Emma ScottHilary Levey FriedmanAMST 1600Final Paper

Mind Your Head: Concussions, Safety Regulations, and the Different Levels of Sport

On Monday, March 14, 2016 the National Football League (NFL) admitted that

football could permanently damage a player’s brain. In what was seen as a victory by many

who had participated in a long battle against the NFL’s denial, the League’s senior vice

president for health and safety publicly confirmed the link between football and Chronic

Traumatic Encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE.1 Books and documentaries that had

been circulated on the “League of Denial,” a lawsuit that was settled with over 4,500 former

players seeking damages, and medical articles that were published by the discoverer of

CTE had all been trying to do one thing: show that football was more harmful than

previously thought.2 Not long after the release of the movie Concussion, in which Will Smith

portrays Doctor Bennet Omalu’s discovery of CTE and the League’s attempt to silence him,

the NFL finally gave in to pressure to tell the truth. Questions began to arise of how safe

football could actually be. Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard football player who co-

founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation attempted to give an answer, stating “the NFL,

through prompting from the NFL Players Association, has made the game safer for the

1 Bieler, Des, “In stunning admission, NFL official affirms link between football and CTE” The Washington Post, last modified March 14, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/03/14/in-stunning-admission-nfl-official-affirms-link-between-football-and-cte/ 2 Koonce Jr., George E., Is There Life After Football? Surviving the NFL (New York: New York University Press 2015), 106-107, 110-112.

grown men who participate… What matters far more is how many years children are

playing before they get there.”3

The NFL may be the final destination for many football players, but numerous

collegiate, high school, and youth leagues in America facilitate the pipeline to that career. In

this essay I examine three distinct levels of sport—the NFL, the National Collegiate

Athletics Association (NCAA), and youth leagues—in order to uncover how the recent

concerns over head safety affects each level differently. I will be paying particular attention

to rules regarding contact during practices. Practices do not require contact in the same

way that “real” football games do, and so contact can be limited or even banned in order to

reduce concussive as well as sub-concussive injury. I argue that while a league’s stated

intentions are to promote safety, the actual commitment to health and safety varies

between levels of sport, and is also largely dependent on geography and cultural ties to

football. Further, rules of higher levels of sport and actions taken by higher-level league’s

influence lower levels.

NFL

The NFL, as detailed above, is the level of sport that has received the most criticism

regarding football and concussions. This is in part because the NFL has become a

cornerstone of American professional sports. In the movie Concussion, Dr. Cyril Wecht

warns Omalu of the NFL’s influence and power: “The NFL owns a day of the week. The

same day the Church used to own. They’re very big!”4 While this is a fictionalized portrayal,

the line speaks to a very real power that football has as part of the American civil religion of

3 Nowinski, Chris quoted in “NFL official affirms link between football and CTE” by Des Bieler.4 Concussion, film, directed by Peter Landesman (Los Angeles: Columbia Pictures 2015), 57:49-58:00.

sport. An article in the Economist stated that the estimated viewership for the 2015 Super

Bowl would be “slightly more than the number who say they attend church once a week.”5

While this cultural power affords the NFL some ability to divert the conversation about

player safety, it also means that they are subject to increased scrutiny when a controversy

becomes full scale in American media.

Recent pressure put on the NFL has prompted the league to release a number of

documents detailing how they are working to improve football and player safety. One NFL

pamphlet states that “the NFL constantly evaluates how we can change the rules of the

game and use technology to improve safety.”6 While many of these rules regard in-game

changes, they have also set a limit on the number of full-contact practices that players are

allowed to participate in. The NFL reduced the total amount of full contact practices to 14

during the 17 week season, which they note “amount[s] to less than one full contact

practice a week.”7 Eleven of these practices must occur within the first 11 weeks.8 Because

practices occur more often then games, this appears to be an attempt to reduce the total

number of concussive and sub-concussive blows that a player may receive during the

regular season. But the rule has not had any tangible positive effect in the regular season.

