The NFL has blocked $16 million of its “unrestricted” grant money from being used to fund an extensive study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive brain disease caused by repeated brain trauma, according to a report by ESPN’s Outside The Lines on Tuesday. The league had previously donated $30 million to the National Institutes of Health to further research of brain injuries and has frequently cited this donation as proof that it is serious about concussion research and making the game of football safer. But the NFL reportedly retained veto power over the use of the funds, and wasn’t satisfied that this particular study, which OTL called “one of the most ambitious studies yet on the relationship between football and brain disease,” was led by Robert Stern, a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Boston University who has been very critical of the NFL in the past.
As I heard Bob Costas say recently, the problem with football lies in the nature of the sport itself. At its most basic a profoundly violent sport- what George Will once described as “violence punctuated by committee meetings”- its appeal to Americans is wrapped up in its combination of passion and brutality. Baseball may be America’s pastime, but football is our national obsession. The NFL is a multi-BILLION dollar cartel/monopoly, of the sort allowed in few other industries. It owns a day of the week and guards its product (and bottom line) with a zealousness and commitment found in few aspects of American capitalism. Stray from the straight and narrow, and you can count on retriubtion being swift, formidable, and precise.
That the NFL has dragged its feet when it comes to the long term effects of concussions shouldn’t come as a surprise; it’s just another example of the league protecting its product and revenue stream. Adverse publicity about player safety does nothing to pump up profits, which explains why the NFL long ignored a growing problem. The league’s knowledge of their concussion problem isn’t recent; it goes back years, as do the efforts devoted to damage control and ensuring the league maintained message discipline. As player suffered long-term effects (up to and including death) from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), the NFL whistled past the metaphorical graveyard, perhaps not completely denying a cause-and-effect relationship between concussions and CTE…but certainly not going out of their way to address issues surrounding player safety.
It appears now the NFL has something in common with the National Rifle Association (NRA). Both entities are adamantly opposed to research that might cast them and their raison d’etre in a negative light. Afraid science might prove you complicit in covering up long-term adverse impacts on human beings? No problem; just do what you can to deny funding to those who wish to study issues which might potentially embarrass you.
The reporters for the ESPN piece, Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, have been investigating and reporting on the NFL’s concussion crisis for years. In fact, they authored the book League of Denial, which was adapted into an award-winning PBS special examining the NFL’s failure to recognize the science of CTE. ESPN was originally involved in the League of Denial documentary, but reportedly withdrew support at the last minute due to pressure from the NFL.
“From 2003 to 2009, the NFL published its own research denying that football players get brain damage; much of that research was later discredited,” OTL reported on Tuesday. “But since then, the NFL has poured tens of millions of dollars into concussion research, allowing the league to maintain a powerful role on an issue that directly threatens its future.”
This particular study, which is still continuing on even without the NFL’s money, is a seven-year project that involves 50 researchers at 17 institutions and hundreds of former NFL and college players. It is being characterized as a big step towards figuring out how to detect and track CTE in living subjects, as so far, the disease can only be diagnosed posthumously.
As professional football players have increased in size, speed, and ferocity, the collisions involved in the professional game have become significantly more intense and spectacular. Americans love that violence- the big, breathtaking hits that occur during a game. Those of us who’ve played the game at any level understand the nature and impact those sorts of hits- what some sportscasters call “slobberknockers”- and how it feels to be on the giving and receiving ends. What most fail to grasp (or acknowledge) is the distressingly violent and destructive nature of those collisions.
A friend who played in the NFL for several years once described the game as akin to experiencing the impact of an automobile accident on virtually every play. Anyone who’s ever experienced an accident of that nature knows how thoroughly disorienting and discombobulating that kind of impact can be. Imagining that on multiple occasions over the course of a football game is something I find difficult to comprehend.
No one forces NFL players to suit up and take the field. Those who play the game understand that they put themselves at great risk every time they step between the lines. Football is a violent and dangerous game under the best of circumstances. Each and every play represents a risk of a career-ending injury and possible long-term lingering physical damage.
What many players many not have known (or acknowledged) until the last few years is the significant risk to their long-term health and wellbeing from repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBI). CTE currently can only be definitively diagnosed postmortem, but the symptoms can be visible and evident long before death- depression, memory loss, dementia, suicidal ideation, and more. The NFL is still doing what it can to control the messaging regarding the effects of repeated, profound TBIs of the sort that is part and parcel of an NFL player’s experience.
Americans love football to the point of being willing to ignore the plight of players who leave the game damaged and broken, sometimes beyond repair. The NFL has worked assiduously to develop and market their product…and acronyms like TBI and CTE don’t contribute to propping up the league’s bottom line.
As much as I love the game, it saddens me that the 32 team owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell have shown so little concern for the long-term health and wellbeing of those who leave the game and with health issues that may adversely impact their quality of life for many years, in some cases permanently. With the average NFL career being less than four years and a never-ending pipeline of players dreaming of playing football at the game’s highest level, it’s easy to treat players like interchangeable parts. It’s easy to toss players to the side once they’re no longer able to perform…because there are always more warm, eager bodies ready to step into the breach.
It’s time for the NFL to man up and accept responsibility for funding studies that address the health issues like TBI and CTE which may result from playing football. It’s time the NFL acknowledged that their sport- their product- is an inherently dangerous undertaking with possibly significant long-term adverse impacts on those who play it and are the reason the game is so popular.
If Roger Goodell and his cartel continue to drag their feet and decline to accept and meet this responsibility, then perhaps it’s time for Congress to look at stripping the NFL of its nonprofit status (I know…WTF???, but that’s a discussion best left for another time) exemption from antitrust laws. In the meantime, it’s time Americans started paying attention and recognizing the toll the national obsession exacts from those who entertain them on Sunday afternoon.
We shouldn’t be sacrificing players like Mike Webster, Dave Duerson, Junior Seau and others on the altar of Sunday afternoon entertainment.
