Revolution helmets are a line of

football helmet A football helmet is a type of protective headgear used mainly in gridiron football, although a structural variation has occasional use in Australian rules football. It consists of a hard plastic shell with thick padding on the inside, a Face ma ...

s produced by

Riddell Sports Group Riddell Sports Group, commonly known as Riddell, is an American company specializing in sports equipment for Gridiron football. Founded in 1929 by John Tate Riddell, it was headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois, but in 2017, the company relocated t ...

. The helmet brand was the most popular model in use in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

throughout the 2000s, with 83% of players wearing it in 2008. Newer models in the line like the Speedflex helmet come equipped with Riddell's HITS Technology, which consists of a sensor in the helmet that relays data regarding the severity of each hit to a computer system. The Speedflex also features a built-in hinged panel located on the front near the top. In head-on collisions, this panel gives by up to a quarter of an inch (6 mm), helping to absorb the impact. The Revolution helmet was conceived in an attempt to reduce the risk of

head injuries A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

such as

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

s. What research has been done on the helmet's efficacy so far has been inconclusive.

History

The Revolution was first distributed in 2002. As of 2007, Riddell had sold 750,000 Revolution helmets. The Revolution line was prohibited starting with the

2025 NFL season The 2025 NFL season is the 106th season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season is scheduled to begin on September 4, 2025, with reigning Super Bowl LIX, Super Bowl champion 2025 Philadelphia Eagles season, Philadelphia hosti ...

, one of four helmets from Riddell that were banned following the introduction of newer helmets. The Speedflex remained legal after two updated models were introduced, albeit tagged by the league as "not recommended".

Revolution Speed Helmet

The Speed Helmet was designed around the head's center of

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

, and is intended to reduce the prevalence of concussions. Recent data has brought the issues of football concussions to the public attention. An estimated 5 percent of high school players suffer concussions each year, and there is a widening body of evidence suggesting that long-term football players to a type of brain damage called

chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets wor ...

. Since most concussion-causing impacts occur on the side of the head and face, the helmet features

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

extensions which the cover the wearer's jaw line. The helmet is lined with a custom fit cellular air pad system made of

polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

and

synthetic rubber A synthetic rubber is an artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About of rubber is produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Synthetic rubber, just like natural ru ...

foam, and the shell is made of a

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate ester, carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, toughness, tough materials, and some grades are optically transp ...

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

. A lightweight

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

face guard is attached to the helmet.

HITS technology

The Revolution helmet can be mounted with Head Impact

Telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

Systems (HITS) technology, a

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

, a

radio transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna with the purpose of signal transmissio ...

, and a system of six

accelerometers An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (that is, relative to an inertia ...

placed inside the helmet which measure the force, location, and direction of an impact on the helmet. When a player's head accelerates due to a collision, the

acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the Rate (mathematics), rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Acceleration is one of several components of kinematics, the study of motion. Accelerations are Euclidean vector, vector ...

is registered and brought up on a computer as a three-dimensional image of the head with the location of contact marked with an arrow. A

bar graph A bar chart or bar graph is a chart or graph that presents categorical variable, categorical data with rectangular bars with heights or lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A ...

is used to indicate the force of the blow. While players and staff may be able to use this information in determining whether a player requires medical attention, there is currently no medically conclusive method of determining which impacts might lead to a concussion.

Injury prevention research and controversy

One major study on the helmet's effectiveness (funded by Riddell) was conducted by the

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center UPMC is an American integrated delivery system, integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 100,000 employees, 40 hospitals with more than 8,000 licensed beds, 800 clinical locations including outpatient sites and doctors' offices, a ...

. The research compared the Revolution helmet with other models. 2,000 high school players participated in the study which took place over the course of three years. The study's results showed that 5.4% of the athletes wearing the Revolution helmet suffered a

during a game as opposed to 7.6% of the players wearing the older model helmets. High school players wearing the Revolution helmet were 31% less likely to experience a concussion. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center later disavowed these results, citing problems with the design of the study, according to the book ''

League of Denial ''League of Denial'' is a 2013 book, initially broadcast as a documentary film, about traumatic brain injury in the National Football League (NFL), particularly concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The documentary, entitled ''Le ...

''. The

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

also conducted an independent investigation into the safety claims made by Riddell. It concluded that "the study did not substantiate Riddell’s claim that Revolution varsity football helmets reduce concussions or the risk of concussion by 31% compared to other varsity football helmets." It also invalidated all claims relating to youth football and the Revolution youth helmet due to the fact that the UPMC study tested neither youth players nor the youth version of the helmet. Despite determining that Riddell falsely represented numerous claims, the FTC chose not to sanction Riddell as the company had already discontinued use of the 31% claim.

References

{{Gridiron football equipment American football equipment Canadian football Helmets Protective gear