As many of you know, amateur football is declining in popularity in certain parts of New England. Therefore, I wanted to map out an extensive view of where the sport is in the six New England states.
High school (public): teams run by the local state public school leagues (include the likes of Northwest Catholic and Xavier).
CT: 138 programs (down from 143 in 2014) split into six divisions
MA: 279 programs split into eight divisions
RI: 43 programs split into six divisions (impressive considering there are only 40 municipalities in the state)
VT: 30 programs split into three divisions
NH: 57 programs split into four divisions
ME: 51 programs split into four divisions plus 27 eight-man programs split into two divisions
NEPSAC: private school league
52 programs split into two divisions plus 7 eight-man programs
I could not quickly find information on Christian private schools and I noticed at least one played sports in NEPSAC. Most of these schools stick to basketball, soccer, and volleyball so I may be missing a few programs.
College:
No NJCAA schools in New England play football. There are no NAIA or NCCAA schools in New England.
NCAA Division 1 FBS (3): UConn, UMass, Boston College
NCAA Division 1 FCS (13): CCSU, Yale, Sacred Heart, Bryant, Brown, URI, Holy Cross, Merrimack, Harvard, Stonehill, Dartmouth, New Hampshire, Maine
NCAA Division 2 (8): St. Anselm (NH), Franklin Pierce (NH), AIC (MA), Bentley (MA), Assumption (MA), Post, SCSU, New Haven
NCAA Division 3 (34): Coast Guard, Trinity, Wesleyan, WCSU, Amherst (MA), Anna Maria (MA), Bridgewater State (MA), Curry (MA), Dean (MA), Endicott (MA), Fitchburg State (MA), Framingham State (MA), UMass Dartmouth (MA), Mass Maritime (MA), MIT (MA), Nichols (MA), Springfield (MA), Tufts (MA), Western NE (MA), Westfield State (MA), Williams (MA), WPI (MA), Worcester State (MA), Salve Regina (RI), Bates (ME), Bowdoin (ME), Colby (ME), Husson (ME), Maine Maritime (ME), New England (ME), Plymouth State (NH), Castleton (VT), Middlebury (VT), Norwich (VT)
A couple of observations:
1) High school football might be in trouble in Vermont. 30 programs for an entire state is very low (even for its small population).
2) Eastern doesn't have a football program?
3) Vermont only has three college football programs
4) Division 2 is very light in the region (especially if New Haven or Bentley move up)
A couple of questions:
1) Are there any college programs on the verge of folding?
2) Are any colleges/universities considering adding the sport?
