NFL touts bill to help Idaho athletes

BOISE  (AP) — The National Football League has made Idaho the latest state where it's promoting new standards to help young athletes avoid concussion-related injuries.

The organizing is working to transform contact sports' "suck it up" culture where players are advised to disregard pain — sometimes at the expense of their health.

NFL lobbyist Matt Kaiserman, whose college football career at Boise State University was ended by several concussions, introduced a measure Friday morning in the House.

In upcoming hearings, lawmakers will hear about how it's designed to get Idaho schools, as well as youth sports leagues, to develop a procedures for removing young athletes from play when they've suffered a head injury.

Kaiserman says Idaho has seen at least five recent head injury cases that resulted in catastrophic brain injuries or death.