MINNEAPOLIS -- In 2014, when the Minnesota Vikings were awarded a $25,000 grant from the NFL Foundation to help establish athletic-training care at Minneapolis and St. Paul's 13 public high schools, the team quickly saw an opportunity. Vikings ownership matched the grant, creating a $50,000 fund for athletic care in the two cities' public schools. It didn't take long for the donation to have an effect.
The program helped diagnose 34 concussions in 2014. That number went up to 40 in 2015 -- not necessarily because there were more injuries, but because the schools now had the training staffs to help catch symptoms that might previously have gone undetected.