It is unlikely that the unexpected admission, by an NFL official, of a link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) will actually "sink" the NFL. It might, however, sink the career of the person who uttered two seemingly simple words.
"Certainly, yes."
These words from Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president for health and safety, are pretty thunderous for a league that has not only steadfastly refused to acknowledge even the possibility of such a link but has worked very hard to control research on the subject and the funding for it.
We actually have to give credit to a member of Congress, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), for shaking loose the admission from Miller, though I doubt even Rep. Schakowsky expected such an admission. Now that it's out, the potential repercussions are already starting to unfold.
It took very little time at all for a representative for the NFL Players' Association to hustle into court to file a contention in the ongoing court settlement between the NFL and NFLPA over brain trauma. While the NFL had agreed to settle on such illnesses as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, it had steadfastly refused to include CTE in any settlement. With the NFL having now gone on public record acknowledging such a connection (and they have already gone on record not rebuffing the statement), it's going to be pretty hard (though not necessarily impossible) to sustain such a position in that lawsuit.
I'm also interested in some of the other, more obscure implications of this bit of revelation. It's been six years since the process of lawsuits over brain trauma began. This of course followed the revelation of CTE in a number of deceased former football players over many years, starting with the 2002 death of Mike Webster (with more such revelations even after the suits were well underway, as recently as Super Bowl week). The Players' Association has long been convinced that the NFL did not have the best interests of the players -- past, present, or future -- at heart, and this bit of admisstion will most likely confirm that suspicion.
The implications won't be limited to the NFL, either. Already college football representatives were at the event where Miller's comments came out, and the NCAA won't be able to deflect the connection very well in the wake of this acknowledgment.
Even further down, the lifting of the NFL's denial could have notable impact on youth football. Already participation rates for youth flag football are increasing at a rate well ahead of that for traditional tackle football (with the South being the one regional exception, which is probably a whole other story). Might the acknowledgment of the CTE connection persuade other parents to steer their kids towards flag football, at least until high school, as some advocates have already urged (Dr. Robert Cantu and Chris Nowinski among them)?
One thing the statement won't affect is future research. That will largely go on as it would before. And frankly, it's unlikely that the NFL will change its approach to what research (or which researchers) it will or won't support with its dollars.
The great unknown, of course, is one more critical but largely silent party of interest: fans.
One thing that can be deduced from the Players' Association and its pursuit of legal action against the NFL is largely unspoken but hard to avoid. The NFLPA has figured out, quite rightly it seems, that they are the only party that is going to look out for the interests of the players.
Certainly not the NFL, even if they acknowledge the link between the game and the trauma.
And certainly not football fans.
You don't have the players' backs, and they know it, and are proceeding accordingly.
Any chance that will change?
Don't ask me. That's up to you.
Jeff Miller. What he said, apparently.
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