Football Helmet Safety Hits the Hill

By Althea Fung

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 | 11:10 a.m.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The NFL Players Association's medical director says quarterback Aaron Rodgers was able to lead the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win because of a teammate's watchful eye when he suffered a concussion late in the season.

While the National Football League owners and the players union hash out their labor dispute, health and safety issues within the sport made their way to Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., will hold a news conference on Wednesday to introduce legislation aimed at protecting young players from sports-related brain injuries.

Separately, Reps. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., are requesting a hearing on helmet safety.

The congressmen sent letters last week to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Commerce, Trade, and Manufacturing Subcommittee Chairwoman Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., requesting a hearing in the subcommittee to discuss new helmet safety standards for children, young adults, and professional athletes. The committee is considering it, but a date has not been set.

The issue of helmet safety has come into the spotlight in recent years with more research into helmet design and concussions, which have been linked to early onset dementia and depression. Butterfield and Waxman were prompted to address the issue by the suicide of former Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson in February.

Duerson shot himself in the chest after years of depression, which he felt was related to head injuries during his career in professional football. In a note he left to his family, he asked that his brain be studied for brain diseases.

“Football helmets were first designed to protect against skull fractures, but users get more than skull fractures. We need to take a look at this to see if there is any way to improve safety,” Butterfield said in a telephone interview. “We need to set some standards, because the ones now are not protecting players to the highest level.”

All helmets are tested to the standards set by the National Operating Committee of Standards for Athletic Equipment in 1973. The standards are not set by the government and don’t require testing for concussions, don’t take into account the physical differences in people’s heads, and don’t set limits on how long a helmet can remain in play, Butterfield said.

Many pro teams and youth leagues invest in reconditioning helmets, so they are cleaned and inspected for cracks before the next season. The National Athletic Equipment Reconditioners Association, based in Spokane, Wash., certifies that the helmets are tested and suitable for another year of play. But only 3 percent of reconditioned helmets are actually given safety inspection drop tests that ensure they're safe enough for the field, said NAERA Executive Director Ed Fisher.

“We recondition approximately 1.7 million helmets a year in our 29 facilities; a majority of them are football. We tested over 50,000 helmets last year, just under 3 percent of all the helmets,” Fisher said.

As athletic associations are not required to submit helmets to reconditioning, many in poorer communities are skipping the process, which costs $25 to $40 per helmet. According to NAERA, approximately 500,000 players used helmets that hadn’t undergone basic reconditioning.

Butterfield and Waxman’s hearing is receiving support from the NFL Players Association, which has been advocating for major changes in the helmets used in pro ball and youth sports.

The players union had asked Congress to step into the league's labor dispute before the March 11 expiration of the latest collective-bargaining agreement and the subsequent lockout to help solve pay and safety issues. While the fight seems like a squabble between millionaires and billionaires, one of the players' objections is to owners' plans to extend the season by two games, which the union says increases the risk of getting a concussion.

Until last year, the NFL denied a connection between helmets and brain injuries. At a hearing convened by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., in 2010, the former co-chairman of the league's panel on head injuries said there was “not enough valid, reliable or objective scientific evidence at present to determine whether or not repeat head impacts in professional football result in long-term brain damage.”

NFLPA medical director Dr. Thom Mayer said the shift in the league's position has been because of compelling scientific evidence and pressure from players to make improvements.

The NFL has adopted a "battle buddy" system to make sure players get help when injured. Each player is assigned a teammate to look out for. A player's buddy makes sure after each blow that the player is alert, and reports any injuries to the medics.

Mayer said the battle buddy system actually helped the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl. When quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion during a late-season game, wide receiver Donald Driver reported the injury. Rodgers sat out a few games to recuperate, then returned to lead the Packers to the championship.

Union asks prospects to boycott NFL Draft

Union asks prospects to boycott NFL Draft


The dream of top college prospects is to hear their name called in the first round of the NFL Draft, to walk out onto the stage at Radio City Music Hall, don the hat of their new team and then receive a hearty handshake and perhaps a hug from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

That memorable moment looks as if it will be denied to defensive linemen Nick Fairley and Da'Quan Bowers -- possible No. 1 picks going to the Panthers -- as well as quarterback prospects Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker and Cam Newton. In another sign of the contention infiltrating the NFL labor battle -- set for an April 6 hearing in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis -- ESPN is reporting the NFL Players Association is contacting all the top prospects and instructing them not to attend the NFL Draft event in Manhattan on April 28-30.

