NFL’s Ratings, Revenues Soaring, But Head Injuries, Concussions Still Lurk As Thorny Issues To Address
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The National Football League is a TV ratings monster, generating about $19 billion a year in revenue.
But there’s still a lingering factor that hovers above the NFL that still causes PR problems — head injuries suffered by players and the long-term health effects from violent collisions on a playing field.
The league showed LVSportsBiz.com and other reporters in Las Vegas three days ahead of Super Bowl 58 the latest in player concussion detection and health care at a tour of Allegiant Stadium Thursday afternoon.
Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said the 2023 season saw 700 fewer games lost to injury than in 2022.
But Sills noted the number of concussions stayed flat and the league was not able to reduce that number.
Sills, along with Jeff Miller, executive VP overseeing health and safety, led a tour that included pit stops in Allegiant Stadium’s injury video replay booth at the press box level and a field-level injury video review machine where the operators at both sites are in constant communication.
The media also got a look inside the blue tent where players are evaluated in 90 seconds to three minutes about their concussion situation.
“Just a patient and a provider,” Sills said.
There are three blue tents in every NFL stadium, one for each team and a backup.
Sills stressed that the health and safety protocols in place for Super Bowl 58 are the same for regular season and pre-season games.
“They’re not in place just for the Super Bowl. They’re in place for all games,” Sills said.
Every team is responsible for crafting an emergency action plan. There’s a script and there are rehearsals in the event of an emergency health situation.
Each NFL stadium will have a local designated trauma hospital, but other hospitals with specialties can be on the roster, too, Sills noted.
The NFL also analyzes the way players’ cleats interact with natural grass verses artificial surfaces. This machine does the analysis.
Milelr expects the stadium grass to be in good shape for Sunday’s game.
As a related note, famed field master George “The Sodfather” Toma will not be making a cameo appearance to check out the grass at Allegiant Stadium.
