Concussions in the NFL: Health risk for players, PR disaster for the league
By Dani Bostick
The NFL is facing a PR problem of epic proportions, and its attempts at mitigating the damage have only made things worse.
September has been a rough month for the NFL. On September 3, Tom Brady’s four-game suspension was completely vacated by Judge Richard Berman who, in the process, lambasted commissioner Roger Goodell for “dispensing his own brand of industrial justice.”
What could be more troubling for the NFL than being undermined in court, yet again? How about Concussion, a movie starring Will Smith that depicts Dr. Bennet Omalu’s discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of football players. While the movie isn’t due out until December, the trailer was released earlier this month.
Professional football is a violent sport and the longterm impact of that violence can be devastating to players. It has been linked to ALS, dementia, depression, cognitive impairment, and a spate of other troubling symptoms, the root of which is often CTE.
For now, CTE can only be diagnosed definitively after a player’s death since it involves examining brain tissue. Still, its impact is a very real presence among living players, many of whom have sued the NFL for damages related to the repeated blows to the head they sustained as professional athletes. Recent advances in medicine have also allowed players to receive a preliminary diagnosis while they are still alive.
In recent years, the NFL has tried to reduce the risk of head trauma to players by increasing in-game safeguards and developing protocols to prevent players with concussions from returning to the game. Is this too little too late? Considering the average pro football player sustains between 900 to 1500 blows to the head per season, it is hard to imagine the NFL’s efforts will actually preserve the health of this current generation of players.
Even more troubling: while the NFL is attempting to solve the concussion problem, their PR efforts have involved disseminating questionable information and silencing messengers who speak poorly of the league.
Let’s revisit some of the biggest missteps and concussion-related embarrassments in the NFL over the past few decades.