In the Red Zone: Will NY Legislatures Score a Touchdown in Securing Youth Tackle Football Safety Measures?

By: Sydney Schwartz                                                                         Posted: 10/11/2023

On February 8, 2023, the John Mackey Youth Football Protection Act (“Bill” or “House Bill 1269”) was reintroduced in the New York Chamber of Commerce.[1]  This Bill seeks to place a ban on youth tackle football for children twelve years and younger in the state of New York.[2]  The Bill aims to protect young players from brain injuries that can occur while participating in contact sports.[3]  Michael Benedetto, a New York Assemblyman, created the Bill and has been trying to enact this ban for over a decade.[4]  However, many youth football groups have pushed back against the proposed legislation, calling it un-American and claiming a lack of conclusive research linking tackle football to serious life-threatening injuries. [5]

Research Behind the Proposed Legislation

The Bill is named after John Mackey, a former NFL player from New York, who died of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (“CTE”).[6]  This disease has been diagnosed in over 300 former NFL players and is believed to be caused by repeated hits to the head.[7]  According to a recent study, concussion rates for teenage and pre-teen youths who play tackle football have doubled over the last ten years.[8]  Concussions, if left untreated, can lead to permanent issues, some of which do not show up until adulthood.[9]  According to the Neurology Department at the Hospital for Special Surgery, it is believed that around 30% of athletes have sustained undiagnosed concussions.[10]  Furthermore, this research has shown that male football players have the highest rates of concussions out of all contact sports.[11]  The CDC published data revealing that youth football players are twenty-three times more likely to sustain hard head impacts during a tackle game versus a flag football game.[12]  The concern for repeated head impact is even more prominent for young children as their brains are in their most formative developmental stages, and therefore, injuries can have a greater effect on their health, thinking, and behavior.[13]  Other sporting leagues have responded to this concern, such as the United States Soccer Federation who placed a ban on all headers for players under the age of ten.[14]  The New York Bill seeks to catch up to other youth sports organizations and protect young athletes, most vulnerable to serious head injuries, in their prime developmental years.[15]

Two Sides to the Coin

A Bloomberg survey from 2014 showed that just over 53% of Americans support a ban on youth tackle football.[16]  Those in favor of the ban cited concerns over bodily and head injury during games or practice as the number one reason for their support.[17]  This concern is further heightened due to the lack of knowledge of the long-term effects that brain injuries have on children. [18]

On the other side of the argument, opposers of the Bill seem to be mainly comprised of coaches and little league organizations.[19]  The president of Pop Warner, the largest youth football organization in the country, believes that the ban may end up doing more harm than good to children’s health, as once kids are old enough to participate in tackling, they will not have obtained the proper training.[20]  The organization further claims a lack of conclusive research that youth tackle football can lead to serious and permanent brain damage later in life.[22]

Predictions on the Bill’s Enactment

The New York Bill has been in the making for over a decade due to its creator’s inability to find a sponsor within the Senate.[23]  Several other states have tried proposing similar bans, but none have come close to being successful.[24]  California was one of the first states to propose a bill banning youth tackle football below the age of twelve; however, hundreds of parents and kids stood outside the Capital protesting the bill's passage.[25]  The bill was then pulled by its sponsors due to the lack of support.[26]  Additionally, Maryland legislators received over 7,000 signatures on a petition to stop the passage of a tackle football ban.[27]  Many other states have made good-faith efforts to make youth football safer for all, yet have received overwhelming pushback from the community, including from coaches, players, and parents.[28]  

Even with the New York Bill now obtaining a co-sponsor in the Senate, it appears that if history has taught us anything, it will fail just like the many others before it.[29]  Despite strong research being conducted and findings showing many health concerns, the public is set on allowing youths to play contact sports.[30]  This disinterest in banning youth tackle football has been attributed to America’s obsession with the sport.[30]  Even though awareness for CTE has spread rapidly in recent years, spectators generally have an indifferent attitude towards the disease and the sports’ culpability.[31]  As football fans continue to prioritize their enjoyment over players’ safety, it is unlikely any movement towards safer football regulations will be made.[32]

*Staff Writer, Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal, J.D. Candidate, May 2025, Villanova

[1] See Youth Tackle Football – Proposed Legislation, De Caro & Kaplen, LLP, https://brainlaw.com/youth-tackle-football/ (last visited Oct. 10, 2023) (highlighting details of House Bill 1269 and how it was proposed in New York for review by Congress).

