How did this week's announcement of the latest Virginia Tech star ratings for helmets affect parents of youth football players? USA Today reported that while it gives them more guidance it creates an even more crowded field of helmets and associated products.
For instance, now there are four major manufacturers of helmets -- Riddell, Rawlings, Schutt and Xenith -- and there are myriad of marketed concussion-detection and -prevention devices, from sensors to mouthguards and from Guardian Caps to chin straps. However, there's no one government agency overseeing all of these products.
The door may be open for the Federal Trade Commission to take part as a watchdog for safety. It already does that for diet supplements.
Yet some add-on makers, like Guardian Cap, don't trust NOCSAE because the private organization is supported by sporting goods companies that make helmets. That's where the Virginia Tech researchers hope to pick up some of the slack by creating a rating system for sensors, a move that would please Hartley.
-- Bill Bradley, contributing editor
