NFL rule changes could address 'head impacts'

Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a wide-ranging memo about concussions to NFL teams Tuesday, saying the co-chairmen of the league's committee on brain injuries have resigned and that he is examining potential rule changes "to reduce head impacts."

A copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press before the league issued a press release about its contents.

Goodell wrote that Dr. Ira Casson and Dr. David Viano, who have led the league committee on concussions since 2007, "have graciously offered to resign from those positions and to continue to assist the committee in its important work."

Goodell said he wants to add new members "who will bring to the committee independent sources of expertise and experience in the field of head injuries."

DOME SELLS FOR $500K: Talk about getting stuck with the cheap seats.

The Pontiac Silverdome, built three decades ago for $56 million, is being virtually given away — sold at auction for a paltry $583,000. That comes out to $7.25 a seat, a fire sale that's reduced the once-proud arena to another sad symbol of the Detroit area's economic collapse.

Under the Silverdome's air-inflated, cross-hatched silver roof, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley have played.

So have the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Pistons. In 1987, Pope John Paul II drew more than 90,000 for a Mass there.

Now it's an abandoned laughingstock.

"An 80,000-seat domed arena and its 127-acre site sold for less than a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan," Jon Stewart marveled on "The Daily Show." Not just any apartment — one "with a rodent problem, above a bowling alley and below another bowling alley."

Mostly unused since the Lions moved to Detroit's Ford Field in 2002, the dome has saddled Pontiac with a maintenance bill of $1.5 million a year. Drive-in movies were briefly shown in the parking lot, but plans to convert it to a casino, mall, minor league baseball stadium or entertainment complex have all failed.

It's a far cry from the glory days of the dome, once considered among the nation's premier arenas. Super Bowl XVI was staged there in 1982, and Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson and Bob Seger all played under its puffy roof.

The buyer, Triple Properties Inc. of Toronto, has said it plans to use the site for a soccer arena. It is expected to close the deal within 45 days after a judge cleared the way for the sale this week — taking note of the region's hard times.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick said the stadium "represented hope for those who worked and lived and grew up in this area."

"I am aware of the human agony in the community at large, and particularly in Pontiac," he said. "We're in this together."