CPSC Warns Consumers to Stop Using Sport Nets

On December 19, 2024, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) unilaterally issued a warning to consumers to stop using Sport Nets 4’ x 8’ portable soccer goals. According to CPSC, an exposed metal tip at the top of the vertical poles on the soccer goal poses a hazard if a consumer falls onto the tip during athletic play around the goal. In 2023, a high school student suffered a fatal brain injury when the pole entered his eye cavity after he fell on the metal tip while playing around the goal.

The soccer goals, manufactured by a Chinese company called Shenzhen Ballsnet Sports Product Co., have been sold on Amazon, as well as through several other online retailers, since 2017. As of January 2025, the product was still available on Amazon and several other sporting good websites like hitrunsteal.com. According to CPSC, the manufacturer refused to issue a recall.

CPSC’s unilateral press release instructing consumers to stop using the portable soccer goals is consistent with increasingly aggressive measures taken by CPSC in recent years. Traditionally, consumer product recalls are voluntarily conducted by the product manufacturer or retailer in conjunction with CPSC. If a company is unwilling to conduct a voluntary recall, CPSC can use various enforcement mechanisms to pressure the company to agree to recall the product. For example, CPSC can file an administrative complaint in a U.S. District Court requesting the court find the product to be an “imminently hazardous consumer product.” CPSC rarely resorts to this step because the process to obtain a court order is lengthy and takes up significant resources.

More commonly, and as it did here, CPSC opts to issue a unilateral press release pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), warning consumers of a potential hazard and/or advising consumers to stop using a product. Although unilateral press releases carry no direct penalties themselves, they often result in adverse consequences for the named company. Unilateral press releases often trigger negative press attention and can spur calls from industry groups and consumers for the company to recall the product. This kind of pressure often leads the company to relent to CPSC’s pressure and agree to a recall.

CPSC has shown an increased willingness to issue unilateral press releases in recent years. Unilateral press releases used to be uncommon; between 2011 and 2019, CPSC only issued two unilateral press releases. But the practice has become increasingly common in recent years, with CPSC issuing nine unilateral press releases in 2024 based on a review of CPSC press releases.

CPSC’s unilateral press release concerning the Sport Nets 4’ x 8’ portable soccer goals demonstrates CPSC’s continued aggressive enforcement efforts. Looking forward into 2025, CPSC appears poised to continue using the threat of unilateral press releases as leverage to force recalls and to continue issuing such press releases when companies resist compliance.