ORLANDO, Fla. — One by one, former N.F.L. coaches and players, the director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and even a United States Senator came to the lectern last weekend to deliver the same stern warning: Football is under attack and your job is to change the narrative.
The game, they insisted at the annual conference of USA Football, the N.F.L.-funded national governing body for the sport, is vital to the American experience, essential for its survival, and it doesn’t have a health and safety problem as much as it has a messaging problem.
“If we lose football, we lose a lot in America,” said David Baker, the president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who was one of the keynote speakers.