That’s just the quantity that are actively playing it now. The important thing is, what proportion of adults played as children? According to statistics online

That’s just the quantity that are actively playing it now. The important thing is, what proportion of adults played as children? According to statistics online, football is the most popular high school sport, with participation twice that of the nearest, basketball, and 2/3 of children participate in organized sports. I looked it up, and apparently the stats for tackle football are about 4.5% of kids 6-12 and 9% in the 13-17 range.