Cris Collingsworth just said on DP

[57stratdawg]

That he didn't expect high schools to play football in the 20 or 30 years. Said the liability of concussion and injury lawsuits would be too much, and schools would start walking away.

I was pretty surprised by that.

 

[seshomoru]

Either that way...

or from research beginning to show just how bad it is for developing brains and kids just not playing it.

 

[Wooly17er]

Probably right, though legal waivers will be tried first (if not already)

I'm sure high school athletic departments will start having both parents and/or legal guardians sign an extensive waiver on behalf of the kids that want to play - and the waiver will probably be explained and signed at some mandatory meeting. This may already be happening, I'm not sure.

The problem with high schoolers is that they are minors, and they cannot legally enter into a contract in some situations - and any claim they have may be tolled until after they reach the age of majority.

This could also spill over into college ball, especially in states like Mississippi - where a person is legally a minor/infant until the age of 21. To some extent, the law has begun allowing contracts to be binding when signed at age 18 - but I'm not sure if this would include waivers of liability.

Even if schools begin terminating their programs, you will probably see community programs form up and keep playing (at which point games will probably be more expensive)

All of that being said, my initial reaction is to let the kids play - because they can get hurt even just riding their bikes to school. But, the new concussion studies are frightening to say the least - and brain injuries to children during their primary education years cannot be ignored just for the sake of "letting them play." As a parent, I'm on the fence on this one.

 

[esplanade91]

Come on. As long as there is a league that makes $9,000,000,000 a year and star players are signing $120,000,000 contracts there will be high school football.

Is the concussion thing real? Yes, but I think it's being MAJORLY blown out of proportion. People are acting like everyone is becoming a moron because they played high school football and the hits they took made them that way. How many scholars or otherwise intelligent people talk about how they played high school football and it taught them discipline and what-not?

The thing is, football is as popular as it's EVER been. It's not going away. Will it change between now and 20-30 years from today? Absolutely. But the game is entirely different than it was 20-30 years ago.

As far as I'm concerned you already do have to sign a waiver. You can't just show up and play. It might have been that way when some of you played but you have to go through a physical and sign off before you hit the field, at least at my high school.



So I moved to Long Island, NY and my little sister is at one of the top high schools in the country now... they barely have enough people to field a team and they play their games on the baseball field. We went to a booster club meeting (seriously, I need to make some 17ing friends) and it turns out the only people who play are kids whose parents are from the likes of Georgia or somewhere down south. The coolest guy in the school is the captain of the lacrosse team. The hipsters are on the football team. If the MHSSA is serious about reducing concussions or whatever the answer isn't taking away football, it's giving Mississippians more sports. We're the only state of 50 that doesn't have wrestling. I think a lot of these hero types who aren't very good but give 150% who make up the majority of concussions would divert a lot of their attention elsewhere.

But the other side of that is lacrosse is just as dangerous or MORE dangerous as football. It's inevitable. People will get concussions. The sun will come up. The birds will sing. There will be some form of football thursday-monday.

 

[Tin Cup Cowboy]

Come on. As long as there is a league that makes $9,000,000,000 a year and star players are signing $120,000,000 contracts there will be high school football.

The above has nothing to do with the point he was making. What he was saying is that high schools will stop providing football as an option due to potential liability. I personally don't think that is much of a stretch and could very well envision that happening.

Don't assume that football is untouchable, horse racing, baseball, and boxing were once thought untouchable also.

 

[esplanade91]

They are too intertwined. Who has the most to lose from high schools dropping football? The NFL. You don't think the people who control a $9,000,000,000+ industry would find a way to keep football alive?

Baseball and boxing put themselves under, and what happened to horse racing? I went to Belmont several times this summer. It was a packed house, I even saw Bill Murray there.

 

[Wooly17er]

Did you miss where I said this: "Even if schools begin terminating their programs, you will probably see community programs form up and keep playing (at which point games will probably be more expensive)."

I'm not saying football is going to disappear. Instead, I think we will see 2 things happen: (1) Schools will stop funding/sanctioning teams and remove themselves from any potential liability; and (2) the game will change in an attempt to prevent serious injuries.

 

[Tin Cup Cowboy]

It doesn't matter that the NFL controls a $9,000,000,000+ industry. If lawsuits start hitting high school organizations they are not going to pay that bill for them. I also doubt that they would be willing to pay for insurance premiums that go through the roof because of lawsuits and research proving side affects related to playing.

As for the horse racing, I have no doubt that Belmont was packed. Keenlend in Lexington is packed every year also, but you never see that on TV. That $9,000,000,000+ figure you keep throwing around came from one place...TV contracts. How many horse races do you see on TV in a year? When was the last time you went to a sports bar to watch a horse race?

Read this, it gives multiple reasons and even mentions Belmont.

http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/reasons-for-the-decline-of-horse-racing/?_r=0

 

[hatfieldms]

If they want to start lessening the threat of concussions

They need to start testing for HGH. You will see a lot of guys in the league to start shrinking down

 

[HD6]

The absolute easiest method would be to remove face masks. People would stop leading with their heads. A broken nose heals a lot easier than a concussion.

 

[patdog]

Remove the facemasks and also go to a soft outside shell for the helmets. That would solve over 90% of the problem right there.

 

[Sounder68]

Read this. It touches on many of the things you're referring to and was written by an award-winning economist who doesn't have any skin in the game. He just analyzes what could happen from an economic and societal perspective.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7559458/cte-concussion-crisis-economic-look-end-football

I watched "League of Denial" last night and have to say, it was pretty eye-opening. I knew the NFL was trying to protect their interest in years past, but didn't realize how much so. As well, I'd be very hesitant to let my kid play, knowing what I know now. The game could be doomed because all it will take (as the above article states) is for parents and schools to become alarmed and then there's no feeder system for college and pro football.

 

[SixtonPackerish]

That comment

The absolute easiest method would be to remove face masks. People would stop leading with their heads. A broken nose heals a lot easier than a concussion.

Very closely resembles one Joe Paterno made many years ago.

 

[jakldawg]

You mean something like this:

 

[patdog]

You'd have to have better padding than the old leather helmets. But yeah, something a lot like that.

 

[ckDOG]

Agree. The game would naturally adapt with less head protection.

The game would have to change quite a bit and tackling would resemble more of the "take-downs" you see in rugby. You just couldn't possibly rationalize getting a running start and running into someone face or head first without the protective shell. You might do it once or twice, but you will learn to truly take down your opponent rather than turn yourself into a human projectile. If players simply don't care about their own health and do it anyways, implement a red card system and eject the player and you play a man down the rest of the game. That will change things up real quick.

No doubt, the game would look different in the future, but we'd still keep football for the most part and the injuries would change from long-term damage from repetitive head trauma to a bunch of broken noses and knocked out teeth.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

High school football could go away and be replaced by something AAU-esque, perhaps sponsored directly by the NFL. That way schools are off the hook entirely for the liability, passing it on to the organization with an incentive to keep youth football alive (the NFL).