Football is a sport that exposes the players to the risk of head injuries like skull fracture, and concussions from impacts. It is an action packed physically challenging sport.
Imagine a young college boy who is talented at playing football. You will not risk this young boy’s life and carrier by not buying him a suitable college football helmet for his head protection.
Concussions are common head injuries in football and they can damage a player’s carrier by getting him out of football completely. You should go for a football helmet with all the latest features and qualities. For instance, Riddell Football Helmet.
So the cost of a football helmet is beyond the figures of dollars asked. This also gives the answer to Why Are Football Helmets So Expensive?
Football players wear a football helmet for protection from head injuries during sport.
How much does a football helmet cost? This is likely one of the burning questions you will ask when shopping for your NFL helmet.
The Importance Of A Football Helmet: How Much Does A Football Helmet Cost In Reality?
American football is one of the most popular sports, but it is equally a dangerous sport. You don’t have to be a specialist doctor or engineer to recognize the risk football players have exposed their heads to.
In a high-intensity football match, it exposed the players to the risk of skull fracture and other head injuries resulting from a potential impact. So an average football player understands the importance of wearing a helmet during games.
A properly fitting football helmet keeps the player secured against head injuries and even reduces concussions. The helmet minimizes the magnitude of rotational and vibrational forces during impacts.
Experts from different fields are contributing ideas to see how to improve the technology in football helmets. This is because they have manufactured no helmet that prevents concussion to 100%. This has made the cost of football helmet to increase.
Concussion is a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) incurred when the head is hit violently, causing the brain to vibrate (shake) in the skull. Concussion causes headache, loss of concentration and unconsciousness and many other symptoms.
The Importance of Wearing a Snugly Fit Football Helmet
In summary, these are the importance of wearing a snugly fitting football helmet in a high-intensity football match.
- A football helmet gives you the level of protection you need.
- As a safety sport wear, every part of a football helmet has a function to protect your head.
- A football helmet resists multiple collisions or impacts that could cause skull fracture, face injury, tooth loss and concussion.
- A football helmet is part of the player’s uniform. Each team has its own color of helmet that helps team mates to identify themselves.
- A good fitting football helmet increases the confidence level of a player. You know it well secured you wearing the helmet.
The considerations to make before buying your football helmet
What do you look for in a helmet? The cost of NFL helmet is determined by size, color, material, design and model that takes the energy when the player hits his head in a collision or impact.
Which part of the helmet gets scattered during an impact and can that part be easily replaced? Let us look into the various components of a football helmet for you to better understand what you are buying and how it functions in protection. A good football helmet with quality parts will tell you how much a football helmet costs
1.The Shell.
This is the outer part of the helmet, which encounters multiple impacts protecting the skull and brain. They made it of durable material lightweight materials like Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic (or a polycarbonate alloy).molded polycarbonate is a strong polymer made to absorb powerful hits, and it withstands extreme temperatures.
The shell has ventilations which promote aerodynamics (airflow) to manage temperature changes. The shell usually contains the decorative covering. Some helmets have inflatable pads and the airflow helps to tighten the pads for a snug fitting.
- The Padding.
The paddings can either be inflatable or pre-sized. If your helmet uses pre-sized pads, buy thicker or thinner pads depending on the size of your head and helmet for a better fit.
Look for a good padding pump if your helmet has inflatable pads as you will pump air into the pads for the helmet to fit your head snugly. It is risky to have a space between tour head and the helmet and between your jaws and the helmet. A good fitting helmet does not shake or move when worn.
There are two common types of foam used in the helmet pads and liners: Thermoplastic Urethane (TPU) Foam, which does not need to be compressed like normal foam and is a good absorber of shock during collisions. And Vinyl Nitrile Foam which is comfortable when worn and a good shock absorber during impact. It needs a break-in time; therefore padding should not be tight against the head and jaws.
- The Facemask.
They mostly made face shields of carbon or stainless steel because they are strong and lightweight. You can buy your helmet separately from the football helmet. But ensure the facemask is compatible with the football helmet.
Some brands have quick removable facemask features which are very important with an injury.
Different categories of facemask designs exist: oral protection only; jaw and oral protection; nose and oral protection; nose, jaw and oral protection and eyeglass and oral protection
- The Accessories of helmet.
The chinstraps are attached directly to the helmet and should be centered under the athlete’s chin. They should fit snugly.
Open your mouth wide as in an enormous yawn. If the helmet pulls down on your head, then the straps are tight and fit snugly. If not, tighten them.
The football helmet visor or eye shield fits into the facemask without obscuring vision. The visor is usually a curved plastic covering the eyes of the player to protect the face from radiant head and flying sparks.
- Safety Standards
Your helmet should meet the safety standards set by commissions responsible for developing safety standards for football equipment. For instance, the Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) and the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE)
How Much Does A Football Helmet Cost?
