Americans voted football the most dangerous team sport to play, beating out the likes of ice hockey and rugby.
The poll, which was commissioned by Safe Betting Sites, found that American Football was labeled “Dangerous to play” by 84 percent of the respondents, the highest percentage out of the list of major team sports. Second highest with 83 percent was Ice Hockey & third Rugby (70 percent).
The survey comes after a chain of horrific concussion incidents in the NFL that have dominated the sports headlines since Week 4 of the NFL season.
According to the poll, 77 percent of Americans believe that the NFL still needs to do more to regulate concussions and head injuries.
Not only do Americans believe that the NFL needs to be safer but adults are having second thoughts about letting their kids play youth football too.
The poll of more than 1,500 Americans also revealed that 43 percent of adults believe that football is getting too dangerous to play and nearly half (45 percent) of the women polled said that they would not allow their kids to play football.
Check out the highlights from the poll below.
- Football is considered the most dangerous sport in America
- 77% of Americans think the NFL needs to do more to regulate concussions & head injuries
- 45% of US women would not let their kids play football
- 40% of US adults believe football is too dangerous to play
Data analyst at Safe Betting Sites, Nick Raffoul commented on the survey data:
“You have to wonder if this could turn into a long-term issue for the NFL. Even with all of the protocols in place, Americans are obviously still concerned with the number of concussions and head injuries in the league. If nearly half of parents are unwilling to let their kids play at the youth level, then we may see the next generation of great athletes opt to play different sports other than football.”
Football Is Considered The Most Dangerous Sport In America
Football was ranked the most dangerous sport to play in America, according to a recent poll.
A total of 1,502 Americans were polled in the study and 83.62% considered football to be dangerous.
Ice hockey (82.76%) and Rugby (70.37%) were next on the list of the most dangerous team sports.
Previous studies in 2021 and 2006 found that basketball was considered the most dangerous sport to play in the USA.
77% of Americans Think The NFL Needs To Better Regulate Concussions & Head Injuries
In the wake of Tua Tagovailoa’s injury, the NFL updated its concussion protocol to prohibit a player that displays impaired balance or coordination from re-entering the game.
But has the NFL done enough to limit concussions and make the game safer to satisfy fans?
When asked whether the NFL needed to do more to regulate concussions and head injuries, 77% of respondents voted yes.
Meanwhile, only 14% of respondents said no and only 9% did not have an opinion on the matter, suggesting Americans have strong opinions on how the NFL has handled the incident.
45% of US Women Would Not Let Their Kids Play Football
Recent concussions in the NFL have played a major role in how football is viewed among US adults.
According to the poll, 45% of women said that they would not let their children play football.
That number wasn’t far off the total, as 42.6% of all respondents said they would not allow their kids to play football.
Parents aged 35-44 were among the most likely age group to say no to football with 55.5% saying they would not allow their kids to play.
40% of US Adults Believe Football Is Too Dangerous
A recent string of concussions in the NFL seems to have altered America’s view on football in recent weeks.
Is football becoming too dangerous to play?
Out of over 1,500 respondents, 40% of US adults say that it is.
However, the majority of US males still disagree with that sentiment.
In fact, 52% of the males that were polled said that football was not too dangerous to play and 44% of the total respondents also said no.
On the other hand, 44% of females said that football was too dangerous, which is on par with the findings about how women feel about their kids playing the sport.
Shortly after graduating with an Honors in Business Administration, Nick turned his attention from traditional stocks and bonds to investing in the performance of sports teams. He uses a combination of advanced stats and historical data to create sports investment models to identify value and generate consistent profits. Nick's work can also be found at Basketball Insiders, Pistons Powered, The Sports Daily, Winners And Whiners, and more.