[2] See John Mackey Youth Football Protection Act, N.Y. A.B. A01269A, (2017)  (believing that brain development is more advanced at age twelve to have less chance to cause permanent injury).

[3] See Steve Cannon, NY Democrats Say Children Under 12 Should Be Banned From Playing Football!, N.Y. State Senate (Feb. 14, 2023), https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/2023/luis-r-sepulveda/ny-democrats-say-children-under-12-should-be-banned

[4] See Jessica Chasmar, NY Democrats Want To Ban Kids From Playing Tackle Football, Fox News (Feb. 9, 2023, 3:56 PM), https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ny-democrats-want-ban-kids-playing-tackle-football (highlighting creator of House Bill 1269 and his ongoing efforts to have it passed into law).

[5] See Robbie Sequeira, Bill To Ban Youth Tackle Football In New York State Has Been a Decade In The Making, BronxTimes (Mar. 3, 2023), https://www.bxtimes.com/ban-youth-tackle-football-new-york-state/ (explaining opposers of bill believe tackle football poses little risk to athletes).

[6] See Cannon, supra note 3 (highlighting reasoning behind House Bill 1269’s name and purpose behind creating it).  Mackey was a tight end in the NFL for many years and upon retiring, he began to experience signs of dementia.  See id. (highlighting Mackey’s NFL career was in high tackle position).  His condition worsened and he had to be placed in a fulltime care facility.  See id. (placing him in fulltime care from fairly young age due to erratic and psychotic behavior).  Upon his death, the autopsy discovered he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy.  See id. (showing his diagnosis of CTE to be cause of extreme personality change).  This provoked the NFL to create a fund to help pay for former players’ nursing home and adult daycare facility costs.  See id. (discussing NFL’s creation of funds for up to $88,000 for players who later require adult daycare or nursing homecare after retirement); see also Ben Donahue, The Life and Career of John Mackey (Story), Pro Football History (May 20, 2023), https://www.profootballhistory.com/john-mackey/ (providing that Mackey began playing tackle football during high school).

[7] See Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Mayo Clinic (May 23, 2023), https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921#:~:text=Chronic%20traumatic%20encephalopathy%20(CTE)%20is,an%20autopsy%20of%20the%20brain. (showing high numbers of NFL players who have been diagnosed postmortem with chronic traumatic encephalopathy caused by repeated head trauma).  Chronic traumatic encephalopathy can cause changes in personality, making the effected person almost unrecognizable in some cases.  See id. (creating major personality changes that often lead to violent acts or drug and alcohol abuse).  It can cause memory loss, mood swings, inability to communicate, and paranoia.  See id. (discussing worsening symptoms that persist until it typically ends in committing suicide, hurting others, or partaking in dangerous drug or alcohol behavior, eventually causing death).

[8] See Linda Hepler, Football & Concussion: Worth the Risk?, Child.’s Hosp. of Orange County (Mar. 18, 2020), https://www.choc.org/news/football-concussion-worth-risk/ (noting increasing rates of concussions amongst youth contact sport athletes).

[9] See Concussion, Hosp. Special Surgery (Sept. 11, 2023), https://www.hss.edu/condition-list_concussion.asp#:~:text=If%20concussions%20are%20not%20treated,intensity%20and%20duration%20of%20symptoms. (explaining how brain injuries can have lasting impacts such as early onset dementia or severe mood changes which can cause erratic or violent behavior).

[10] See id. (highlighting high percentage of undiagnosed concussions amongst young athletes, which can lead to bigger issues when not discovered or treated properly).

[11] See id. (showing that football players have higher rates of concussions amongst contact sport players).

[12] See Comparing Head Impacts in Youth Tackle and Flag Football, CDC (May 19, 2021), https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/pubs/youth_football_head_impacts.html#:~:text=Youth%20tackle%20football%20athletes%20experienced,per%20athlete%20during%20the%20season. (discussing CDC study results which showed that participants of youth tackle football during ages six to fourteen sustain fifteen times more head impacts than flag football athletes while playing during games or practice).  The study further discovered that players sustained twenty-three times more high-magnitude head impacts.  See id. (explaining that football players are more likely to suffer from serious head injuries due to incessant physical blows from other players).