After a comprehensive research, we have come out with a chart showing the most common football helmets and their average or cost range. The price of each helmet is highly determined by brand and quality. The costs slightly change with time as expected, so as a disclaimer, we are not accountable for any changes in price you may find in the market. Let this just be a guide on how you can budget for your helmet.
| S/N | Football Helmet Category Or Level | Average Cost Or Range |
| 1 | NFL Football Helmet. | $120-$400 |
| 2 | High School Football Helmet | About $1500 |
| 3 | College Football Helmet | About $340 |
| 4 | Replica Professional Helmets | $50 to $200 |
| 5 | Basic Helmet w/ Matte Finish | $100 to $200 |
| 6 | Basic Helmet w/ Metallic Finish | $100 to $300 |
| 7 | Basic Helmet w/ Standard Finish | $129 to $339 |
| 8 | Rawlings Football Helmet | $40 to $500+ |
| 9 | Schutt Air XP Football Helmet | $75 to $250 |
| 10 | Revo Speed Football Helmet | $200 to $325 |
| 11 | Schutt Helmets | $75 to $200 |
| 12 | Riddell Revolution Speed football Helmet | $200 for youth to $300 for adult |
| 13 | Riddell Speed Flex | $325 for youth to $475 for adult |
| 14 | Riddell Premium Football Helmet | $24.95 |
| 15 | Riddell Victor Football Helmet | $179.95 |
What are the extra or additional football helmet costs?
There are helmets whose masks and other accessories are separable and so you can buy them separately from your helmet. The paddings which can be inflatable (in this case you need to buy a good padding pump) or pre- sized pads, the helmet visor or eye shield are all separable helmet accessories.
Someone can buy separately them from the helmet to replace an old one or a spoiled one. Reconditioning is when you look for an expert to check for cracks, replace missing parts, test for safety and recertify your helmet for use.
| S/N | Accessory/service | Cost/average |
| 1 | Painting | $35 to $75 |
| 2 | The Facemask/Face shield | $35 to $65 |
| 3 | Addition of Visor | $45 to $80 |
| 4 | Chin Straps | $5 to $25 |
| 5 | Decals and Stickers | $5 to $30 |
| 6 | Helmet Reconditioning | $20 to $30 |
| 7 | Padding Pump | $18 to $40 |
Take care of your football helmet
- Always check for damage. Do not use a cracked helmet, a helmet with missing pads, and check for proper inflation if you are using an air bladder-equipped helmet.
- Do not sit or allow anyone to sit on your helmet
- Often clean your helmet in and out with mild warm soapy water. Do not soak, put close to heat or clean with strong chemicals any part of your helmet.
- Consult the manufacturer before painting or putting stickers on your football helmet through their website, for instance.
- Store your helmet where it is always away from direct sunlight. Do not store it in a car or in a hot or cold room.
Tips To Properly Fit Your Football Helmet
A football helmet that is moving on the head when worn will not save you from head injury and concussions. Also, there should be no space between your head and the helmet temple. So how do you wear your helmet to fit snugly for better protection of your head?
- Have an accurate measurement of your head with the help of a friend or somebody else. Take the circumference of the head using a measuring tape. We should wrap this 1 inch above the eyebrows. This is the point where the forehead pads of the helmet will rest when worn.
- Wear the helmet after purchasing it to test for a good fit. If the helmet has inflatable pads, pump air into the pads until the helmet fits closely from front to back and from side to side. If the pads are pre-sized pads, look for the correct size depending on the size of your head and helmet.
- Press the helmet from the top downwards with your two hands, fingers locked together. We should felt pressure from the crown and not the brow.
- No space should be between your head and the helmet and your jaws and the helmet.
- Shake your head from left to right and up and down. If the skin of your face twists or shifts against the pads, then the helmet is not fitting snugly. The pads and the skin of the face should move together. For a good fit, the forehead or skin and the pads should move as one component.
FAQs
How much does an NFL Football Helmet cost?
The size, style, color and material with which an NFL helmet is made to influence its cost. A football helmet with additional safety features also makes the helmet more expensive. They sell NFL Helmets from Ridell as from $120 to about $500. The price depends on the model of the helmet.
Riddell’s Speedflex football helmets cost about $400. Schutt’s helmets cost about $700. Vengeance pro football helmet cost around $300.
How much does a college level football helmet cost?
An average college football helmet cost about $340. NFL teams pay for the player’s helmets and other equipment like uniforms and shoes. A high school foot helmet with the decals can cost up to $400. Riddell is a top performing brand of helmet. The Riddell’s Speedflex football helmets cost about $400.
Why Are Football Helmets So Expensive?
The technology, the engineering, and the researching development that has gone into football helmets in the last five years have been through the roof. You have people who are coming into the helmet manufacturing game from different industries.
You have neuron sergeants and NASA engineers who come in to help design some of these helmets. They are trying to reduce the probability of getting a concussion. They have produced no helmet that can prevent concussion100%. Under (according to) the AAN (American Academy of Neurology), helmets do a little to prevent rotational and vibrational forces when the head is hit.
The primary goal of a helmet is to prevent skull fracture during an impact and brain injury. To hire expertise for increase research requires a lot of money to be paid for their services.
Increase in technology also means a change in the helmet design. These add to the cost of production. So we should expect football helmets are so expensive.
How much does a football helmet weigh?
An additional weight on the football player’s head can affect their performance on the field. A football helmet that is too heavy will cause maneuverability (movement) problems in play. It can also cause a player to suffer neck strain.
So, the question remains: how much does a football helmet weigh? NFL football helmets weigh averagely between 2 pounds (900g) to 6 pounds (2800g).
The most technologically advanced football helmets offer high protection during a high-intensity football match, but they are also the heaviest ones. Skip to How Much Does a Motorcycle Helmet Cost
