of the health of the sport:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/la-sp-high-schools-sondheimer-20180819-story.html
Intuitively, I suspect the decline in Southern California high school football has to correlate to the decline of PAC 12 football recruiting and on-field performance. A conference can’t afford to lose it’s primary recruiting base. The infrastructure is essentially rotting out here.
The changing demographics in California, Arizona, and, to a lesser degree, Colorado, are probably a factor. It’s no secret that Hispanics, who are now a minority-majority in California (with Arizona in sight), will prefer soccer. The safety issue makes football a nonstarter for many of the white families who historically might have sent their kids into football. African Americans are a relatively tiny fraction of the population in western states, compared to other regions of the country.
I just don’t see how this ends well for us out here, although the national recruiting brands that Stanford, USC, and UCLA enjoy might give them a short-term, competitive edge against the rest of the conference.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/la-sp-high-schools-sondheimer-20180819-story.html
Intuitively, I suspect the decline in Southern California high school football has to correlate to the decline of PAC 12 football recruiting and on-field performance. A conference can’t afford to lose it’s primary recruiting base. The infrastructure is essentially rotting out here.
The changing demographics in California, Arizona, and, to a lesser degree, Colorado, are probably a factor. It’s no secret that Hispanics, who are now a minority-majority in California (with Arizona in sight), will prefer soccer. The safety issue makes football a nonstarter for many of the white families who historically might have sent their kids into football. African Americans are a relatively tiny fraction of the population in western states, compared to other regions of the country.
I just don’t see how this ends well for us out here, although the national recruiting brands that Stanford, USC, and UCLA enjoy might give them a short-term, competitive edge against the rest of the conference.
