I don't understand your question. The article points out that there are 12,000 less students participating in tackle football notwithstanding there are far more kids in high school today than ever before. If your question is WHY are there less kids playing football that is an open question with, I suspect, many theories. Fear over head traumas, soccer, academics, financial commitments, more individual sports availability, club teams independent from school activities, video gaming addiction, parental lack of interests, etc, etc. Who knows-I'm sure there are now studies that have better answers than anything I can come up with.
My point is that the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is like an enormous corporation that is responsible for several millions of athletic dollars and when they decide that there is a problem -well there must be a problem. That summit is something I suspect many high school coaches and parents of middle school children who want to play football in high school will likely attend.
