Injury rates in thirteen U.S. women’s college sports and four U.S. girls’ high school sports are examined in this paper. The sports are categorized as high injury (H) or low injury (L) and differences in injury rates between the two are examined. Estimates are presented of the injury savings that would result if the H sports were changed to have injury rates similar to those in the L sports. The estimated college savings are 13,610 fewer injuries per year and 2,020 fewer healthy years lost-to-injury per year. The estimated high school savings are 143,900 fewer injuries per year and 24,300 fewer healthy years lost-to-injury per year. For concussions the savings are 2,750 per year for college and 49,390 per year for high school. The estimated dollar value (in 2015 dollars) of the total injury savings is between $122 million and $505 million per year for college and between $1.3 billion and $4.9 billion per year for high school.
Injury rates in twelve U.S. men’s college sports and five U.S. boys’ high school sports are examined in this paper. The sports are categorized as “contact” or “non-contact,” and differences in injury rates between the two are examined. Injury rates in the contact sports are considerably higher than those in the non-contact sports and they are on average more severe. Estimates are presented of the injury savings that would result if the contact sports were changed to have injury rates similar to those in the non-contact sports. The estimated college savings are 49,600 fewer injuries per year and 6,000 fewer years lost-to-injury per year. The estimated high school savings are 601,900 fewer injuries per year and 96,000 fewer years lost-to-injury per year. For concussions the savings are 6,900 per year for college and 161,400 per year for high school. The estimated dollar value (in 2015 dollars) of the total injury savings is between $446 million and $1.5 billion per year for college and between $5.4 billion and $19.2 billion per year for high school. Section 11 speculates on how the contact sports might be changed to have their injury rates be similar to those in the non-contact sports.