General Question

Charles's avatar

How could NFL football be made safer?

Asked by Charles (4826points) May 8th, 2012

Lots of talk of the NFL being dangerous.

“The concussion lawsuit doomsday scenario for the NFL, the one being talked about privately at every level of the sport, from owners to agents to even players themselves, goes something like this.

There are approximately 1,700 former players who have sued the NFL. Their cases continue to weave through the judicial system.”

from

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/18982393/nfl-isnt-in-danger-of-dying-soon-but-you-can-hear-whispers?tw_p=twt

Interesting quote:

“The NFL is in an extremely difficult spot. In order to keep itself alive, it may have to lower the level of violence dramatically, but it is that level of intense violence that draws many fans. ”

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6 Answers

WestRiverrat's avatar

Design and use a soft helmet. It should eliminate them using their own heads/helmets as a weapon while still protecting them from accidental hits to the head.

Cruiser's avatar

Pay them less money.

RocketGuy's avatar

Danger = excitement = we will pay $$$.

augustlan's avatar

Even if they don’t use your own head in tackling, just getting jerked around while being tackled is enough to make your brain rattle and cause a concussion, right? So no helmet change is going to fix that. Honestly, I don’t really see how it can be done, unless they rule out tackling altogether. And then it won’t be football anymore. It’s a dilemma, that’s for sure.

Pol_is_aware's avatar

Smarter coaching, strict enforcement of helmet-to-helmet penalties. Football players join at their own risk. It’s just you and the other guys out there. survive and succeed.

woodcutter's avatar

It might just change the game so much that the fans won’t feel it is worth it to go. Doing dangerous things will always be dangerous. The players could be forced to take out special accident coverage for this later on in their lives. I can’t imagine they aren’t doing that right now. I would imagine it will be expensive but these players are doing alright financially.Make it a tax write off. One way or another the solution will revolve around money and who is going to foot the bill.

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