As of yesterday, the NFLPA -- even though it decertified last week -- had contacted 17 players expected to receive invitations to attend the first round of the draft April 28, ESPN reported. If the boycott comes about, it will make for an embarrassing evening. Goodell presumably would announce the pick, but there would be no player there to greet him on the stage.

The union reportedly is considering having the top prospects appear on a competing network for interviews during the Draft.

The league, obviously, would prefer that not happen.

"We plan to invite the 15-20 top prospects and their families to New York as we normally do for this once-in-a-lifetime experience," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement. "And, as always, it is the decision of the players and their families as to whether they attend."

The next step in this painful and tedious process is set for April 6, the day a hearing date has been set in the federal lawsuit filed by the players against the league. The big news here is the hearing is scheduled to come in front of U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in Minnesota. The players were hoping the case would be heard by Justice David Doty, who since the early 1990s has overseen several NFL labor issues and regularly sided with the players in his rulings.

There is little or no chance of any mediated negotiations prior to the hearing.

The players are seeking an injunction to prevent the NFL teams from engaging in a lockout, which was instituted last Friday at midnight. The case, according to reports, first went to Judge Richard Kyle, who recused himself for unspecified reasons. It was reassigned to Judge Patrick Schiltz and yesterday Schiltz cited a conflict of interest because he represented the NFL in several cases as a private practice attorney. The case then went to Nelson.

A ruling is expected within two weeks of the hearing and if a preliminary injunction is granted, the lockout will be lifted and the NFL will open up with the start of free agency, likely under the 2010 guidelines.

One politician, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, said he is seeking to eliminate the NFL's antitrust exemption for broadcast contracts. That exemption allows the league to sign TV deals for all teams, an arrangement that has pumped money into what has become a $9 million industry. Conyers is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. The committee chairman, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, has indicated he will not support that legislation.

On a conference call, Saints quarterback Drew Brees, one of the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the league, called the NFL's final offer last Friday "an unreasonable proposal." Kevin Mawae, the president of the NFLPA, said it is "a complete lie" that the players walked away from negotiations.

NFL antitrust suit to be heard April 6, but not by Judge Doty

Tampa - Is this politics at its judicial best? So far, two U.S. District Court judges recused themselves from hearing the NFL federal antitrust suit.

The case has now landed in Judge Susan Richard Nelson’s court, and may still yet be reassigned.

At this point an April 6 hearing date has been scheduled.

The players would like to have the case heard in Judge David Doty’s court. Doty has overseen NFL labor matters since the early 1990’s.

Meanwhile, Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber was enjoying a round of golf today at Innisbrook.

Barber took part in the Shelton Quarles Celebrity Pro-Am, a prelude to the Transitions Championship which gets underway on Thursday.

Barber said he’s a little bothered by the recent developments and he wants to play football.

Barber said, “I don’t want to go into the offseason with uncertainty when we’re going to get back on the football field. Let’s them work it out. I’m confident it will get done, I’m just not sure when.”

Bucs Head Coach Raheem Morris was also playing in the event. Morris said, “I control what I can control. I have great faith in the league and what they do. I’m just getting ready for the draft, which is making this time a little easier on me.”

A third development has also reared it head in Congress. Senior House Democrat John Conyers says he will introduce legislation today to strip the NFL of its anti-trust exemption for broadcasting contracts.

Just a fun day in the NFL.

Reality Sinks in as Lockout Promises to Linger

Reality Sinks in as Lockout Promises to Linger

BY JOHN FENNELLY ON MAR 14, 2011, 4:49 PM

While this NFL latest work stoppage plays itself out, thousands of peripheral employees and interested parties will be scrambling to make ends meet. I’m sure you’ve all read about this demographic ad nauseum.  Get used to it, its just the beginning.

NFL owners and players, on the other hand, will all be fine financially.  The majority of them will feel little or no impact from the current labor impasse. You’ll hear about how they really want to get a deal done and how much they empathize with the little guy and the fan.

Yeah, right.

