2. Using our Sociological Imagination to examine American football
A. Reactions from the end of the "most watched" Super Bowl in history.
B. It's popular and profitable
- The NFL generated $9.5 billion in revenues in 2012 , some $2 billion more than Major League Baseball. The 32 teams themselves are worth more than $37 billion combined, according to Forbes.
- More than 25 million Americans played fantasy football last year, spending more than $3 billion on league entry fees and other related content and services, including stuff like this.
- The NFL’s revenue includes $4 billion from television broadcast rights contracts with the likes of CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC and satellite provider DirecTV.
- 34% of fans who said that pro football was their favorite sport in a January poll by Harris Interactive , compared with 24 percent who chose pro football in 1985. Baseball was a distant second in the most recent poll, with 16 percent calling it their favorite.
- 17,303,347: Regular season attendance at NFL games in 2012, according to Sports Business Journal, up from 2011 but down from 17,605,811 in 2006.
- 17: Number of billionaires among the league’s 31 owners (with the Green Bay Packers being publicly owned )110,000: Approximate number of jobs across various industries supported by the NFL, according to a 2011 story by the Associated Press.
- $765 million: Amount the NFL agreed to pay over 20 years to settle a lawsuit brought by 4,500 former players who accused the league of concealing information it had about the long-term risks of concussions. The league did not admit to any wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement, which must still be approved by a federal judge.
D. But is it safe? Listen to the "Youth Football Study" segment.
- Study of Retirees Links Youth Football to Brain Problems
- CTE in the NFL
- Brain Trauma to Affect One in Three Players, N.F.L. Agrees
Assignment #3 - Football for Kids?
- Part 1 - You've been asked to write a short article for the TA school newspaper about the dangers of football. Using the resources above, write a 200-300 word article explaining the dangers of football. In your article you must specifically cite evidence/arguments from all the three articles above. (not an opinion article)
- Part 2 - Write a paragraph explaining your personal opinions on this issue. Specifically, if you would let your child play football before the age of 12 if they wanted to.
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