Most people in the world of team sports are well aware that the first American gridiron game ever played took place in New Jersey between Rutgers University and the College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University).  The date of the game was November 6, 1869, and a crowd of nearly 100 spectators was there to witness the event. Efforts by Team Insight to confirm the price of tickets for that particular game have been unsuccessful.

Another fact about American football that is not so well-known is when and where the inaugural high school football game was played. That was back on May 12, 1875, when the first-ever high school football game was contested between two Connecticut schools — New London High School (originally named the Bulkeley School for Boys) and Norwich Free Academy. That rivalry game is still being contested and is now played as a Thanksgiving Day tradition. The 2024 game is believed to have been the 162nd edition of what is the oldest high school football rivalry. But there is no truth to the rumor that George Kline supplied the uniforms for that game.

As for professional football in the U.S., its roots can be traced back to November 12, 1892, when the Allegheny Athletic Association football team defeated the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. The beginning of today’s National Football League started on Saturday, September 17, 1920, when the first game was played in Canton, OH, which also happens to be the location of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

As for the identity of the founder of this uniquely American game, it’s widely considered to be Walter Camp, who is given credit for modifying the rules of rugby union and introducing the line of scrimmage (as opposed to rugby union’s scrums), the use of downs, the number of players on the field (11 versus rugby’s use of 15 players), the creation of the quarterback position, which is a blend of rugby union’s two ball-controlling positions, and, finally, the point system (touchdowns, field goals, safeties and point-after-touchdown kicks in American football as opposed to rugby union’s tries, conversion kicks and penalty kicks).

But enough of the history lesson. Since the days of pioneers such as Camp, Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg, the sport of football has evolved over time, and established itself as the most popular team sport in the U.S.  As a result, it has evolved into a strong-selling category for team dealers from Hawaii to Maine.

Let’s play our own game and see how the sport is doing as the 2024 season wraps up.

First Quarter

Team Dealers Love the Game

In southern Indiana, football sales are strong for Clarksville-based Kratz Sporting Goods, where, according to sales rep Drew Starck, the best-selling items are uniforms, Schutt helmets, shoulder pads, footballs, socks, training aids and cleats.

“Varsity football teams are on a rotation where they are buying new uniforms every two to four years and, of course, many are buying a set of home and away uniforms,” says Starck. “With the popularity of tight-fitting jerseys, they are not lasting as long as they tend to rip and tear along the edges of the shoulder pads.” Kratz even has a seamstress on staff to stitch and repair any jerseys.  

Typically, teams buy anywhere from six to 12 footballs a year from Kratz, while some schools upgrade their football purchase and have the dealer decorate it with their team logo.  

Other product trends: Kratz sells a lot of Wilson GST1003 footballs each year while, since COVID, sales of cleats have been less of a team purchase and more of an individual purchase. Black is still the main color for cleats, unless there’s an interest in a cleat in a team color.

As a full-line team dealer, Starck says Kratz will deliver anything in football — regardless of its size. It could be as small as a mouthpiece or as big as a set of goal posts. “Personally, I’ve never sold a set of goal posts, but I can get them,” says Starck.

For Kratz, the youth football business remains solid. “We have a decent youth football business,” Starck continues. “We sell a number of uniform packages and many of our sales are online.”

Meanwhile, in Kentucky the football business has rebounded from the days of the pandemic. “Our football business is probably as good as it’s ever been,” reports Shawn Hord, owner of H & W Duke’s Sports, headquartered in Campbellsville, KY, with satellite offices in Bowling Green and Elizabethtown. The dealer caters to 50 high school football programs in Kentucky as well as a trio of collegiate football programs.

In each case, H & W Duke’s Sports sells football from head-to-toe, including goal posts. “We don’t sell too many goal posts, but we do get an order for a set from time to time,” says Hord.

In the southern section of West Virginia, Capital Varsity Sports sales rep Angie Wolford sells football to 15 high school programs and the only major category that Wolford doesn’t sell is cleats: “Since COVID, I don’t sell too many football cleats, all the players buy their own.”

While Wolford will deliver anything that a player or a team needs, the biggest sales items are helmets, shoulder pads and custom uniforms. Many of Wolford’s clients replace their uniforms – both home and away – every five years. In addition, Capital Varsity Sports does its own reconditioning of helmets and shoulder pads in its Oxford, OH, headquarters.

