It has been nearly a decade since helmet giant Riddell introduced a new helmet to the market.
That all changed today with the introduction of their new Riddell Axiom helmet, the company announced.
The new helmet is being billed as "the most advanced innovation in modern football helmet technology:"
The new lid was created after the company compiled insight from their smart helmet technology, and combined that with feedback from coaches, players and equipment managers. The result is "a comfortable and personalized helmet designed to improve impact response and reduce Head Impact Exposure."
To get fitted for the helmet, a new fitting system was created in the form of a scanning app, called Riddell's Verifyt, that will scan an athlete's head to generate an individual fit of liner pads on the inside and that fit is stored in Riddell's database.
The real gem of the helmet is a built-in impact response system, which will provide smart helmet technology for each player that will report Head Impact Exposures and compare them to Riddell's database of 8 million on-field impacts. While this is a subscription based offering, it seems to have some serious potential on making the game safer moving forward.
Axiom is also the first football helmet that will offer a custom, factory installed visor.
We know the number one question on your mind: What will one of these set you back?
The answer? A cool $750.
One of the early criticisms of the helmets that coaches are going to have is the limited footprint for decals. That cuts along the side of the helmet are going to present some unique challenges for a lot of decals out there.
While the price tag seems steep, but the technology pieces are something that I think are worth getting excited about when thinking about the future of our game.
Head here to read the full announcement.
