FANS fuel the sports world, buying tickets, memorizing history, agreeing and disagreeing, weeping, exulting and arranging their lives - and occasionally their weddings - around games and events.

They're the torch that has kept the country's passion lit for decades, educating their children about sports and producing generations who are just as zealous.

Many of today's adult fans grew up in the 1960s and 1970s in what they recall as a golden era, when tickets were more affordable and athletes more accessible.

But now, as children traverse a far different cultural landscape, there is reason to wonder if their generation will care as passionately about sports.

"My impression is, in general, young people aren't as interested in sports as they were years ago," said Mitch Tullai, who has interacted with teenagers for years as a teacher and football coach at St. Paul's School. "There's a hard-core group that's interested, but overall, it's a different world and they have so many other things to do."

The number of youngsters aged 12-17 who described themselves as avid fans of pro football dropped from 39.9 percent in 1995 to 32.9 percent in 2001, according to the ESPN Sports Poll. There were similar declines in the number who said they were avid fans of other major sports.

Although the levels of interest are still higher than those in the overall population, the trend is unmistakable. A poll commissioned by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers of America found that the number of teenagers who said they were avid fans of any sport dropped 3.6 percent between 1995 and 2000. And according to Nielsen Media Research, there has been a 3 percent drop in young NFL TV viewers over the past decade.

"There's writing on the wall," said Howard Nixon, a sports sociologist at Towson University. "I've noticed it with my own kids. They aren't as excited about going to these great events that their parents are going to. They'd rather go outside and play a game, or do something else."

The potential ramifications are profound given that sports' rich financial matrix is based on the assumption that fans will always be there.

"The leagues know about this and they're very worried, but they're not letting on," said Rick Burton, executive director of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. "The sports economy is driven by the understanding that people will be sitting in front of the TV watching games. If those eyeballs aren't there, the impact could be huge."

The trend isn't such a surprise when you consider the changes in sports and entertainment that have occurred. When today's adult fans were growing up, the mainstream sports were football, baseball and basketball, and TV coverage was limited to a few games on weekend afternoons. Now, mainstream sports have longer seasons featuring many more teams and games; golf and NASCAR are more popular; extreme sports have taken off; and all of it is available day and night on TV.

Options abound

This evolution has coincided with the rising popularity of video games, the Internet, DVDs and CDs, cable TV and outdoor pursuits such as skateboarding, all of which have succeeded in distracting potential young fans.

"I read a quote from [sportswriter] Frank Deford where he said sports had been this revered sanctuary when we were growing up, but now it's 'just another lipstick,' " Towson's Nixon said. "Today's universe is far more cluttered, with many more choices and distractions, and kids have shorter attention spans. For some, the willingness to sit for three hours and watch a game just isn't there."

Josiah Renn, 13, a student at Dundalk Middle School, said he played and followed sports until recently, then discovered skateboarding.

"I don't follow sports anymore," Renn said. "Skating is more interesting."

Is there sports talk among his friends at school?

"Not much," he said, "and when there is, I don't pay attention."

On a recent weekday afternoon, Renn's mother picked him up from school and drove him to the Charm City Skate Park in East Baltimore, a warehouse space where skateboarders and extreme bikers practice their moves.

"I think there are a lot more 12-year-olds into skateboarding than watching football or baseball," park director Jason Chapman said.

Eric Barger, 24, sees it that way. A North Harford High School graduate who played Division I lacrosse at UMBC and now works for BGE, Barger was at the skate park with his BMX bike.

"I'm a huge fan of the Orioles and Ravens," Barger said, "but these days, a lot of little kids are into other things. They're growing up with [skateboarder] Tony Hawk instead of [quarterback] Joe Montana."

Monday morning QBs

Many are still entering the familiar and wondrous maw of sports zealotry, of course. They attend games with their parents, successfully perpetuating the cycle of passion.

J.B. Cooke, an eighth-grader at Gilman, said he reads the sports pages, follows pro football intently and frequently discusses sports with friends at school.

"We have a half-hour in the morning before classes start," Cooke, 14, said, "and on Mondays we're talking about pro football.

"Most of my friends like watching sports. There are some that don't care. But a lot of them watch [sports] and can talk about it."

What did he think of his future as a fan?

"I'm pretty sure I'll watch football when I'm older," he said.

Tom Hoblitzell, an insurance broker in Hunt Valley, said his sons, Tyler, 12, and Alec, 10, are "sports junkies" who attend Ravens and Orioles games with their parents.

"I think there's reason for hope," Hoblitzell said. "My kids are going to be great fans, and most of the kids they hang around with are the same way. They love sports. They're students of the game. They know a lot about the history. It's coming from the parents. It still feeds itself from generation to generation."

Hoblitzell's sons are fortunate because they're able to attend games on their father's season tickets and also on corporate tickets available through his work. Few of today's youngsters have that opportunity now that leagues and teams market to corporations and wealthy "customers" who can afford the luxury boxes, premium seat licenses and soaring ticket prices.

With the entire structure of spectator sports moving away from families in that sense, fewer youngsters experience the unmatched "connection thrill" of a live game. Robert Hutcherson, president of Sports Fans of America Association, a Florida-based advocacy group, said he doesn't see as many kids at stadiums and arenas as 10 or 20 years ago.

"Parents are having a hard time affording the high cost of taking a family to a game," Hutcherson said.

Missing 'wow' factor

Some young fans such as J.B. Cooke are able to maintain interest watching their favorite teams mostly on TV, but for the majority, "there's no substitute for experiencing that 'wow' factor of walking into a stadium and hearing the cheers," said Peter Roby, director of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

David Cope, director of business development for Gilco Sports & Entertainment of Bethesda, said, "If you're a fan and you're not going to games, it becomes a vicious cycle. The connection isn't as strong."

