[Mick]

Players have died from heat exhaustion (if I'm remembering correctly) and the beat went on.  I don't think anything will change unless multiple D1 (and maybe Power 5) players die from Covid complications.  And no, I'm not hoping for that to happen.

There were 243 deaths during high school and college football practices between 1990 and 2010.  About 1/3 were from injuries, 2/3 from heart conditions, heat and other medical conditions.  So about a dozen per year from non-COVID related activities.  And they kept playing.

In 1905, there were 19 football fatalities nationwide and Pres. Roosevelt threatened to shut down the game.  Rules changes were instituted, specifically eliminating mass formations like the flying wedge, to reduce the danger.  Stanford, Cal and Santa Clara switched from football to rugby from 1906 to 1917.  Their expertise in rugby helped populate the American gold-medal-winning teams in 1920 and 1924, the only two years rugby was played in the Olympics until 7's were introduced in 2016.

[Mick]

Players have died from heat exhaustion (if I'm remembering correctly) and the beat went on.  I don't think anything will change unless multiple D1 (and maybe Power 5) players die from Covid complications.  And no, I'm not hoping for that to happen.

There were 243 deaths during high school and college football practices between 1990 and 2010.  About 1/3 were from injuries, 2/3 from heart conditions, heat and other medical conditions.  So about a dozen per year from non-COVID related activities.  And they kept playing.

In 1905, there were 19 football fatalities nationwide and Pres. Roosevelt threatened to shut down the game.  Rules changes were instituted, specifically eliminating mass formations like the flying wedge, to reduce the danger.  Stanford, Cal and Santa Clara switched from football to rugby from 1906 to 1917.  Their expertise in rugby helped populate the American gold-medal-winning teams in 1920 and 1924, the only two years rugby was played in the Olympics until 7's were introduced in 2016.