Every August the "is football dying" chatter bubbles back to the surface, usually coinciding with the opening of training camps and two-a-days start showing up on Twitter and news that some teams are folding their season based on low participation numbers.
The latest NFHS participation survey, highlighted by USA Today, pumps the brakes on the narrative that football participation numbers are down, at least as a blanket statement.
Eleven-player football drew 1,031,039 players nationally in 2024-25, still the most popular boys sport in the country by a wide margin. That's essentially flat with the year before, off by a few hundred kids, but it keeps the sport comfortably above a million after it dipped under that mark during the COVID years. Football climbed back, and now it's parking there.
Overall it was a record year for high school sports, 8,260,891 athletes, up nearly 200,000 from the previous cycle. Girls flag football is the rocket on the launchpad, up 60 percent to 68,847 players and adding close to 1,000 schools in a single year. For coaches sitting on the fence about starting a flag program, seeing the trajectory of that curve is the argument to bring to your admin team.
Texas leads the country with well over 174,000 football participants, dwarfing the next closest state (California) who has over 91,400 participants. Next on the list? Ohio with 39,439. Texas and California have also seen the largest increase in participating stretching back to 2008, with Mississippi coming in third for the most growth.
Michigan and Illinois have seen the largest dips since the pandemic, with Michigan losing nearly 25% of it's participation numbers, and Illinois at 23%.
Eight-player football is doing quiet work of its own, giving smaller schools a way to stay on the field instead of folding a program. That flexibility, plus the flag boom, is a big reason the national number has stopped bleeding and steadied out. The sport isn't just holding the kids it had. It's finding new formats to bring more of them onto the field.
For coaches, there's an overarching message here. Roster numbers aren't going to fall in your lap on reputation anymore. The programs holding steady are the ones recruiting the hallways, the middle school feeder program, youth football, and the multi-sport kids like a true part of the job description. Eight-player football keeps giving smaller schools a way to stay on the field instead of folding a program, and that flexibility is a big reason the national number has stopped bleeding.
The doom narrative makes for an easy click worthy headline some outlets thrive on, but a simple look at the data tells a steadier story.
Football is holding its ground nationally, and the sport has found new formats to bring more people onto the field and be included in the numbers.
While many states are considering the inclusion of flag football coaches into their respective coaches associations, there is going to come a time in the near future where coaches and fans request to see the numbers for just tackle football while keeping flag football respectfully separate.
See the full state-by-state breakdown provided by USA Today via this link for your particular state.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.