California Governor Gavin Newsom has come out against a bill currently making its way through the California State Legislature that would ban organized tackle football in the state for players 12 and under.

“I am deeply concerned about the health and safety of our young athletes, but an outright ban is not the answer,” Newsom said. “My administration will work with the Legislature and the bill’s author to strengthen safety in youth football — while ensuring parents have the freedom to decide which sports are most appropriate for their children.”

The legislation, California Assembly Bill 734, is authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and was introduced in February 2023. It would modify existing state law that, starting in the calendar year 2026, outlaws participation of youth six or younger in league-organized tackle football. AB734 would move this date to 2025, further prohibiting participation in a youth tackle league for youth 10 and younger in 2027 and 12 or younger in 2029.

Some personal observations come into play based on my working in a sporting goods store in California in a liberal stronghold area encompassing multiple economic and demographic groups. How liberal? Eric Swalwell is my Congressman. 

Where I live and work, youth football, be it pre-teen or high school, has, based on equipment sales the past few years, been bucking the trend of an overall national decline in participation. The kids cover all racial and economic strata. Some play for fun, while others to impress girls, if you can believe such a dynamic exists among teenagers. Still others obviously view themselves as surefire future NFL stars. Despite the assertions made in the 2023 Washington Post story noted above, it is not the “dumb poor rural conservative” demographic alone keeping youth tackle football going.

My store is located in an upper-middle-class area with residents of even far higher economic strata but a few miles down the road. The notion that youth tackle football is declining in such regions is not based on truth. The kids driving mommy or daddy’s Tesla to school are just as likely to buy $65 receiver gloves as those coming into the school parking lot packed six or more to whoever’s hooptie. This may come as a surprise, but the price of outfitting a kid to play football is at or ofttimes lower than doing so for baseball when the more high-end equipment kids believe will turn them into the next Shohei Ohtani comes into the picture.

Gavin Newsom is many things, but stupid is not one of them. He knows that if his poorly-hidden plans to run for president this year after Joe Biden’s removal from the proceedings are to bear fruit, he cannot win appealing strictly to progressives. 

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Winning Florida and Texas would be critical. These states share a passion bordering on an obsession for youth tackle football. In this light, nipping this bid in his own state to eliminate it makes perfect sense.

How much credit any politician deserves for doing the right thing for the wrong reason is a ready source of hot debate. That said, while youth tackle football overseers must make every available provision to ensure safety as much as possible, one cannot completely eliminate the risk of contact sports. In promising to deep-six AB741, Gavin Newsom is doing the right thing. Hey, stranger things have happened.