From the NFL to rec leagues, football is facing a stark, new threat: an evaporating insurance market that is fundamentally altering the economics of the sport, squeezing and even killing off programs faced with higher costs and a scarcity of available coverage, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

The NFL no longer has general liability insurance covering head trauma, according to multiple sources; just one carrier is willing to provide workers' compensation coverage for NFL teams. Before concussion litigation roiled the NFL beginning in 2011, at least a dozen carriers occupied the insurance market for pro football, according to industry experts.

The insurance choices for football helmet manufacturers are equally slim; one helmet company executive said he was aware of only one. Pop Warner Little Scholars, which oversees 225,000 youth players, was forced to switch insurers after its longtime carrier, a subsidiary of the insurance giant AIG, refused to provide coverage without an exclusion for any neurological injury.

"People say football will never go away, but if we can't get insurance, it will," Jon Butler, Pop Warner's executive director, lamented to colleagues after discovering that just one carrier was willing to cover the organization for head trauma, according to a person who was present.

Dr. Julian Bailes, Pop Warner's medical director and a member of the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee, told Outside the Lines "insurance coverage is arguably the biggest threat to the sport."

In fact, pressure from litigation has already led to numerous improvements in player safety at all levels. The NFL has spent tens of millions of dollars on concussion research, sponsored a nationwide program called Heads Up to promote player safety and enacted dozens of rule changes designed to reduce head injuries. One of those rules for this season, an effort to curb targeting, generated intense preseason scrutiny and discussion among players, fans and coaches, even as commissioner Roger Goodell said, "Our focus is on how to take the head out of the game and make sure we're using the helmet as protection, and it's not being used as a weapon."

Money grubbing insurance companies and lawyers will obliterate many of the things that us free spirited Americans have enjoyed and taken for granted for most of our lives.
My time on this earth is short, my grandchildren's lives are just beginning.
They probably won't know sports as we know them today.
I wonder if my grandchildren will be willing to pay a hundred bucks a seat to watch the Green Bay Packers play flag football.

Originally Posted by: yooperfan 

yoop, "money grubbing insurance companies" really? Here'a list of Forbes most profitable companies in 2016. I am sorry I couldn't find 2017 list. It's too early for 2018.

1. Apple
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 3
2016 Profits: $45.7 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 21%
2. J.P. Morgan Chase
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 21
2016 Profits: $24.7 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 23%
3. Berkshire Hathaway
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 2
2016 Profits: $24.1 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 11%
4. Wells Fargo
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 25
2016 Profits: $21.9 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 23%
5. Alphabet (Google)
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 27
2016 Profits: $19.5 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 22%
6. Bank of America
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 26
2016 Profits: $17.9 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 19%
7. Microsoft
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 28
2016 Profits: $16.8 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 20%
8. Johnson & Johnson
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 35
2016 Profits: $16.5 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 23%
9. Citigroup
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 30
2016 Profits: $14.9 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 18%
10. Altria Group
Fortune 500 Rank: No. 148
2016 Profits: $14.2 billion
% of Revenues (Margin): 74%

Only one of them is into insurance to any significance. That is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. While they own a few insurance companies they are into a lot of other things as well.

All businesses need to make a profit. Insurance is no different than any other business. They look at the exposure/cost and come up with prices based on it. There are 50 Departments of Insurance. There are over 1000 insurance companies. There is no way possible to over charge the consumer in this day and age. Government regulation and competition won't allow it. In the personal auto line alone I have people call me every single day and complain that the price went up $5 dollars, $10 or what ever. I showed a guy who was complaining that the price actually decreased the last 3 times and his insurance was actually 25% less than it was 2 years ago. If you owned stock in a company you would demand they do their best to provide you with the greatest returns possible. Just because you personally have chosen not to invest don't make it wrong. (For the record I don't have any stock either.)

As for your lawyer comment, in the past I pointed the finger at them but you know what, it's not their fault. As beast pointed out juries are awarding settlements right and left. Well beyond what insurance companies ever dreamed possible.

As an example of the weak jury issue, I sat on a DWI case. The dude was weaving all over the road. He said he had a beer 3-4 hours earlier. His wife said they split the beer. His buddy said the three of them split the beer 3-4 hours earlier. And yet after all that time he still blew a .08 90 minutes after being arrested. .08 on 1 beer! I don't think it's possible for an 80 pound person to register that high on 1 beer at any time. Any how in the jury room a guy roughly 30 years old said he wasn't going to convict him. After all some day it might be him and he hopes he has someone watching his back. 2 other guys nodded in agreement.

People award huge judgments because they hope they will get a windfall some day. That's why people buy lottery tickets. They want to win even thought hey know it's not very likely.

Insurance and even trial lawyers are only reflecting the views of society. We are about the same age. Do you remember these issues back in the late 60's and early 70's? No way. Society has changed.

Originally Posted by: wpr