here are some participation stats from 18-19 school year. Pre-COvID.
But the NFHS numbers on boys in 11-player tackle football show some trends that football’s supporters shouldn’t ignore:
Participation is at its lowest level since 1999-2000 (1,002,734).
At this rate, participation could fall below 1 million next year. 1998-99 (983,625) was the last year that happened.
About 22% of boys in high school sports participation in 11-player tackle football. In the 1998-2000 period I reference in the first two items, that participation rate was more than 26% — meaning where once one in four boys played, now we’re moving toward one in five.
The average number of boys per school in 11-player football in 2018-19 was 70.6. At the sport’s participation peak in 2008-09, that average was 79. (That includes all levels — varsity, junior varsity and freshman.)