Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy6
Pro football was a bit like the seniors' tour in golf, or maybe "professional poker". Football was overwhelmingly associated with colleges and college-age kids. Older men playing it professionally didn't really fit with the mental image that people had of the sport. That's still true today to some extent in many parts of the U.S.
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Yes, football was developed at our universities (University of Toronto, McGill University, etc.) and was decidedly a vocation for youth. That the oldest football trophy on the continent is Ontario universities' Yates Cup speaks to the sport's youth focus. Even the early non-university teams like Parkdale and the Argonauts were offshoots of rowing clubs.
I believe it was 1950 when the University of Toronto had higher average attendance (was over 25,000) than the NFL. What's surprising is how university football got completed supplanted by professional football. I doubt the Varsity Blues pull more than 2,000/game these days.
Perhaps I'm not familiar with the football culture in the United States but are there really places down there that still associated football with school aged males? On 2nd thought, growing up in Halifax I associated football with guys 23 and under as high school/university football is all that exists there. I grew up following that first, the CFL second. In basketball, that association is even more pronounced for me. I followed/attended university ball. It wasn't until perhaps 10 years later that I took a look at the NBA. I still prefer the former but now watch both. The fans at pro sports are very 'different' to what I'm accustomed to.