Football is widely regarded as one of the most important sports in America. It was estimated that more than 113 million viewers watched the Super Bowl in 2017, and that number has been about the same for the past four Super Bowls. That’s over one third of the population watching a single game. It’s easy to see why people like it so much; it’s competitive, thrilling, and honestly, fun to see all the big hits. What people don’t realize however, is that those hard hits give players concussions, affecting them both physically and mentally. Statistical data given by the Sports Concussion Institute, says that football is the most common sport with concussion risk, the risk at 75%. Due to the risk of concussions, playing football can have great negative effects for its players. This paper will hopefully change people’s thinking about the mental effect football has on its players, even after they have retired from playing. The fact is that football is a dangerous sport, and without any changes, its players will continue to get brain injuries and diseases, such as CTE. The data analyzed for concussion research brings devastating results to the table, and while football has made changes to help their players, it has not been enough.

Let’s start with the football helmets. When football was played in the 1920’s, the players wore leather helmets with little padding on the inside. However, the padding was insufficient and provided little protection. They also lacked things like face masks that protected the player’s face from injury. Starting in 1940, football players were required to wear plastic helmets that were both more comfortable and supposedly safer. In November 2011, there was a study done by the Cleveland Clinic Center for Spine Health which reviewed various football helmets. The study, “concludes leather helmets and modern helmets provide a ‘similar protectiveness profile’ during subconcussive hits. In fact, under one testing scenario, a leather helmet provided a lower level of DAI risk than any of the modern helmets” (Time). This is basically saying that the leather football helmets were equal or in one case, less effective than the modern helmets football players use today. The reason being that the modern helmets’ stiffness is effective against catastrophic skull fractures, but don’t do as good a job absorbing energy from a lower impact hit. Football has provided these helmets for its players for over 70 years now, and its players have taken significant head and brain trauma from the lack of protection.

Could you imagine waking up the next day and not remembering anything, not even your closest friends? Feeling constant pain and permanent physical handicaps such as parkinsonism? This is the risk taken when playing football.  

Why is a concussion so important to treat? First off, it’s very important to treat for a concussion because there are many different forms of concussions that someone can go through. In 2009, there was an international conference in Zurich with neurologists from around the world. Their given definition is that a “concussion may be caused either by a direct blow to the head, face, neck or elsewhere on the body with an ‘impulsive’ force transmitted to the head” (McCrory). There are many cases in football where a player will have such an occurrence, but is not properly treated for a concussion. A book written by D.M.A Gronwall titled, The Psychological Effects of Concussion looks at many different cases of real people with concussions. Dr. Gronwall is both a neurologist and psychologist having practiced concussion research for 25 years. His book, written in 1974, revealed that people have a variety of different effects to a concussion. Football players may feel the norm concussion symptoms with headaches, migraines, etc., or may not feel these symptoms at all. If a player was not treated for a concussion, even something minor, going back into a sport with constant physical contact will surely lead to greater brain damage and negatively affect they player.

While a concussion can be treated, there is still a risk of players having brain injury in the long run. Most football players and heavy concussion patients can get something called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (most often referred to as CTE). The scientific definition for CTE is “a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head” (Boston University). Symptoms of CTE generally begin 8-10 years after experiencing repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries, or in layman’s terms, simply a concussion. Of course, this is very common amongst football players because of all the repetitive hits from playing the game. The bad thing about CTE is that it cannot be known for sure if someone has it until they are post-mortem. In a close examination done by Dr. Ann McKee on 94 post-mortem NFL players, 90 of the players were diagnosed with CTE, which is roughly 97 percent of the players. The data analyzed for concussion research brings devastating results to the table, and while football has made changes to help their players, it has not been enough.

The NFL has known about concussion risk and CTE for years now. The biggest and most controversial event occurred in 2005, when Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist and neurologist, found CTE in the brains of Mike Webster and several other previous NFL players. Webster is a former center in the NFL who played with both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs in his 16-year football career. When Dr. Omalu presented his work to the NFL board, they denied him at first. A timeline of “The NFL’s Concussion Crisis” written by PBS gives the story of how Omalu came to examine Webster in the first place. “Because Webster was suffering from mental problems, Allegheny County medical examiner Dr. Bennet Omalu decides to take a closer look at Webster’s brain…” (Ezell). Unfortunately, “mental problems,” as Lauren Ezell describes, are something that happen very often amongst patients with severe concussion trauma and CTE. These concussions cause mental problems that create a state of anguish for the players and cause them to do irrational things. 