[13] See Mark Dunphy, Here’s What Happened in the Five Other States that Tried to Ban Youth Tackle Football, Boston.com (Mar. 3, 2019), https://www.boston.com/sports/parenting/2019/03/03/massachusetts-proposed-law-ban-youth-tackle-football/ (explaining failure of other states’ bills trying to ban tackle football stemming from community opposition).

[14] See Rahim Lalji, Hayden Snider, Noah Chow, & Scott Howitt, The 2015 U.S. Soccer Federation Header Ban and its Effect on Emergency Room Concussion Rates in Soccer Players Aged 10–13, Nat’l Libr. Med. (Dec. 2020), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7815172/#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Soccer%20Federation%20responded,to%20perform%20headers%20in%20practice. (showing that United States Soccer Federation has taken action to prevent head injuries amongst youth players).

[15] See Cannon, supra note 3 (explaining that House Bill 1269’s purpose is not to limit Americans’ freedom, but rather to protect youth during their most vulnerable developmental years).

[16] See Annie Linskey, Half of Americans Don’t Want Their Sons Playing Football, Poll Shows, Bloomberg (Dec. 10, 2014, 7:00 AM),  https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-12-10/bloomberg-politics-poll-half-of-americans-dont-want-their-sons-playing-football (noting that majority of Americans support banning youth tackle football).

[17] See Kaia Hubbard, Majority of Americans Support Banning Tackle Football for Kids, U.S. News (Feb. 23, 2023), https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2023-02-23/majority-of-americans-support-banning-tackle-football-for-kids (elaborating that Americans are in favor of this ban due to concerns for children’s safety).

[18] See id. (explaining additional reasons for support of this Bill).  CTE can only be diagnosed after death, so the effect that youth tackle football has on CTE rates is difficult to quantify.  See id. (believing that hard head impact prior to full brain development can create greater likelihood of CTE later in life, if hard head impacts persist).

[19] See Sequeira, supra note 5 (noting that despite over half of Americans support such ban, opposers are comprised of coaches and parents).

[20] See Chasmar, supra note 4 (explaining that large soccer leagues have publicly opposed banning youth tackle football by claiming it could potentially do more harm than good for young athletes).  Pop Warner president believes that without the tackle training during youth sports, kids are more prone to injuries when they do start playing tackle sports.  See id. (explaining how high schoolers who have never learned to properly tackle or be tackled could suffer greater risk of injury).

[21] See id. (declining to accept that research has concluded there is legitimate danger to children who partake in direct contact sports involving head collisions).

[22] See Cannon, supra note 3 (noting that House Bill 1269 originally failed to move forward with legislative process due to not finding Senate co-sponsor).

[23] See Mark Dunphy, Here’s What Happened in the Five Other States That Tried to Ban Youth Tackle Football, Boston.com (Mar. 3, 2019), https://www.boston.com/sports/parenting/2019/03/03/massachusetts-proposed-law-ban-youth-tackle-football/ (showing other states’ inability to successfully pass legislation banning youth tackle football).

[24] See id. (explaining how California’s proposed bill failed due to lack of support from community).

[25] See id. (showing that California senators ultimately pulled bill and it was never voted on).  Senators believed the bill would ultimately fail due to the other states’ failures with similar legislations.  See id. (showing several other states failed to pass similar bills prior to California’s attempt to ban youth tackle football).

[26] See id. (discussing how Maryland received overwhelming amount of protesters against their proposed bill on tackle youth football).

[27] See id. (“The lawmakers say state government has to step in because, unlike sports like soccer or hockey, there is no single statewide governing body in football that can self-police the sport.”).

[28] See id. (emphasizing various other states’ lack of success in passing similar legislation).

[29] See id. (concluding that despite conclusive research on health effects, public support is lacking).

[30] See id. Matt Futterman & Edgar Cardenas, They Love Football. They Try to Not Think About C.T.E., N.Y. Times (Nov. 30, 2019)  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/sports/football/they-love-football-they-try-not-to-think-about-cte.html?searchResultPosition=46 (providing that organizations like NCAA and NFL rake in billions of dollars each year from devoted fans).

[31] See id. (highlighting how fans are aware of CTE’s dangers, yet do not care enough to stop watching).  Various fans were interviewed on their views of CTE and football, and many exhibited the mentality that players were assuming the risk and therefore no additional safety measures were necessary.  See id. (believing that players willingly subject themselves to brain injury risks when stepping on field so it is fine to continue enjoying football games guilt-free).

[32] See id. (concluding that football culture in America runs too deep and produces too much revenue to see successful activism for player safety).