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Kalyn Kahler
NFL gamers can breathe straightforward once more. Regardless of confusion surrounding a league memo despatched to golf equipment on Tuesday, gamers will nonetheless have the ability to whiff smelling salts throughout video games this season, so long as they convey their very own stash.
ESPN obtained a message from the NFL Gamers Affiliation despatched to gamers Wednesday evening that indicated the union sought clarification on the league’s ammonia ban and obtained affirmation it solely utilized to golf equipment offering ammonia to gamers.
“We weren’t notified of this membership coverage change earlier than the memo was despatched out,” the union’s message mentioned. “To make clear, this coverage doesn’t prohibit participant use of those substances, however relatively it restricts golf equipment from offering or supplying them in any kind. The NFL has confirmed this to us.”
On Tuesday, the NFL despatched a memo to all 32 golf equipment that acknowledged “golf equipment are prohibited from offering or supplying ammonia in any kind at NFL video games” for the 2025 season.
The memo indicated the NFL’s head, neck and backbone committee made the advice for the ban as a result of the FDA issued a warning in 2024 in regards to the detrimental results of ammonia inhalants, together with “the potential to masks sure neurologic indicators and signs, together with some potential indicators of concussion.”
“This prohibition applies to all membership personnel (together with however not restricted to group physicians, athletic trainers, energy and conditioning coaches and coaches or different personnel),” the memo continued. “The prohibition applies by the whole thing of all NFL video games, together with throughout all pregame actions, and halftime, and applies on the sideline and in stadium locker rooms.”
San Francisco 49ers tight finish George Kittle and Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David publicly mourned the lack of smelling salts as a result of they interpreted the memo to imply an all-out ban on utilizing them throughout video games.
“I do not know what I will do,” David advised NFL host Kay Adams.
“I have been distraught all day,” Kittle advised the NFL Community.
On Wednesday, the gamers’ union sought clarification from the league workplace on whether or not or not the memo’s ban prolonged to gamers supplying their very own smelling salts for video games.