Football has been a large part of American culture for over 100 years. Throughout this time, the fan base has grown and more people are drawn to playing this game. There are many outlets to play this game from young ages to older adults. Football is unlike any other sport because there is always someone being violently taken to the ground on each play. Due to the intense contact in the sport, concussions are a part of the game. At the start of American football, players used leather helmets with little protection of their brain, all that was stopping another player from causing injury was a thin layer of cowhide. Now, after many changes to the original piece of leather, the modern football helmet has many features that help reduce brain and skull injuries to the player. There is now a facemask the prevent injuries to the face and layer of cushioning inside the helmet. Although, these helmets have practically stopped skull fractures, the brain is still not prevented from being jogged around inside of the helmet. In recent years, there have been multiple changes to the way the game is played to adapt to the large amount of concussions diagnosed, but these do not suffice due to players still receiving brain-damaging hits. The recent findings of brain damage in NFL players call for change in the rules and regulations of the NFL, the equipment that is used for the sport, and research to find a solution to this major issue.

In some cases, people have introduced the idea of abolishing the NFL as a whole, like Dave Bry who claims that “the fans who pay the players to hurt themselves for our enjoyment” are the cause of the issue in the National Football League. Bry continues on claiming that the fans of the National Football League choose to watch the players hurt one another. There is no “right” that fans have to watch other people play this game. It is a “luxury” that Americans have and this can be taken away very easily (Bry). Some arguments have called for a culture change in the game of football where fans would change the way they viewed the game (Murray). This would be very difficult as one person cannot sway a large part of American culture. The game of football is also equated with the act of Roman citizens spectating gladiators fighting in the colosseum (Bry). Bry claims that American football fans are paying to watch players risk their own brains and lives for the enjoyment of others. He claims that this is not morally sound and this needs to be put to an end. 

Relating to the argument of Dave Bry, Rodger Sherman claims that only one part of football should be abolished; the kickoff (Sherman). The kickoff in American football is the one play where teams have long distances to gain speed before running directly into one another. This singular play increases the risk of head-to-head contact and the amount of injuries (Sherman). The NFL has decreased the distance from the returning team to the kicking team by five yards, but Sherman claims that it should be taken out completely. This would result in less overall injuries to each side of the ball. There have been multiple life-ending injuries that have been sustained from kickoffs. “Last season 11 high school football players died, and seven of those deaths were a direct result of on-field injuries” which were caused by kickoff plays (Sherman). This should bring to attention this play and all of the negative effects it brings. 

In addition to the changes of rules and regulations, the funding for research has been cut off by the NFL (Skiver). This relationship between the National Institute of Health and the National Football league has been strained because the NFL “was privately attempting to influence that research” which was being done on brain damage (Skiver). The stop in funding has made the NFL seem as if they were tampering with the investigations and were not receiving the results they wanted. The findings of brain damage in older individuals who were former NFL players was that their brains did not function or look the same as a non-NFL player (Skiver). 

Another flaw within the NFL is the concussion protocol that players go through once sustaining a large hit. The main issue with the protocol is that players can cheat the system by not telling their mild symptoms to the doctor (Bien). NFL players have claimed that the protocol is a joke and that it does not help diagnose at all. Many players already know the correct answers to the concussion tests because they have memorized them from previous exams (Bien). Bien and many other professionals have realized that there needs to be a change conducted to this system. There are new technological systems called SCAT3 that the NFL now uses to diagnose the severity of concussions on the sideline (Bien). There are still flaws in the system where players slip through the cracks as it is not a guaranteed diagnosis.  

As for abolishing the National Football League, this is a bit too extreme to actually do. Although the players are risking their lives for the enjoyment of others, there are billions of dollars that are invested into the National Football League and it would be very difficult to stop a business that is currently very productive. It is very true that fans have no right to the game. They are simply there to watch and have no say in what the players do or choose to do. The comparison Bry makes of Roman gladiators and football players is too drastic (Bry). Although the players are physically risking their bodies, they are not sacrificing their lives immediately in front of thousands of people. There is a difference between brain damage 30 years down the road and immediate death. Also, when Sherman speaks on how the kickoff should be abolished, he brings up lots of good points. When Sherman says that once the kickoff is abolished there will be fewer head injuries, I completely agree with that. But, there are also many different types of plays where players get injured. This is when the National Football League needs to look at ways to change the equipment and the way the game is taught. There is no need to change one singular play when you can change the equipment that will be in effect for each play. In addition to equipment, the NFL has to change the way research is handled. What the National Football League has been doing to research is completely unethical and downright wrong. By invading the research being done by the National Institute of Health, the NFL is being misleading and intrusive of researchers. There should not be tampering by the NFL and this can be prevented in a number of ways. Lastly, the NFL concussion protocol is not up to par and there should be changes made to this system. The players should be more educated on concussions so that they may be taken more seriously. It simply makes sense for a player to know what they are getting into before playing. Also, switching up the exams the players take would be the first thing that should happen. The players should not know what is on the concussion exam prior to taking it because this skews the results. It would be common knowledge to change these exams to get better and more accurate results of the concussion examination. There are multiple aspects of the concussion process where things need to be changed.

