![]() The record for Pop Warner was 248,899, or roughly 12 percent of the total number of kids enrolled in Little League at this point. Consistent annual growth led to a record 248,899 players participating in Pop Warner in 2010 that figure fell to 225,287 by the 2012 season. An ESPN Outside The Lines investigation reported the following:Īccording to data provided to "Outside the Lines," Pop Warner lost 23,612 players, thought to be the largest two-year decline since the organization began keeping statistics decades ago. By comparison, Pop Warner football has seen a decline in participation, largely due to concerns around head and neck injuries that has become a key concern for the NFL. As children grow up, and costs have increased, parents and the kids that take sports seriously, often gravitate toward one or two sports choosing to become specialized.Īccording to the head offices of Little League, approximately 2 million kids play youth baseball, and that number has held steady for the last 5 years. Kids take part in soccer early on as everyone gets ample playing time, and it’s easy to understand: See the ball. Kids swarm the ball, and there’s little, if any, coordinated play. At the youngest level, soccer games resemble a swarm of hornets chasing a meal. ![]() Now, go to a soccer field and watch the games. If that were the case, NASCAR would have tiny numbers, and F1 auto racing would see less than a thousand viewers on television. “Baseball has lost kids playing the game, and with it, those kids don’t grow up watching Major League Baseball,” is the argument.įirst off, the popularity of a sport has never been wholly driven by participation. Now, you look around and soccer fields dominate youth sports. And if those diamonds were used up, you could see kids in the street playing the game where cars and manhole covers were bases. There was a point in the not too distant past where you could go by any school ground or park and find a pick up game of baseball. Don't Be Stupid, Fan Interest Isn't Measured By Participation
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