To me, part of it has definitely been the failure of sports to keep up with changes to viewing habits, particularly cable-cutters. I'd happily pay for a digital package that allowed me to watch just the Flames games. And one for the Stamps. And one for the Raptors. But the way that sports TV rights work, the only options seem to be getting league-wide packages and then often setting up VPNs to get around domestic rights (or obtain the access through less legal means). As a result, sports are rarely on in our house.
For football (and hockey to a much more minor extent), the concussion-factor weighs on me as well. I can't escape the fact that these guys are putting their long-term health at risk for my entertainment. I'm still a fan of the Stamps in part because they're so damn good and fun to watch right now, but I could easily see a scenario where when they suck for a few years, and I drift away from the game and never get back into it.
Where it will really change is for people of my son's generation. I imagine that there are a lot like him, growing up in a household like ours, where sports are just never on TV and he never goes to games. For that generation, sports fandom may be far less of a thing than it is for my generation. To me, this is how the pro-sports leagues are entirely screwing themselves over; their inflexibility in providing viewing options that reflect modern media-consumption is going to lose them vast chunks of the next generation of would-be fans.
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