The claim of Bry is complete nonsense. There is no way to disband a multibillion dollar corporation like the NFL. All players There are multiple different ways that would fix the concussion epidemic in the NFL and these do not include getting rid of the National Football League. The first way to fix this issue is to change the equipment that is being used. Yes, researchers have attempted to make “the concussion proof helmet”, but this will never be completely possible. One of the leading doctors in concussions in the NFL, Bennet Omalu, has said that “no equipment can prevent” such injuries (Lartey). So, as an alternate solution, players could play without wearing a facemask or just take the helmet off as a whole. This would prevent head to head contact because if players went for the face, they would injure themselves. No player would intentionally bring pain on themselves so this would be a very effective solution. On a more realistic note, the idea of abolishing the kickoff would be much easier to pull off. A number of injuries are sustained from the kickoff, so it would make sense to take it off (Sherman). But, an even better solution would be to decrease the distance even more. The kickoff is one of the most well-known and loved play in football as it starts the game. There is buildup all the way up to it. Taking this away would change the culture of the game much more than shortening the distance of it. Football fans across America do not want any type of change to the way their game is played. But if there is good reason behind the rule change and good explanation, the game will be made better for fans and players. 

As for the NFL influencing the research of the National Institute of Health, the NFL should never had been a part of the research. The NFL was trying to attain the results that they wanted the public to hear, instead the ugly truth of recurring affects later in life came out. The NFL should not have donated money for research as this brings their interests into the research (Skiver). A possible solution for this is for the NIH to only accept donations from unaffiliated organizations so that the research is as accurate as it can be. 

Now, concerning the concussion epidemic, one possible solution is to prevent concussions from happening by teaching children different tackling techniques (Moser). Also, educating children on how concussions occur will help them be more defensive of their own bodies. Hard tackles are very prevalent today and “its now practically impossible to watch a televised game without witnessing a rough tackle or hard hit that results in a concussion” Moser says (Moser). This is why children need to learn to tackle without their head involved. By doing this at a young age, this will teach the upcoming college and even professional players how to tackle correctly without having any bad tackling habits. This will be very difficult as the league moves away from a “big hit” centered league and towards a safer game. In addition to preventing concussions, treating concussions is a big part of making the game safer. With a better concussion protocol, the National Football League would have a lot less scrutiny. If trainers treated concussions very seriously, there would not be many long-term affects after a player suffered one. Having the player take weeks off from playing is good for the player rather than getting back on the field as soon as he is cleared. The protocol sometimes is not even followed by teams in the NFL (Bien). What brings even more concern is that the NFL does not fine the teams for doing this (Bien). A change in the management of concussion protocol is needed to secure the well-being of players across the National Football League.

Football has been a large part of the United States for many years. Now, its reputation is risked because of the amount of brain injuries found in players that have been retired for years (Lartey). There are multiple ways to decrease the amount of injuries to players. Many of the National Football League’s issues are due to bad tackling techniques and could be simply solved by teaching younger players better ways to tackle. Taking the head out of the tackle and only using the shoulder will drastically change the statistics of concussions. Also, changing multiple different rules in the game such as the kickoff will lower the amount of concussions. This decrease of distance between players during the kickoff will reduce the maximum speed of the tackler which will lower risk. The concussion protocol is flawed and needs change. This can be done by educating players and assistants more so that the risk is known to all parties. This will prevent coaches from carrying the “suck it up” attitude when it comes to head injuries. Also, the most important factor that calls for change is the culture behind the NFL. For multiple years, football fans have raved about large hits with tremendous power. There is little mercy for the players that take these hits. Head to head impact is a deadly instance that fans take very lightly and admire. By educating the fan base through commercials between televised football games, the nation as a whole will understand the impact players are going through. Then, changes will be made to the National Football League’s rules and fans will know the facts that back them up. Through this education, this will reduce the turmoil and repercussions. As a long-time football fan, I urge all football fans to realize what they are watching. At face value, the sport seems very safe as player walk away from large hits fine. But there are many consequences that are faced long down the road. For the safety and well-being of all football players across this nation, I urge that there need to be many changes to what is happening today. This will make the game that fans love much safer for their children who may play and all future players of football.

  