The Texas Longhorns :rockin:
This thread has some excellent comments already. Two points:
In the US, I doubt football will lose that much interest though I do see ultimately the court rulings and later the government weighing in on the rules, just as it the government did over 100 years ago in the US, given that most kids already have access to public health benefits and given that ultimately more folks will as well given the broken private health system at our hands since at least 2008.
Our society won't allow football to be given up, but it will not be able to afford the prospects of decades of litigation, let alone the added public health bill, without major rule changes.
I think the government will screw up its emphasis when it does weigh in, for more than anything the teaching of making hits above the shoulders and tackling without attempting to wrap both have to go ultimately via stricter rules.
There is a whole corps of amateur coaches who are still teaching the bad tackling and hitting techniques given no real crackdown at the amateur levels unlike in the NFL.
The NFL efforts only began in earnest in 2010 in the infamous Week 6 starting with James Harrison's clobbering of Mohammed Massaquoi as is the sort of play that has been outlawed and subject to hefty fines and even suspensions: James Harrison's hit on Massaquoi - YouTube
And let's remember that is before BountyGate was revealed too.
A rule change is needed also to enforce the attempt to wrap on all tackles as is just plain good defence let alone safer.
I spoke recently with a local friend who is a former MLB pro baseball pitcher who was also multi-sport athlete in high school, including for football, when he was recruited by the big leagues.
He is well familiar with the local and Florida amateur football scene from which much of the national talent is drawn along with from Texas and California and certain other places.
He coaches his kids' baseball team too, and he manages especially the usually troublesome parents well.
He says there is no way he would have his kids play football.
I don't have kids (yet), and I would definitely have to think about it now though would not hesitate to allow my kids to play any other sport that comes to mind.