High school football participation in Illinois continues to fall. According to an annual survey, the total number of football players has declined about 17-percent in the past few years from 47,068 to 40,111. Matt Troha, with the IHSA, tells the Illinois Radio Network that safety concerns play a factor, but also points to enrollment changes in Chicago.Troha says they’ve taken a couple of steps to make the sport safer for athletes.
He says a number of schools also are moving to 8-man football, and officials are considering whether to sanction that sport in the future. Football still is by far the most popular sport nationwide, with more than one million high school players across the country.