The 2015 NFL Injury Data Report states that during regular season practice, the incidence

of concussions has risen from 3 in 2012 to 8 in 2015, remaining the same as the number of

concussions during practices in 2014. Preseason practices, which do not have the same

5 Lexington column, The Economist, January 31, 2015, 266 “How the NFL is Promoting Health and Safety in Sports,” updated Dec 2015, 1, http://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/photo/2016/03/18/0ap3000000645555.pdf7 “Promoting Health and Safety,” 2. 8 Brooks, Bucky, “How practice changes could negatively impact NFL games,” NFL, published Aug. 10, 2011, last modified Aug 3, 2012, http://www.nfl.com/trainingcamp/story/09000d5d8215c8ab/article/how-practice-changes-could-negatively-impact-nfl-games

contact restrictions, have seen a reduced number of concussions from 2012 to 2015 (42 to

29) although the rate of concussion remained at the 2012 level in 2014.9 This may be an

indicator that improved information and training may be positively impacting the sport,

but the fact remains that the majority of the concussions occur during the game itself,

which increased from 176 to 190 in the regular season, making the overall concussion rate

higher. Further, there is still not enough information to track the incidence rate or impact

of sub concussive injury.

NCAA

The history and development of the NCAA is rooted in regulating the health and

safety of college football games. Football was a sport created by Ivy League schools, and

was regularly played by the late 1800s. The game was becoming “increasingly more violent,

routinely resulting in a great number of injuries and occasional deaths.”10 President

Theodore Roosevelt demanded that the game be made safer, and helped establish the

Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which later became the NCAA in 1910.11 Given that the

NCAA was one of the first national bodies in American history to have an active role in the

health and safety of football players, it is somewhat surprising that it currently has less

safety regulations regarding practices than the NFL.

One possible explanation is that the NCAA manages far more players and teams than

the NFL, and so most of the health and safety decisions are left up to the individual leagues.

9 Table, “Incidence of Concussion” in National Football League 2015 Injury Data, released Jan 29, 2016, http://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/photo/2016/01/29/0ap3000000629781.pdf10 Markovits, Andrei S., and Steven L. Hellerman, “The Formation of the American Sports Space: ‘Crowding Out’ and Other Factors in the Relegation and Marginalization of Soccer,” in Offside: Soccer & American Exceptionalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2001), 75.11 Ibid 76.

Yet only some conferences choose to make the sparse health and safety guidelines more

rigorous. I will examine two Division I football conferences, the Southeastern Conference

(SEC) and the Ivy League. The SEC adheres only to NCAA guidelines, while the Ivy League is

one of two leagues (Pac-12 being the other) to have set limits on full contact practices.12

The disparate rules between the two leagues show that emphasis on safety is dependent on

multiple factors, including geography, attention to sport, and team success.

The SEC is one of the most notable and most popular collegiate athletic leagues in

the country. The league is comprised of 14 schools located in 11 southern states, including

Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida.13 All of these schools’ football teams are highly

competitive. There is also well-known school spirit within the SEC. Turn on any game of

The University of Alabama against Auburn, and, depending on the stadium, you will witness

a sea of Crimson Tide or students orange and navy shouting “War Eagle.”

The SEC is a league that does not restrict practices beyond NCAA rules. Currently

within the NCAA, there are no official rules limiting the amount of full-contact practices

that can occur during the regular season. There are also no guidelines limiting post-season

practices, or “bowl” game practices, which are special games that occur in the post-

season.14 The NCAA has issued guidelines regarding concussive and sub-concussive injury

based on data presented in the Safety in College Football Summit held January 22-23, 2014.

Researches found that “ the total number of non-concussive head impacts sustained in

helmets-only and full-pad practices is higher than those sustained in games/scrimmages,”

12 “Football Practice Guidelines,” NCAA, http://www.ncaa.org/health-and-safety/football-practice-guidelines13“Schools,” SEC Sports, http://secsports.go.com/14 “Football Practice Guidelines.”

yet they have still not used these findings to place contact limits during the practice times

listed above.15 Most recommendations are suggestions rather than actual rules.

