One of the NFL’s stated goals is to grow the game of football. Consider that mission accomplished for the Denver Broncos after the team undertook a one-of-a-kind initiative.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, the Broncos announced a program that will see more than 15,000 state-of-the-art football helmets distributed to every high school in Colorado. The program, dubbed All In, All Covered, will run for the next four years, during which time Riddell Axiom helmets will be sent to all 277 schools in the state, regardless of enrollment size or the class of football they play.
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The Axiom helmets will be custom fitted to each player and can be adjusted over time, as students grow up or the helmets are passed down year after year. Each helmet also comes with “contact” technology that uses analytics to help coaches teach proper tackling techniques. Colorado High School Activities Association Commissioner Mike Krueger says his members are blown away by the Broncos’ generosity.
“School budgets are tight,” Krueger said. “This is really going to have a significant impact, and that impact is going to go beyond football programs because where those funds would have went to helmets, now you can share that money, you know, across multiple programs.”
The program was devised during a meeting in August, when Broncos owner Greg Penner and other board members brainstormed ways to reduce the barriers to playing football, including concerns about cost and safety. The “smart helmets” typically run between $600 and $800.
Allie Engelken, the executive director of the Broncos Foundation, estimates between 75,000 and 155,000 players could wear the helmets over the next 13 years.
“Every single six-man school will receive 22 helmets, all the way up to every 5A school will receive 100 helmets,” Engelken said. “Part of the first initial wave of the donation will also include helmet starter kits, and so that includes a lot of basic maintenance tools that schools don’t have because they don’t have these in their inventory already.”
