Schutt Sports' plans to offer Brain Sentry head impact sensors as an original equipment option on its helmets increases pressure on other independent sensor companies to partner with Rawlings or Xenith or risk being shut out of the OEM market.
Schutt announced Jan. 8 it would install sensors made by Brain Sentry on certain models of its new and reconditioned helmets for a suggested $40 up charge. The sensor uses accelerometers to count and display each time the helmet experiences accelerations or decelerations at or above a 20 g level. While Brain Sentry will continue to be available for use on all helmet brands in the aftermarket, Schutt has obtained exclusive rights to offer Brain Sentry sensors as original equipment on its new and reconditioned NOCSAE-certified helmets, according to Brain Sentry co-founder and CEO Greg Merril.
NOCSAE, pronounced “NOXY,” is an acronym for the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, which sets standards for athletic equipment.
Riddell became the first vendor to offer head impact sensors as an OEM option in 2013 after spending 10 years developing its InSite Impact Response System. That leaves Rawlings and Xenith at the the only major football helmet manufacturers not offering NOCSAE-certified sensors on original equipment.
Coaches at youth, high school, NCAA Division I and pro football programs are already using data and feedback from Brain Sentry to identify players who need additional training on proper tackling technique.
“We know of several coaches, including Les Miles at LSU, that have changed their contact drills and limited participation of some players based on what they learned from our sensors,” Merril told Sports Executive Weekly (SEW). “We are revolutionizing the safety of contact sports with objective monitoring of impact counts.”
Schutt Sports President and CEO Robert Erb described Brain Sentry as the best impact sensor available on the market today.
“It’s easy to use, accurate and affordable,” said Erb. “The time is right for us to embrace sensor technology and we’re happy to have Brain Sentry as a partner.”
Schutt's embrace of the Brain Sentry technology comes amid heightened scrutiny of NOCSAE's relationship with football helmet manufacturers. Many start-up companies saw their sales plummet significantly in the summer of 2013 after the Colorado State High School Activities Association banned third-party add-ons upon learning that that NOCSAE rules allowed helmet manufacturers to void their warranties if their helmets were altered.
After a backlash from parents and sports safety watchdog organizations, NOCSAE explained that the only way for manufacturers of third-party add-on products to certify their products would be for them to install their devices on helmets and test each helmet under the same standards helmet manufacturers must follow. Because every make, model and size of a helmet must be separately certified to NOCSAE standards, that would have required Brain Sentry spend millions of dollars buying and testing helmets for a thumb-sized device that can be stuck on the back of helmets in seconds using an adhesive strip.
SEW reported exclusively in September that the antitrust division of the Federal Trade Commission was investigating NOCSAE's certification process for third-party add-on products, as well as its ban on the use of certified test results in comparative product advertising, for possible restraint of trade violations.
At that time, Merril told SEW that he could find no practical way to have his device certified under NOCSAE rules. Brain Sentry has been able to continue growing by indemnifying schools and leagues. If any helmet manufacturer refuses to honor their warranty due to Brain Sentry sensor being attached, Brain Sentry covers 100 percent of their warranty. Helmets with Brain Sentry sensors bought through Schutt, however, will now be covered by Schutt’s warranty.
Last week, one influential NOCSAE critic said Brain Sentry's deal with Schutt did not alleviate her concern that helmet manufacturers and NOCSAE are stymieing innovation that could enhance the safety of youth sports.
“The Schutt-Brain Sentry partnership doesn’t change our view that standard-setting for third-party helmet add-ons should be done by a group which, unlike NOCSAE, is not funded by the helmet manufacturers,” said Brooke de Lench, Executive Director of MomsTeam Institute Inc. “Leaving standard-setting in the hands of NOCSAE still, in our view, acts as a brake on technological advances because it makes helmet manufacturers the gate-keepers for sensor technology.”
De Lench said she knows of about 20 independent companies working on head impact sensors for helmets. Under NOCSAE certification rules and given the exclusive nature of the deals Schutt has announced so far, de Lench said sensor companies that fail to partner with Rawlings or Xenith will be at a significant competitive disadvantage. Companies that do secure partnerships, meanwhile, will be under enormous pressure to grant exclusivity.
Dallas, Texas-based Sports Video Innovation (SVI) in 2012, for instance, licensed exclusive rights to Schutt to use its technology in football helmets. SVI provides the technology behind SchuttVision, which Schutt began offering as a third-party add-on to its football helmets in the 2014 season. Last week, Schutt and SVI announced availability of a second NOCSAE-certified version that enables a videographer to monitor battery life, track up to 16 SchuttVision helmets, and remotely start and stop video recording all from the sidelines on a phone or tablet.
Under the agreement, SVI must also give Schutt the right of first refusal before providing the technology to other helmet manufacturers, including those catering to skiers, cyclists and other outdoor and team sports, according to SVI co-Founder and CEO Jeremey Jeansonne.
“With new technology, Schutt is open arms,” said Jeansonne, adding that his business plan always called for allying with a helmet manufacture to get NOCSAE certification. After Riddell took a pass on his technology, he approached Schutt.
“I knew that passing NOCSAE on my own would be a huge hurdle,” Jeansonne continued. “The helmet manufacturers are the experts who know exactly where the camera needs to be placed to pass NOCSAE.”
While Jeansonne is thrilled with his partnership, de Lench said it illustrate how NOCSAE, which derives its income primarily from licensing fees athletic equipment manufacturers pay to use its trademark, gives helmet manufacturers too much power.
“This is exactly what we predicted would happen a year and a half ago when NOCSAE issued its third-party add-on ruling,” she said. “Independent sensor manufacturers are having a hard time gaining a foothold in the market because of the enormous cost associated with the testing necessary to obtain certification of helmets equipped with their sensors, and the fact that the lack of certification to NOCSAE standards means that, as a practical matter, schools simply won’t use helmets that aren’t NOCSAE certified.”
In a bid to enhance the integrity of its standards, NOCSAE began requiring manufacturers this month to obtain third-party certification to its standards.
“This gives athletes and manufacturers alike confidence their athletic equipment has been tested by a neutral, independent body to meet the highest safety standards,” said NOCSAE Executive Director Mike Oliver in a statement released Jan. 17 during NOCSAE's annual board meeting in Phoenix. “This is the most stringent and unbiased way to determine standards compliance, as the third-party cannot have any connection to manufacturers or products they certify.”
Reached later that day be email, Oliver said he had not heard from FTC investigators since October.
“We produced all of the requested documentation last year,” Oliver said. “At our request, the FTC staff met with us in Seattle in October last year to answer their questions and provide as much cooperation as we could., when he met with them in Seattle to discuss records NOCSAE had handed over to the agency.”
