TECHNOLOGY IN SPORTS Ryan Schmadel, Bryan Pforte, Kevin Corley - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

TECHNOLOGY IN SPORTS

Ryan Schmadel, Bryan Pforte, Kevin Corley

SAFETY IN FOOTBALL

NFL SCRUTINY

The NFL has been under a lot of scrutiny the past few

years involving their former and current players health

18,000 former NFL players took part in the lawsuit which

settled for $765 million

4,500 of those players blame their head injuries on the

NFL

Most of these athletes suffer from dementia, depression

• r Alzheimer's

The Business Side

COST OF EQUIPMENT

It costs about $1,000 to suit up for a football

game in the right equipment

Helmet- $340 Shoulder pads- $350 Thigh pads- $25 Knee pads - $15 Cleats- $120

EQUIPMENT CONTRACTS

From 1989-2013 the NFL had an exclusive sponsorship deal with

Riddell with the helmets and shoulder pads the players wore.

Riddell no longer has exclusive rights due to many lawsuits from

former NFL players over concussions

The NFL reached a $765 million settlement with former players Xenith took advantage of the non-exclusive deal between the

NFL and Riddell and now sells equipment to the NFL as well

Riddell is still the leading seller bringing in $60 million as Xenith

brought in $10 million

ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY

HELMETS

The NFL has begun to change the design and material of

helmets

The goal of the new design is to reduce the impact in the

narrow space between the outside of a helmet and a player's head

The flexible outer shell made from a bendable plastic and ends

with an inner shell and liner that are meant to provide a more customized fit around the head

The outer shell is the core layer, which is comprised of hundreds

• f flexible columns that act like shock absorbers

SAFER PRACTICES

The NFL has began looking into these machine based

practice dummies

These machines can go up to 25-30 mph and can move in

any direction and can make sharp turns just like a NFL player

These machines will give players live action without the risk

• f injuring a teammate and lessen the risk of injuring oneself

There is no helmet to helmet contact and no physical toll on

the body during practices and leaves players more fresh for games

These machines go for about $3500

SAFER TURF FIELDS

There is now turf with shock pads placed underneath Shock pads will absorb some of the impact from when players land after a hit, or the

force from them running and changing directions

With padding underneath, players will also have better traction which will reduce

injuries

Requires less maintenance than real grass

EQUIPMENT THROUGH THE YEARS

CLEATS

Cleats in the NFL used to be referred to as boots in the

early stages of the league

First cleats weighed about 31 pounds When these cleats were wet, they nearly doubled in

weight

Modern day cleats weigh about 0.5 pounds

SHOULDER PADS