Estimated Costs of Contact in College and High School Male Sports

Abstract

Injury rates in 12 U.S. men’s college sports and 5 U.S. boys’ high school sports are examined in this article. The sports are categorized as “contact” or “noncontact,” and differences in injury rates between the two are examined. Injury rates in the contact sports are considerably higher than those in the noncontact sports, and they are on average more severe. Estimates are presented of the injury savings that would result if the contact sports were changed to have injury rates similar to those in the noncontact sports. The estimated college savings are 48,100 fewer injuries per year and 5,900 fewer healthy years lost-to-injury per year. The estimated high school savings are 568,600 fewer injuries per year and 92,000 fewer healthy years lost-to-injury per year. For concussions, the savings are 6,900 per year for college and 161,400 per year for high school. The estimated dollar value (in 2015 dollars) of the total injury savings is between US$433 million and US$1.5 billion per year for college and between US$5.1 billion and US$18.4 billion per year for high school.