Well...this is unsettling stuff.

Honestly, I don't think Football is going to "go away" because there is just way too much money tied up in the whole thing and it's not exactly like America is a society that puts that much of a premium on human life and/or healthcare anyway.

But what I do think is going to slowly but surely happen, is we're going to start seeing this become a) a more intensely regionalized game, with the bulk of its popularity being in the Deep South and certain Rust Belt pockets, and b) a sport played largely by those who feel they have limited options/come from economically depressed areas. Think some bastard child of Hockey (the regional element) and Boxing (the economic element).