What If No American Football?

What if the behemoth media and cultural institution that is American Football didn't exist? What would take its place, or would something new develop?

I believe that the rise of such a physically demanding hard contact sport is inevitable. Fierce competition is just part of the human composition. But, what if, even if it did arise, it was strangled in the cradle? Fierce opposition to such a barbaric "sport", or emerging just as a war breaks out?

Boxing exists, but there's no way for so many varied cities and states to have their own competitor to rally behind. That, and people could claim that it wasn't as "strategic" (having to formulate plays, etc.).

The closest "no American Football" questions I can find are "what if no NFL or AFL", so I apologize if this has already been asked.

...what would John Facenda narrate?
 
Well, there were efforts in Ivy League schools to replace it with Rugby in the early 20th century (and, since Football was, at this point, largely a college-level game played mainly in the Ivy League and other prestigious schools, this was a problem). I could see Harvard pushing for this earlier and starting a movement. If you want to short circuit American football as we know it, it would be pretty easy; you just need to make sure that Walter Camp either never picks up the game or is not in a position to introduce his reforms to it in the 1880s.
 
For cultural effects, I can imagine some things:

MANY changed MST3k references and jokes
Different level of fame for Super Bowl performers
Bane blows up a soccer stadium

Wrestling fills in the gap? It was big when TVs started becoming mass produced. People would watch wrestling on display sets through store windows. Only if enough regional promotions band together though.

Wrestling might face the same problem as boxing - not enough representatives for every city/shire/whatever. Personality and technical ability matter more in wrestling, so it might be able to appeal more so in that direction.
 
Well, there were efforts in Ivy League schools to replace it with Rugby in the early 20th century (and, since Football was, at this point, largely a college-level game played mainly in the Ivy League and other prestigious schools, this was a problem). I could see Harvard pushing for this earlier and starting a movement. If you want to short circuit American football as we know it, it would be pretty easy; you just need to make sure that Walter Camp either never picks up the game or is not in a position to introduce his reforms to it in the 1880s.
Which is a bit odd, since US/Canadian football started out as a Rugby variant.
 
What if the behemoth media and cultural institution that is American Football didn't exist? What would take its place, or would something new develop?

I believe that the rise of such a physically demanding hard contact sport is inevitable. Fierce competition is just part of the human composition. But, what if, even if it did arise, it was strangled in the cradle? Fierce opposition to such a barbaric "sport", or emerging just as a war breaks out?

Boxing exists, but there's no way for so many varied cities and states to have their own competitor to rally behind. That, and people could claim that it wasn't as "strategic" (having to formulate plays, etc.).

The closest "no American Football" questions I can find are "what if no NFL or AFL", so I apologize if this has already been asked.

...what would John Facenda narrate?

American Soccer
 
Which is a bit odd, since US/Canadian football started out as a Rugby variant.

Sort of, yeah. There were still some major differences between American Football and Ruby pre-Walter Camp, but they were much more similar. Walter Camp is the man who really set down many of the rules that turned American football into the game we know today, such as the scrimmage, the grid iron and the down system. By, by the early 20th century the game had developed a reputation for being excessively violent, and it led to the death of a number of players each year. Rugby was seen by some schools as being a safer alternative than Football and so they encouraged the prior while banning the later. There is actually an interesting popular history by Miller, called "The Big Scrum" that tells the story of that era really well (and, generally, how I know some of the details. I'm not a huge sports historian, although its a fun topic!). You should give it a look over, its a quick read and very informative.
 

EMTSATX

Banned
Better world - that's for sure.
I really hope you're joking. The 13 week college season and play off are the happiest part of the year. You do realize in the South football is a religion.

If it had not been developed? I would have spent my Saturday a very different way.
 
I really hope you're joking. The 13 week college season and play off are the happiest part of the year. You do realize in the South football is a religion.

If it had not been developed? I would have spent my Saturday a very different way.
Exactly who would even imagine such a thing. I've been waiting for this since February!
 
I really hope you're joking. The 13 week college season and play off are the happiest part of the year. You do realize in the South football is a religion.

If it had not been developed? I would have spent my Saturday a very different way.

I live in the South, so yeah, it can get pretty crazy down here.

In a different way, you say? Hmm... :closedeyesmile:
 
European immigrants bring association football to the US as they did OTL, and in this timeline, it takes off. There are a surprising amount of very old soccer teams in the US which are mostly associated with European immigrants.

If you need a violent sport, you can replace it with the rugby which it evolved from. It might not be as popular, though, but behind baseball and soccer, maybe it'd be third. Ahead of hockey, since that seems too regional despite being violent, and basketball wouldn't take off until later.

Nothing would be as dominant as American football/handegg, though. Baseball might be bigger than in the modern age OTL, but I think if baseball's popularity is eclipsed, then basketball and soccer will be there.
 
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