There are some that hoped the two sides could settle this thing quickly, opening up free agency, setting a salary cap and normalizing business before the draft.  That scenario is a pipe dream now.

This morning, the initial hearing of the lawsuit brought by the players in an attempt to prevent the owners from locking them out, was set for April 6th, some three weeks from now.  In the interim, we wait.

If you have any experience with the U.S. legal system, you’ll know there is no guarantee anything occurs on April 6th.  Court decisions and opinions have a way of lingering.  This could go on for some time.

The draft will be held, but who knows what that will look like. Teams will reshuffle their draft boards since they won’t have signed any free agents to augment their rosters.  There is also the push by the NFLPA to have top draftees boycott the draft in NYC next month.

In the meanwhile, the NFL will most likely lose major points with the casual fan, a swath of customers that had jumped on board the speeding train the last decade or so. They will also come under pressure from the media (neither side will get any relief on this site) and the powers that be.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) is moving to exert the government’s authority in the dispute.

“At a time when the economy is struggling and the NFL has chosen to lock out its players, it is particularly inappropriate to allow the league to benefit from a special antitrust exemption….economically ravaged cities like Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Buffalo. In that context it is appropriate for Congress to revoke an exemption that serves to unbalance the playing field between the parties.”

Conyers’ intent is noble but his efforts have already met opposition with other House Judiciary Committee members who believe the government should sit this one out.

A high, dry period is upon us, I’m afraid. The fans should prepare for a quiet spring and summer.  Those who depend on the NFL for all or a portion of their livelihood will be out of luck.

Lawmaker to target NFL’s TV antitrust exemption

Lawmaker to target NFL’s TV antitrust exemption

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior House Democrat on Monday sought to eliminate the NFL’s antitrust exemption for broadcasting contracts, the opening salvo from Congress in response to owners’ lockout of players in America’s most popular sport.

“At a time when the economy is struggling and the NFL has chosen to lock out its players, it is particularly inappropriate to allow the league to benefit from a special antitrust exemption,” said Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, who introduced the Prevent Lockout of Athletes This Year Act, or PLAY Act.

But the committee’s chairman, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, indicated he would not take up the legislation.

“The House Judiciary Committee will not consider any bill that attempts to interject Congress into the private dispute” between the NFL and the NFL Players Association, said Smith, who also repeated his view that both sides are “big boys” and Congress doesn’t need to referee every dispute for them.

The 50-year-old broadcasting exemption, which allows the NFL to sign TV contracts on behalf of all teams, helped to transform the league into an economic powerhouse. The exemption also applies to professional baseball, basketball and hockey, but Conyers’ bill would only rescind football’s exemption.

Conyers’ move follows the collapse of talks between the players and owners, which threatens the 2011 season. The players’ union has decertified, players have an antitrust lawsuit, and the league has staged a lockout of players. The NFLPA has gone from being a union to a professional trade association.

In the months prior to the lockout, the union had staged several lobbying days by NFL players, urging members of Congress to use its leverage to avoid a lockout, such as ensuring the antitrust exemption is used in a way that benefits fans and the sport.

Joe Briggs, the NFLPA’s public policy counsel, said in a statement that “there is a long history of review and debate over the continued need for antitrust exemptions by Congress.”

The NFL declined to comment on the legislation.

Conyers said that more than football is at stake in the lockout, pointing to the financial impact on “economically ravaged cities like Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Buffalo. In that context it is appropriate for Congress to revoke an exemption that serves to unbalance the playing field between the parties.”

Conyers said he would ask the Congressional Research Service to quantify the economic impact of the lockout, including its effect on jobs, local communities, and state and local tax revenues.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/14/lawmaker-to-target-nfls-tv-antitrust-exemption/#ixzz1Gn4TN7Zz

Lawmaker targets TV exemption

House Democrat to target NFL's TV antitrust exemption

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior House Democrat says he will seek to eliminate the NFL's antitrust exemption for broadcasting contracts.

Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, says he will introduce legislation later Monday to strip the league of its exemption.

That exemption, which allows the NFL to sign TV contracts on behalf of all teams, helped to transform the league into the economic powerhouse it is today.

Conyers' move follows the collapse of talks between the players and owners, threatening the 2011 season. The players' union has decertified, players have filed antitrust lawsuits, and the league has staged a lockout of players.