Time is running out on the NFL.

• Author: Zirin, Dave
• Position: EDGE OF SPORTS - National Football League on domestic violence

The great New York Times journalist James Reston once said that the U.S. media is much better at covering revolution than evolution. In the wake of the Ray Rice domestic violence cover-up scandal in the NFL, reporters everywhere are looking for signs that there is a revolutionary upsurge in the United States against the NFL.

They are gobsmacked that despite a feckless, if not corrupt, commissioner, widespread coverage of examples of domestic violence, and a crew of sponsors threatening to withdraw, the ratings are still high and the stadiums packed.

The conclusion they draw is that the idea of an "NFL in crisis" is a media creation (yes, the media argues that it is a media creation). They believe, with no small conflict-of-interest, that all is well for the sport that has become the tent pole of broadcast TV.

Yes, there is no popular revolution taking place against the National Football League. But the signs of a long-term evolution against football are apparent wherever you look.

The league and its backers have touted one poll that said 86 percent of fans will stay with the league despite the events of the fall. But in an industry obsessed with growth, those numbers also tell us that the NFL just lost 14 percent of its audience.

And while people might still be watching the game, they are also choosing to keep their own children from playing it. Between the years 2010 and 2012, there has been a 9.5 percent drop in the number of kids participating in Pop Warner football.

According to Reuters/Ipsos, "More than half of Americans believe that brands should drop their sponsorship deals with the National Football League over its handling of players accused of domestic violence."

In this evolution away from football, the history of boxing is very instructive. Pugilism was once the most dynamic and discussed sport

in the United States. Hell, the activists who broke into an FBI office in 1971, to reveal the extent of...