Which sport is most likely to dethrone the NFL atop the North American sports throne?

[48erhater]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/tribpreps/58451477-190/lacrosse-sport-utah-football.html.csp

Utah is considering making lacrosse sanctioned. Maybe that will lead to it being thought of as less snobby here.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

If fantasy sports have proven anything, it's that there's no detail too minute for sports fans to care about.

If we can manufacture enthusiasm for things like the "Okefenokee Oar" and Chik-Fil-A Bowl winners, then there's certainly room for Cascadia and Open Cups. They're more closely related that you might think.

[RyanMcD29]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/tribpreps/58451477-190/lacrosse-sport-utah-football.html.csp

Utah is considering making lacrosse sanctioned. Maybe that will lead to it being thought of as less snobby here.

Yeah I've been seeing the lacrosse talk go back and forth here. As, well, a big lacrosse guy, I can see lacrosse keeping up as the fastest growing sport for a while. However, I think as much as the MLL has taken big strides from where it was, the college game's going to be the main scope of the growth. I can't see the pro game getting into MLS levels of popularity, but I don't think it's absurd to think lacrosse can maybe top baseball as the number 3 NCAA sport in a decade or two, especially if the Pac 12 gets on board. Denver being a national champion threat's already a sign that you can run a successful program out west (yes, I know, part of that is having Bill Tierney as your head coach) and it's already become popular at the high school level out in California. Get a few of those Pac 12 schools on board and it's a whole new ballgame.

Of course, the lax bro and upper class stereotypes limit the growth a bit. But if it ends up getting picked up by more and more public schools like areas where it's already ingrained in the culture (LI/NJ/Maryland/CNY) I don't see why it couldn't become more popular among younger athletes. Again, I don't see lacrosse challenging the big 4 plus soccer any time soon, but it could potentially become an even bigger deal at the collegiate level.

[Gothamite]

That's certainly the case. I was talking more about the professional level.

[CubsFanBudMan]

It will be Cyberball. Definitely Cyberball. Forgot all about it until this thread got weird.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberball

2072 sounds just about right. Robots don't get CTE or have wives or kids. Problems solved. And some fans will come just for the wrecks, just like NASCAR.

[RyanMcD29]

That's certainly the case. I was talking more about the professional level.

Oh yeah I'm not disagreeing at all that there's gonna be an issue with it growing professionally. Just wanted to get those thoughts out for my view