By Ken Reed
Brett Favre has become the latest former NFL player to say he wouldn’t encourage his son to play football.
“I would be real leery of him playing football,” said Favre on a “Today” show segment with host Matt Lauer.
Favre revealed that he now suffers from memory loss and that he couldn’t remember that his daughter played youth soccer.
Terry Bradshaw also recently said he wouldn’t let his son play football.
“If I had a son today, and I would say this to all our audience and our viewers out there, I would not let him play football,” Bradshaw told Jay Leno while a guest on NBC’s Tonight Show.
“There will be a time in the next decade where we will not see football as it is, I believe,” said the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback.
Favre and Bradshaw join other high profile quarterbacks, including Troy Aikman and Kurt Warner saying they’d have a hard time encouraging their sons to play football.
Many American parents are starting to feel the same way.
Pop Warner, the nation’s largest youth football organization, saw its participation levels drop 9.5 percent between 2010-12. The organization’s chief medical officer, Dr. Julian Bailes, says the decline is due to the amount of negative attention the NFL has received due to head injuries.
The decline in youth football participation numbers will undoubtedly continue in the coming years.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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