Football Matters

LDWW Group, which was founded by PR veteran Ken Luce, is handling the Football Matters campaign sponsored by the National Football League Foundation to push back against the forces that are threatening the sport.

The Football Matters website and accompanying social media outreach features information about advances in player safety, football-friendly statistics, articles about teamwork/leadership and “hype videos” of high school coaches giving pregame pep talks, reported the New York Times on Nov. 10.

Luce, who was global COO at Hill+Knowlton Strategies and president global client management at Weber Shandwick, told the paper that the goal of Football Matters is not to change anybody’s mind about the game “but to put football in a fuller context and give people enough information to make their own decisions.”

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is the official tire of Football Matters.

The Times reported that high school participation in football—the heart and soul of the sport, is down more than 10 percent since 2009 in all sections of the country.

Safety concerns about the sport are the main reasons for the drop-off.

The National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study found that high school boys are more likely to suffer a head injury during a football game than any other sport.

“The public’s awareness of football’s role in some forms of long-term brain damage has potentially become the sport’s kryptonite,” reported the NYT.

The paper says it plans a series on “football’s hold on America, among children and their parents in the heartland.”