Another problem with the football, specifically the NFL, is that trainers will sometimes send their players back in the game before they are ready. Back in 2012, there was an article written about a football player on the Kansas City Chiefs who had killed his girlfriend and committed suicide. A year later, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Chief’s alleging that the team deliberately ignored warning signs of CTE. Later stages of CTE can give people certain symptoms that affect mental health, such as depression, erratic behavior, poor judgement, and suicidality. On September 29, 2014, it was confirmed that Jovan Belcher, the Chiefs player, suffered from CTE. It is Belcher’s trainer’s fault that he is where he is today, and it just seems unjustified that the NFL can allow this type of action to create consequences for its players. Most patients that suffer from CTE go through some type of depression, and in long term this becomes a big issue for players’ mental and physical states. 

Could you imagine waking up the next day and not remembering anything, forgetting memories, people, even your closest friends? Feeling constant pain and permanent physical handicaps such as Parkinson’s disease, a condition that causes slow movement and impaired speech or muscle stiffness? These are the physical tolls taken when playing football.  

Over the years, there have been many lawsuits like the one by Jovan Belcher’s family. With this point, I would simultaneously like to bring to attention another big problem with football concussions, the youth. There have been two recent lawsuits done by college students suing the NCAA for “suffering from long-term brain and neuro-cognitive injuries” (Baker). It’s easy to think about adults in the NFL who have played football for years getting long-term concussions. However, it’s harder to picture college students going through a similar situation. Yet, college football has the highest concussion risk of any other college sport in the nation. 

Objectively, many college players don’t make it into the professionals. They settle for a job in whichever major they have decided to study. However, someone who suffers from a brain injury will not have their full brain capacity used in the workplace. To give a brief example, let’s say an athlete graduates looking for an accounting job. This athlete could have trouble working with the large figures that most businesses have and conceptually using them. I’m of course talking about athletes with severe brain injuries; a person with minor injuries would certainly be okay. These college students are much more likely to develop CTE at a relatively younger age. 

It’s not just college players that have risk either. Football is played amongst kids aging as low as twelve years old. Of course, the hits done by a twelve-year-old will not give concussions as hits from a grown adult will. However, eventually, those kids will grow up to be grown adults, never knowing the risks that come with football. Every athlete growing up has intentions of being a professional, and most kids are disappointed when they don’t achieve that dream and move on from it. I would argue that football athletes should be happy they don’t get into the NFL. Even double professional athlete and NFL superstar Bo Jackson “would never have played football,” if he knew the concussion risks that we know today (Gantt). This is something very hard to ignore. Bo Jackson is considered one of the world’s greatest athletes playing both football and baseball professionally. He has been a staple for the ideal football player for years and quite frankly, he still is. While Bo Jackson is healthy after playing the game, he forbids his children from playing so that they can stay away from the negative effects that come with a concussion.

Another thing to consider is how much support players with concussions are getting from the NFL. If there is a counterargument to concussions, it’s that the NFL spends millions of dollars towards concussion research. It appears that the multimillion dollar advertising and contractual agreements are more important to them than the players who “unwittingly commit to signing their lives and mental aptitude away” (Bryant). To give an example, a single 30 second commercial slot during an NFL game starts at $717,375 a piece. However, the NFL contributes substantially to concussion research. In 2016, the NFL spent 100 million dollars on concussion research, and even offered a 10-million-dollar incentive for helmet innovations. Perhaps the NFL needs to price their commercials so high because of how much they must pay out in concussion research and lawsuits each year.

Another counterargument to concussions would be to question if society can blame the NFL for concussions even though all they are really doing are their jobs. The NFL is just a corporation that benefits from other people playing football. They did not make anybody decide to play. Although, that does not excuse the hundreds of players that get concussions, or comfort the families of players that committed suicide from CTE. I would say there is a right to question the NFL. If they oversee professional football and they are aware of concussion data and statistics, it is up to them to do something about it. If there is something more that they could be doing, then they should be doing it.

So, now that I’ve laid out all the facts, what’s the solution? There are several different solutions to this problem, one of which is that there needs to be more testing done on helmets before they are sent to be used by players. Every helmet must pass a drop test administered by the National Operating Committee for Standards in Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE). “NOCSAE drops each helmet from (without a facemask) on six different locations from a height of 1.52 meters” (Polnerow). The problem is that this test will never be accurate to how football is played on the field, and will never be effective in testing the helmet’s effectiveness in preventing brain injuries like concussions. A much better way of doing the test would be to do a linear impactor test, in which the helmets is hit head on with force, instead of being dropped. This will better simulate a real football game and works just as, if not more, effectively. Of course, another solution would be to change the rules of football. This method, while effective, would not be supported by the public and could take a while for people get used to and fully understand. Change takes time. Football can be changed for the better, and hopefully people will start to realize the need for that change. 

Football has had a negative effect on its players outside after playing, specifically focusing on concussions. Football is something that has been around for ages, watched by Americans, families, almost as if it was part of our culture. Many people may see this paper as very anti-football; however, it is quite the contrary. To quote Dr. Omalu again, “Actually, I’m for football, But I’m for intelligent football that enhances us rather than football that steals away who we are.” I agree with Dr. