Over the past four years, the National Football League “NFL” has made several changes to NFL rulebooks supporting safety by adding rules and implementing fines for players who do not comply with these policies. Rules such as the two-day ban, changing kickoff return rules, fines for helmet-to-helmet contact, requiring NFL players to use the HITS system, and banning players from returning to play football the same day they received the concussion are examples of this. measures taken by the NFL that promote safety. Although most of these players oppose the reformed rules, NFL officials support these decisions believing they reduce the number of serious injuries. It is critical that the NFL maintains the recently added safety rules, as they will reduce the amount of concussions or serious injuries suffered by football players. In the past, National Football League "NFL" teams participated in two-day practices. . (Thomas) Most two-day practices involve five hours of on-field practice. These practices were primarily used to condition soccer players in the summer. The negative effects caused by these practices have been fatigue, heat exhaustion, and injuries due to increased player playing time. Heat exhaustion was common in these practices, due to the football players being exposed to excessive amounts of heat. Heat exhaustion proved costly, when five football players were found to have died as a result of participating in these two-day workouts. (“USA Today”) This sent a wake-up call to the NFL that they needed to implement security around this issue. After the NFL realized that the two-day practice interfered with player safety, the NFL limited players to 2.5 hours of on-field training. ...... middle of paper ...... report of dangerous and illegal blows after series of head injuries." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 10/19/2010. Web. November 28, 2011. . " Brian Urlacher rips NFL for fines and flags: ." Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, nd Web. November 28, 2011. .Stanford, Tripp. "'Smart helmets' will make NFL debut this season." Associated content. Yahoo Sports, 08/23/2011. Web. 28 November 2011. "Head injuries in football". 2011. .