NFL to Start Using Medical Evaluation Tents on Sidelines

NFL to begin using sideline medical-examination tents starting with tonight's Hall of Fame game

The National Football League will start using medical evaluation tents on the sidelines this season, according to the Washington Post.

The tent's use will start with Thursday's Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals.

The tents, which will be collapsible, are going to be on the sidelines of every NFL game during the 2017 season. The tents have been seen on college sidelines for the past several years.

Now if any player needs to be evaluated on the sidelines for a possible concussion, the tents will be big enough to store an examination table along with providing enough space for players and team medical personnel.

Allen Sills, the league's chief medical officer, says better concussion screening can be done from the tents and will be able to diagnose and detect injuries on the sideline.

“All of our sideline concussion evaluations will occur inside the tents, which we think will not only obviously provide more privacy and dignity for the player, but certainly will eliminate some of the visual and auditory distractions that we want to try to eliminate to get the best concussion evaluation we can,” Sills said.

The league stress that the tent is not a replacement for the locker room. League protocol stipulates that players are to be removed from the field for possible concussions

"And specific to concussion, if during that screening evaluation in the tent there’s any suspicion raised or any diagnosis of concussion is made, then the player will immediately be taken to the locker room for the full locker room evaluation," Sills said.