Ivy League research findings support an experimental rule in football that reduced concussions by moving the kickoff line from the 35- to the 40-yard line and the touchback line from the 25- to the 20-yard line
 
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Ivy League again demonstrated its place as a national leader in concussion prevention and education with a study on the League’s experimental kickoff rule published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday, Oct. 1.
 
“We are proud to see results from our study published in such an esteemed journal as JAMA, and even more gratified to know that policies we put in place have directly led to a decrease in concussions,” said Executive Director Robin Harris. “The Ivy League Presidents had the foresight to identify concussions as a significant health and welfare issue and charged the Ivy League conference office, administrators, coaches and sports medicine staffs with taking a leadership role in identifying interventions that would make all sports safer for our student-athletes.”
 
The Ivy League’s overall review of concussions began with football in 2010 and has grown to include a formal epidemiology study of concussions encompassing all varsity sports at the eight Ivy League schools. Data from the study prompted discussion of football kickoffs, which accounted for 23.4 percent of concussions during games despite representing only 5.8 percent of overall plays. The Ivy League head football coaches suggested an experimental rule change to move kickoffs from the 35- to the 40-yard line, with touchbacks moving from the 25- to the 20-yard line, and the NCAA granted the League’s request for conference games prior to the 2016 season.
 
In the two seasons the rule was in effect, 48% of kickoffs resulted in touchbacks, as compared with 17.9% in the three previous seasons. According to this study published now in JAMA, this difference meant a significant decrease in concussions, from 10 concussions per 1000 kickoffs prior to the rule change, to 2 concussions per 1000 kickoffs after the rule change, a reduction of over 68%.  
 
The article published today was written by Dr. Douglas J. Wiebe, PhD, a University of Pennsylvania professor of epidemiology in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, who co-leads the Ivy League’s concussion study. “The national conversation on concussions that occur in football can be informed by scientific research aimed at making sports safer,” said Dr. Weibe. “A simple yet strategic policy change helps sustain the quality of the game while making the game safer for student athletes.”  
 
Dr. Margot Putukian, team physician at Princeton University, has been the principal investigator in the Ivy League Epidemiology Study of Concussions since its inception in 2012, and another author of the study. “The research that the Ivy League is participating in to evaluate the mechanism and natural history of concussion in all sports is critically important, and I am thrilled that this research demonstrates that a rule change can make a meaningful difference in the health and safety of student-athletes.” Dr. Putukian and Co-Principal Investigator Carolyn Campbell-McGovern of the Ivy League have worked closely with a team of clinicians and researchers across the eight Ivy League campuses to conduct the study, which explores mechanisms of injury and issues regarding return to sport and return to academics for athletes in all varsity sports and club rugby.
 
In fact, this rule led to changes on the national level. Preliminary results of the Ivy League experimental kickoff rule influenced the NCAA to adopt a new kickoff rule that went into effect for all levels of football at the start of the 2018 season.  Under the new rule, receiving teams may call for a fair catch inside the 25-yard line that would automatically be considered a touchback, with the ball placed at the 25-yard line. The intent is the same as the Ivy League rule: to reduce the number of times the ball is returned on kickoff plays, while not changing the play fundamentally. The Ivy League is using the same rule this season, with the modification that kickoffs will continue from the 40-yard line, and with the hope that the rate of concussions will continue to decline.