In West Virginia, the official football is the Wilson GST and every season high schools purchase between six to 12 of them.

In Marietta, OH, which is perched along the Ohio-West Virginia border, you’ll find Zide’s Sports Shop, a full-line team dealer with years of experience selling football. And as owner Rod Zide looks back on the 2024 football season, he’s quick to point out that it was busy and profitable.

“Our football business has been very good, our numbers are up and local participation in football is up,” reports Zide, who caters to the football needs of middle schools, high schools and one NCAA Division I football program — West Virginia University.

“We try to be as vertical as possible,” Zide says, selling helmets, shoulder pads and custom uniforms along with mouthguards, first-down chains, scoreboards, blocking sleds and tackling dummies.

According to Zide, the one big difference between his high school customers and middle school clients is that high schools tend to buy items with higher price points. “High schools simply have bigger budgets for football,” he says, and some schools are even buying special edition jerseys for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Military Guard Jerseys for any military appreciation games.

The one item which Zide’s Sports Shop does not sell is the football cleat. “We don’t have the retail inventory to back it up,” Zide explains. “There are too many varieties and brands available on the Internet for us to stock and sell.”

And Zide’s Sports Shop is making inroads with its reconditioning service. “More and more team dealers are providing that in-house reconditioning service for the schools that play football,” Zide points out.

Out in Woodward, OK, the football business is strong and vibrant for Compass Athletics, whose primary clients are high schools and a few local youth football programs. “Our high schools are football helmets, shoulder pads, uniforms, footballs, tackling dummies and blocking sleds,” according to co-owner Eric Wheeler, who adds that “youth leagues are purchasing similar items. Our football business is good.”  ‍

Second Quarter

Participation Is Strong

According to the latest participation figures from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), overall football participation has been increasing every year since 2020, when the number dropped to 5.054 million. It 2023, overall participation had rebounded by 11.2 percent to 5.62 million and, of those, 44 percent – or 2.5 million – were “core” participants who played 26 or more days a year.

As could be expected, of those core participants, 96.5 percent are male; 34.6 percent come from households whose annual income in more than $100,000; and 22 percent live in the South Atlantic region (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware).

Age-wise, 55 percent of core football players are in the 13-17-year-old age group, while and 30.4 percent are in the 6-12-year-old group.  

From a race perspective, 58.4 percent of core football players are white/Caucasian, while 22.9 percent are black/African American.

Meanwhile, in high schools, there were 1.03 million high school boys playing 11-player tackle football during the 2023 fall season, according to the latest participation studies by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), making it the most popular high school sport for boys in the U.S.  

It’s interesting to note that 4094 girls played 11-player high school tackle football in 2023.

Of course, not every high school football player was on an 11-player team, as six-player, eight-player, and nine-player football are popular in various parts of the country with smaller populations. The most popular version is eight-player football, followed by six-player and then nine-player.

The top 10 states for high school football are Texas (171,246 players), California (89,667), Ohio (43,020), Florida (38,515), Illinois (36,810), Alabama (35,306), Georgia (33,039), Michigan (32,431), North Carolina (29,075) and Pennsylvania (27,850.)

Third Quarter

Flag’s Continued Growth

In many respects, flag football is similar to baseball in that there are many organizations and governing bodies with a significant stake in the game and a role to play in the delivering the sport to the masses.

The National Football League (NFL), USA Football, NFHS, National Intramural and Recreation Sports Association (NIRSA), National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Pop Warner, International Flag Football Association (IFFA) and now the International Olympic Committee (IOC) all play a role in organizing and promoting the sport of flag football, which will be making its Olympics debut during the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028, where both men’s and women’s flag football will take place.

The numbers are certainly impressive and tell a story of growth, especially among girls. According to USA Football, from 2014 through 2023 the number of girls ages six-to-17 playing flag football increased approximately 44 percent. Participation numbers reached new heights in 2023, with more than 230,000 girls playing flag football. During that same 10-year span, the number of girls playing flag football increased 222 percent.

And according to SFIA, there were 7.2 million flag football players in the U.S. in 2023 and 2.6 million were considered core participants who participated 26 or more days that year. Other participation statistics worth sharing include:

• 28.2 percent of flag football participants are six-to-12 years old;

• 20.1 percent are 25-34 years old;

• 36.2 percent come from households whose annual income is at least $100,000 a year;

• Nearly 60 percent are Caucasian/white.

