Will Wrestling for Boys/Men Start to Follow Suit?

[Scouts Honor]

16 minutes ago, The Kid said:

Folkstyle isn't more exciting.  It's boring. That's why wrestling is circling the drain in this Country.  They can even get consistent rules or officials. 

beg to differ

lets talk about the irrelevance of freestyle among viewers 

[CHROMEBIRD]

1 hour ago, Tom formerly Tofurky said:

The same can be said for any sport with a "professional" option, so I, for one, am not persuaded by that argument. Here is a graph from the NCAA, circa 2016.

The odds haven't increased.

No one complains about rule sets for kids and youth sports progressing with age, while the opportunities for being among that tiny fraction who make a living by competing in a sport are shockingly small.

I also don't understand the argument of preparing people for careers in MMA. That's not the responsibility of the sport; wrestling doesn't bill itself as the minor leagues of mixed martial arts, so I am not certain why fans feel the need to do so.

Building a foundation for opportunities that exists beyond college makes financial sense. The pro leagues are happening elsewhere, and they absolutely can happen here, but not with American folk.

? The first thing I said was that the # of wrestlers who go on to International or Olympic careers is tiny, as is the case with the % of kids who go pro in other sports in your infographic. But if we're talking about growth and participation, my hypothesis is that the popularity of BJJ and MMA makes it easier for kids in those sports to try out folkstyle since the skillset is arguably more relevant and applicable than freestyle. And in theory, the scale of money in mixed martial arts could go towards promoting folkstyle wrestling as a pathway.