Why are NFL teams using those pop-up medical tents on their sidelines?

Those evaluation tents are going to be standard at every NFL game this season.

The NFL is taking a new approach toward diagnosing injuries, particularly concussions, on the playing field, and it’s going to take up some prime real estate on the field level.

The league will install collapsible, movable medical tents on each team’s sideline throughout the 2017 season, allowing doctors and training staff a measure of privacy and calm when examining a player. These tents will be noticeable from the stands — they’re big enough to fit a training table, the afflicted player, and all the doctors and staff members needed to perform a comprehensive test.

The Patriots’ Dont’a Hightower was the first player to use the tent in the 2017 season, after two Chiefs players rolled onto his knee in the third quarter of the NFL’s season opener.

Cliff Avril went into the tent during the Seahawks-Packers game.

These examinations were previously conducted on the sideline in full view of fans and television cameras. The league hopes this measure will allow for better evaluations and a more respectful environment to assess an injured athlete.

“All of our sideline concussion evaluations will occur inside the tents, which we think will not only obviously provide more privacy and dignity for the player, but certainly will eliminate some of the visual and auditory distractions that we want to try to eliminate to get the best concussion evaluation we can,” Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told the Washington Post.

“We think by having the player and the examining physicians and athletic trainers in the tent, we’ll get a better concussion screening examination done and it’ll improve our ability to diagnose and detect these injuries on the sideline.”

Players who meet certain criteria will still be required to go to the locker room for further testing and diagnosis. The use of the tent will not replace the formal evaluations that take place off the field. Instead, it will create a better environment for doctors to determine whether a player can return to the field or will need further monitoring.

“We will ask that all sideline concussion exams be done in the tent, but if the initial screening suggests a concussion, then the more extensive concussion evaluation will be done in the locker room just as we have previously done,” Sills said.

The pro game isn’t the only place you’ll see these tents. The University of Alabama was a pioneer in creating private examination spaces, using its own tent throughout the 2015 season and even bringing it to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Other schools, including Clemson, Ohio State, and Florida State, soon followed.

The tents made their NFL debut in the 2017 Hall of Fame Game between the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.

The NFL officially adopted the practice back in May at the league’s spring meetings.

"It's an opportunity for us to have a better examination because it will ensure privacy for a short period of time, so doctors can go ahead and make the appropriate diagnosis," commissioner Roger Goodell said in May.

While these tents won’t solve the league’s concussion crisis, they will aid doctors and staffers while providing players with the dignity of an evaluation away from prying eyes. Early diagnosis is a major factor in preventing the future injuries that can derail careers and lives. An environment that provides fewer distractions and more latitude for on-the-spot evaluations is a step in the right direction — albeit a small one.