The two time periods that do have practice limits include preseason practice and

spring practice. Preseason practice rules place limits on the amount of time that a player

can spend on the filed. A player may spend no more than 3 hours on the field during a day

with one practice and five hours on a day with multiple practices, with no consecutive days

having multiple practices. Although this limits the amount of time player may engage in full

contact, there are no explicit restrictions on how often full contact can occur during

practice.16 Spring practice does explicitly limit contact stating that “Only 12 of the practice

sessions may involve contact, and such contact shall not occur prior to the third practice

session.”17 This is incredibly slim legislation on the amount of contact that can occur in

practices. Considering these rules in relation to the SEC, which has no other limits, the

amount of contact that occurs in practices is left up to a coach’s discretion.

The Ivy League, in contrast to the SEC, does impose larger restrictions on the

amount of contact a player can have during the regular season. While it had previously

limited in season full contact practices to twice a week, the revitalized CTE controversy

pushed them even further. A New York Times article stated that Ivy League football coaches

had unanimously approved to ban full contact from all regular season practices.18 This is

the most restrictive limit on full contact practices to date. The Ivy League may have a

15 “Appendix,” NCAA, http://www.ncaa.org/health-and-safety/appendix16 “DI FBS/FCS- NCAA Bylaws” Article 17.10.2.517 “DI FBS/FCS- NCAA Bylaws,” Article 17.10.6.418 Belson, Ken, “Ivy League Moves to Eliminate Tackling at Football Practices,” last modified March 1, 2016, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/sports/ncaafootball/ivy-league-moves-to-eliminate-tackling-at-practices.html?_r=1

higher incentive to focus on player safety than other conferences. As a group of elite

schools, other activities like academics take priority over sport. Further, school interest in

sport, both among current students and alumni, is not as widespread as SEC schools. The

location of Ivy League schools may also prompt them to pay more attention to safety. While

the Ivies are located in the Northeast, SEC schools are located in the American south,

known to have deep cultural ties to football.

Youth Sports

There is a major concern with the potential dangers of youth football, and how it

will affect younger players. Overall participation in youth football has increased, but fewer

children are being enrolled in tackle football, with parents opting for their children to play

the less aggressive version of flag football.19 Recognizing that youth interest in the sport is

key to later participation and play, the NFL has initiated safety education campaigns like

Heads Up Football to ensure that parents continue to feel confortable letting their youth

participate in tackle football.20 Even with the increased participation in flag football, every

year parents sign their young boys up for football in various leagues across the country.

Youth football is less institutionalized than the NFL or the NCAA in that it doesn’t

have a singular, national governing body to determine rules and guidelines. Still, as

sociologist Hilary Levey Friedman argues, the world of youth sport and competition has

been increasingly been organized and regulated by the adult sphere.21 This means that

19 Marcus E. Howard, “Football grew more than any other U.S. youth sport –survey,” Reuters News, last modified March 14, 2016 http://news.trust.org//item/20160314212406-vrs17/?source=shtw20 “How the NFL is Promoting Health and Safety in Sports,” 2. 21 Levey Friedman, Hillary, “Carving Up Honor: Organizing and Profiting from the Creation of Competitive Kid Capital,” in Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture (Berkley: University of California Press 2013), 153.

there are a number of written rules, regulations, and statistics within youth leagues. Just

like the NFL and NCAA, there are specific rules and guidelines dedicated to health and

safety. A major difference, though, is that youth football is equally concerned with what age

a player should be engaging in full contact and how often a player can engage in contact.

Because the approximate age of player is not already dictated by the nature of those who

enter the sport (collegiate athletes are assumed to be at least 17-18, and pro football

players join the league post-college in their early 20s), youth leagues have to specifically

define what age is appropriate for playing competitive football.

I examined two youth football leagues from different geographical areas of America.

