Quote:What does field size have to do with it? Haven't American football fields always been 160 feet (about 53 yards) wide? Using that logic, there should be more concussions in Canada.

 

Not when they are playing at slower speeds like they do in Canada. More space means more time to achieve top speed which means more violent collisions. Narrower fields and allowing more incidental contact with moving players means less ramp up time.

 

Try this: go sit in your car. Park in front of a brick wall with the front end 6 inches from the wall. Slam on the gas.

 

Now back your car up 300 hundred feet and do the same thing.

 

Which one hurt your car worse?

 

The same dynamic applies to football players, especially as we've reached the ceilings of human weight and speed. Eliminating the extraneous space is one way they could help reduce the violence of the collisions. Obviously it won't help much with the "many small impacts" issue, but it would make headway on the "knockout" hit one.

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