MINNEAPOLIS — As knowledge about head trauma and concussions has increased over the past decade, a growing number of parents have warned their children about the perils of football. Icons of the sport like Bo Jackson have said they would not have played had they known what we know now, while others have said they would actively discourage their children and grandchildren from playing.
Yet here at the home of Sunday’s Super Bowl, the N.F.L. has found a way around those warnings. The league is speaking to children directly.
On Wednesday, after two hours of sprinting around the booths at a Super Bowl Experience sponsored by the cable network Nickelodeon, about 2,500 children made their way to the N.