The first, Baystate Youth Football, a division of American Youth Football (AYF), is a youth

league located in primarily affluent towns in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The second,

The Texas Youth Football & Cheer Association (TYFA) “is one of the largest independent

Leagues in the country; the largest in Texas.”22 It operates primarily around the cities of San

Antonio, Austin, Houston, and surrounding suburbs as well as the Rio Grande Valley. The

difference in rules and start age between these two leagues shows how, like the case of the

NCAA, geography and cultural connection to football influences how a league formally

addresses player health and safety.

Baystate Football’s mission statement says that it aims to help create “finer,

stronger, healthier and happier youths” through its football program.23 Baystate’s rules

addendum states that it is governed by NCAA and MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic

Athletic Association) rules, in addition to AYF rules.24 That they choose to be governed in

22“About Us,” TYFA, https://www.tyfa.com/about-us23 “Bylaws” Bay State Youth Football and Cheer Conference, Inc., 1.24 “Addendums, Clarifications and Highlights to 2015 AYF Official Rules and Regulations Manual,” Baystate Youth Football & Cheerleading Conference, 3. MIAA rules and AYF rules

part by NCAA rules speaks to the authority that the NCAA has over lower levels of a sport,

but Baystate has also added it’s own rules specific to the league in order to better fit the age

of the players. Baystate football organizes its divisions by grade, with minimum and

maximum ages for each group. The earliest that a child may join a division is 7 (third grade,

but second graders may join), but this division is instructional only, and non-competitive.25

Once a player turns 8, with the assumption that they have already had a year of

noncompetitive play, they are able to play in games. From both NFL and NCAA data, it is

suggested that most concussive blows occur in game, so noncompetitive play helps

mitigate risk of concussion. Further, Baystate’s motivation to limit competitive play may be

based on the belief that knowledge of playing properly before engaging in competitive

games will help ensure safety of players.

TYFA, in comparison, allows competitive play within the earliest division.26 The

earliest that a youth can start playing through TYFA is 4, with the 4-5 age range being

dedicated to flag football. Once a player turns 6 they may participate in full contact

competitive football. That’s an entire year earlier than a Baystate player would be

instructed in football, and two years earlier than a Baystate player would be allowed to

play competitively. At the youth level, the difference of a year can account for large

disparities in ability, coordination, and brain development. The reason that TYFA starts its

players so young may have something to do with geography. The state of Texas is well

known for having a deep cultural attachment to football. In his book Friday Night Lights: A

were not available online. They were requested through email, but the request was not granted.25 “Addendums, Clarifications and Highlights,” 3.26 “TYFA Football Programs,” TYFA https://www.tyfa.com/tyfa-football-programs. TYFA only lists age of play on their website. Additional official rules were requested, but the request was not granted.

Town, A Team, A Dream, H.G. Bissinger details how one small Texas town spent $5.6 million

on a football stadium at the while it couldn’t afford basic educational supplies like

textbooks.27 The lowered age of play for youth footballers, which negatively impacts their

health and safety, is yet another example of the deep devotion Texans have to football.

Conclusion

There is no denying that football is a violent sport. The game is based on the ability

to use one player’s strength and body weight against another’s. Full contact and tackling

are part of what defines football, as we know it today. While football has always been

known to lead to injury, the more recent concussion crisis and CTE scandal has football

being viewed as even more dangerous and deadly than previously thought. While the NFL’s

role in the denial of CTE has subjected it to the most criticism, the demand for a safer game

has affected every level of sport. However, a stated commitment to safety can play out in

many different ways as I have detailed above. While limitation of full contact varies across

different levels of sport, it is also deeply influenced by geography and the cultural

significance of football. Leading up to and following the NFL’s admission, various measures

have been taken to decrease the risk of concussive and sub concussive blows in practices.

However, the game still carries an enormous risk of brain damage. A more striking

admission by the NFL would have been that football in its current form will always pose a

threat to the health and safety of its players.

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