Maybe this is what Troy Aikman meant.

The Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s recently said the NFL might one day lose its grip on the public.

It seemed laughable, but with all that’s been going on, from the New England cheating scandal to the New Orleans pay-to-injure scheme to the league’s concussion crisis, a solid basis for Aikman’s theory is starting to emerge.

It’s said that any publicity is good publicity, but it can’t be beneficial when Commissioner Roger Goodell is dishing out more punishment than Ray Lewis.

Not that the fines and suspensions aren’t richly warranted in most cases, but these scandals, piled atop one another, easily could erode the game’s popularity. And when an all-time great such as Junior Seau kills himself and traumatic brain injury is cited as a possible trigger, the debate over football’s place in society — too violent and vicious? — is sure to be sparked anew.

It’s impossible to know where that leads us, but how the game looks 20 years from now will be interesting. Kickoffs almost certainly will be relics of a distant age by then, especially after the concussion lawsuits are settled. Maybe quarterbacks will be off-limits altogether, outfitted with “no contact” jerseys rather than the skirts Jack Lambert once suggested.

It’s conceivable this all adds up to a product nobody wants to buy — or watch. As Aikman put it, “At some point, the TV ratings are not going to be there.”

If anything can send chills down the spine of an industry that has known nothing but growth for the past half century, that would be it.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.