Other factors might also foster a disconnect. Today's young fan endures a bombardment of widely publicized negativity: labor stoppages, rampant greed, heroes on the police blotter.

"I'm sure many parents are disgusted with the antics of today's athletes," Tullai said.

Nor does it help that, with the rise of free agency, players now change teams frequently, fraying fans' allegiances. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has joked that players change teams so often now that fans are "just cheering for laundry" - uniforms, regardless of who inhabits them.

"You can't even count on the home team staying around anymore because of stadium issues," said Richard Lapchick, chairman of the DeVoss Sport Business Graduate Program at the University of Central Florida. "There seems to be a lot of 'bad news' coming out of something that used to be seen as an escape."

Today's teenagers can escape in many ways other than just by watching sports. Cable TV offers a seemingly endless choice of programming, and with computers replacing TV as the screen of choice for many, the pull of increasingly realistic video games is powerful.

On a recent Sunday at Jillian's, a vast entertainment center at Arundel Mills Mall, scores of kids were among the hundreds of customers packed into the restaurant/bar watching pro football. But even more were in the arcade playing sports-themed games as well as others.

Brian Becker, 12, of Silver Spring, was in the video arcade. He said he liked to play baseball but didn't consider himself a serious sports fan.

"I like fighting [video] games," he said.

Keenan McKinley, 14, of Odenton, and his brother, Ryan, 12, also were playing video games, their minds far from the televised football feast nearby.

"We like sports," Keenan said. "But this [video] stuff is fun, too."

Will a generation accustomed to a broader choice of diversions grow up to be as passionate about sports as their parents?

"Yes, but not the sports our generation grew up loving," said Hutcherson, of the fan advocacy group. "I believe some different sports have replaced the benchmark sports with the 'connection' experience. Extreme sports, NASCAR, arena football and minor-league baseball have connected quite well with their fan base, while NBA basketball and major-league baseball have not."

'Different kind of fan'

Oregon's Burton said, "They're going to be sports fans; like it or not, sports is a natural part of our society that creates winners and losers and unscripted drama, and there's a lot to like as either a passionate or casual fan. But they're going to be a different kind of fan.

"You'll still have some citing stats, but you'll see more passive fandom. It'll be more cafeteria-style. They'll browse through sports, pick and choose. And instead of watching a game from beginning to end, they might catch up on the Web or see highlights on ESPN, and that'll be enough."

The availability of televised games from across the land has already weakened what was, for many, a formerly inviolable attachment to hometown teams.

"We're moving into a global sports world," Oregon's Burton said. "You can watch English soccer on the Internet and follow almost any team or anything on cable. When I was growing up, people in Baltimore had no choice; they were Colts fans. That's changing."

Female fans on rise

Also changing - dramatically - is the number of young female fans. They have joined the sports-playing mainstream in the wake of Title IX, and not coincidentally, many more are watching now, too. The number of avid fans of the Women's National Basketball Association has risen 43 percent since the league opened in 1998, according to the ESPN Sports Poll

"I've always loved playing and watching sports," said Lacey Brauer, 15, a Towson High School sophomore who plays softball and volleyball, golfs and follows the Ravens and Orioles. "A game is always on in my house, and I think it will always be like that."

Some young fans dispute the perception that their admittedly flawed sports world is somehow inferior to the one their parents enjoyed. They wonder how anyone could have survived without ESPN, nonstop televised games and "Madden" football, the infectious video game licensed by the NFL, which has sold 26 million copies in 13 years.

Jordan Utanski, 13, of Miami, in an e-mail correspondence with Hutcherson, described his fondness for playing the games at home, by himself or with family and friends. "These games are unbelievably realistic and enable me to interact personally as a player and compete with past and present stars. This way of connecting with sports enables today's youth to experience sports without actually attending."

It's an opportunity, too

Dennis Mannion, the Ravens' vice president of business development and marketing - and a father of five - also sees the glass as half full.

"Yes, folks are concerned [about the falloff in interest] but they're also looking at it as the next big opportunity," Mannion said.

"When we were growing up you couldn't chat online with the players, wear their uniform in a video game or take a video tour of their home. Now there's a service where you can receive a message from [Ravens coach] Brian Billick on your cell phone.

"Just when you think, 'Gosh, these kids have so much to do and so many options that you're never going to keep them engaged,' you see these other things and say, 'Wow, there are so many possibilities.' "

Mannion watches a focus group in action every day, in his home, and particularly on Sundays when the Ravens play.

"My kids will watch for a while, then get up and go to the den, work the computer, work the phone; I tell them, 'Gosh, you should have my job,' " Mannion said. "We live in a world where there are fewer and fewer activities to bond a family together, and the Sunday ritual is a great event even for teen-agers who want to do their own thing. They can eat a sandwich, drop in and out. Families need something, and this works."

But will it work for enough members of the next generation? Northeastern's Peter Roby, for one, has doubts.

"When I was a teenager, there were three major networks, and whatever sports you saw, that's what you saw," he said. "You were passionate because you didn't see it that often. The World Series was on in the afternoon. I remember teachers allowing TV sets in the room so we could watch. That meant it was a big deal, and you paid more attention.

"People are still fans of the game today, but it's not like they're diehards," he said. "These days, they enjoy sports as an entertainment vehicle, but I don't think they're as passionate as 30 years ago. I'm talking fans in general, and kids in particular."