The most populated region for participation is the South Atlantic part of the U.S. (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware). Nearly 25 percent live in the South Atlantic region.

At the same time, flag football is growing strongly in popularity for girls at the high school level in many part of the U.S. According to the NFHS, 12 state associations – Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York and Tennessee – have sanctioned girls’ flag football and another 19 states are involved in pilot programs at some level.

The 19 state high school associations with pilot girls’ flag football programs include Connecticut, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.  

The states with the most participants are California, Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  

“Flag (football) is a sport of inclusivity,” points out Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the NFHS. “It can be played in any season, is fast-paced and offers an opportunity for young people to play and others to coach or officiate in the exciting sport of football.”

“The popularity of flag football – for boys and girls – has been growing at the youth levels for the past 10 years,” Niehoff adds. “At a higher level of competition, more universities are beginning to offer flag football for girls, which will certainly enhance the appeal for girls playing the sport at the high school level. Internationally, the sport received a huge boost with the addition of flag football as an Olympic sport for men and women at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.”

One of the many NFL-supported local youth flag football leagues in the U.S. is the Breakthru Athletic League, based in Loxahatchee, FL, located just west of West Palm Beach, where director of communications Matt Green says the local league’s third year is finding continued growth.

“Our organization formed in 2022 and our first season of NFL Flag Football was in the fall of that year,” Green says. The NFL has provided and continues to support some logistical support to the Breakthru Athletic League, but no monetary support.

And meanwhile at the collegiate level, flag football remains an “emerging” sport while on its way to “invitational” status and eventually a “championship” level sport for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). There are currently 22 NAIA flag football teams in the U.S.

In addition to these 22 NAIA programs, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) has seven member institutions that will have flag football programs in the spring of 2025. The NCAA is exploring flag football as an emerging sport for women, as well.

The NFL is playing a role in helping those 22 NAIA programs to get started by offering each school a $15,000 funding grants. According to Avis Roper, the NFL’s director of football communications, those $15,000 grants are still available.

“The NFL continues to support the NAIA and other collegiate programs who are launching flag football programs, given they are pivotal in driving the growth of sport of flag football,” Roper says.

Fourth Quarter

News and Notes

Two other interesting developments are impacting the world of youth football in America.

• While football fans agree that the season starts in August and doesn’t end until the NFL’s Super Bowl in February, the football season for Darren Cato has a different set of dates. For Cato, the owner of Mercury Sports in Evansville, IN, the season really starts when schedules are completed because for 20 years Cato has run a vital reconditioning businesses for football helmets and shoulder pads. For Cato, football’s traditional off season is his regular season.

“We have already started reconditioning helmets,” Cato reported in late October.  “We use November 1 as our start date each season, but we normally start even before then.” Last year, Mercury Sports reconditioned more than 19,000 pieces of equipment from nearly 500 high school and college teams.

“Once started, it typically takes a couple of weeks to cycle through the process,” said Cato. “There are factors that slow down that process at times.”

While the life expectancy of a football helmet can be as much as 10 years, most football programs don’t use helmets that old.

“That is the life expectancy, but as the awareness continues to grow coaches and programs are trying to renew their inventory of helmets more often,” says Cato. “They are starting to do the right thing, which is to provide the best protection for their athletes that they possibly can.”

At Mercury Sports, there is an emphasis on making sure shoulder pads are as fully operational as helmets.

“There is no NOCSAE standard on shoulder pads at this point, but some manufacturers have adopted the 10-year-and-out policy for their shoulder pads,” he explains. “Unfortunately, shoulder pads have taken a back seat to helmets, rightfully so. But, we are seeing negligence in schools and programs putting such an emphasis on helmets that they don’t invest into their shoulder pads.”

• One of the most significant challenges facing youth and high school football in America is the dearth of officials, and as a result an increasing number of varsity football games are being played on Thursday nights rather than the traditional Friday Night Football. Quite simply, the biggest reason is the lack of qualified game officials and referees, as there are not enough officials to staff every high school football game every Friday night.

To help overcome this shortage, the NFHS is aggressively promoting the need for more football officials and officials in all high school sports.  And, you’ll get paid for your time, as well. If interested, access www.highschoolofficials.com.