NFL Launches Helmet Challenge Contest For Safer Design

The NFL will offer up to a $1M award in a contest intended to spur the development of safer football helmets. As the next step in the $60M, five-year effort announced in '17 to stimulate better football player protection, the NFL Helmet Challenge’s goal is to find a design that outperforms all current helmets in laboratory testing. NFL Exec VP/Health & Safety Innovation Jeff Miller said the contest is “an unprecedented combination of financing, research, data and engineering expertise.”

The contest will kick off with a symposium in Youngstown, Ohio, from Nov. 13-15, where experts from different industries will gather to collaborate on new helmet concepts. America Makes, a manufacturing research institute, will host the conference. The final testing will occur in May '21. Along with the prize money, the league will make another $2M available to support prototype development. University students and faculty are eligible for funding to cover travel.