Recruiting is a negative now, but it can become a neutral factor with continued growth in northeast high school football, similar to what has recently been underway in Connecticut and occurred in New Jersey decades ago.
Here are the sources of NFL players. The northeast doesn't do too badly:
There are athletes here. They typically need more development than southern players, who are more advanced coming in to college. But you have 5 years in football; the upperclassmen in the north can compete with upperclassmen in the south.
The reason recruiting can become a neutral factor, even though there is a lack of football culture up here causing us to lose some of the athletes, is that there is a higher density of athletes per local university than in the south. New England and New York have 34 million people and 3 BCS schools, 11 million people per school. Michigan has 10 million people and 2 BCS schools, 5 million people per school. Alabama has 4.8 million people and 2 BCS schools, 2.4 million per school. The pool of genetically gifted high level athletes is higher per school in the northeast.
Our trouble is that many of them don't go into football and many of those who do don't play it long enough to develop a love for the game. But, with the growth of football at the university level, we are seeing more interest at the high school level. High school coaches are learning at university clinics. Kids are attending high-level college games.
It will come. Not saying we'll ever grow football to a level where our recruiting territory is a positive. I don't think so. But it can be competitive.