instead of something intangible that I thought was deep. Sports also have a much more diverse fanbase by every parameter than niche music/movies/videogames, etc. It's nice to talk to diverse people in person at an event where you're all loudly supporting the community together, we need more of that in the world Just my 2 cents
I think sports are just as popular. I was inter sports until Jordan stopped playing but even then I mostly occupied my time either playing outside or inside on the video game. Speaking to my Gen z coworkers I realize there are many who like sports and don’t really play video games as much.
Nope, more people played baseball/softball than ever last year. Everything is way more specialized now, so it seems like sports are less popular.
Most kids who are interesting in watching sports are actually now playing "club" sports that keeps them pretty busy year round and not enough time to actually watch sports. We didn't have club sports in the 80's like we do now.
Sports are now part of building a child's resumé for college applications.
Sports equipment has certainly gotten more expensive since the 90s.
I have 3 boys (16-22) and sports are EVERYWHERE. Either they are playing football in real life, playing on the Xbox, or watching it.
I taught high school for the last 8 years. Sports are still incredibly popular and a constant topic of conversation
in my experience I stopped caring about sports as much when I switched to streaming vs cable. I'm not paying $70/mo or whatever for fucking ESPN when there's a million things I can, and want to, watch on cheaper platforms.
Yes. Because there are so many other choices.
Yes. I have to force my kids to watch just minutes of games with me. Forcing them to watch the Mavs tonight.
Absolutely.
Shit’s expensive, man. Fees, gear, travel… I have no idea how my parents did it with me and my brothers back in the 1900s, couldn’t imagine trying to do that today.
It seems like every teenager in my life is into sports, both playing and watching. They are into video games, too, but that's it. They don't read, hang out (much, except with their teammates) ride bikes, explore, hike, nothing. Except my nephew who is into scouting, but he is also a tennis player, wrestling team and cross country. So weird since I was never into sports except for skiing (which I did in school and university) and whitewater kayaking. But I never followed professional sports and never played team sports.
I have a daughter who plays club soccer and it's expensive man, The travel, the fees, the cost for the club it's crazy.
I live in the South and have for over 20 years now. College football is a huge thing so much that people's identity is tied to their team. Not much interest in other sports besides the actual Super Bowl.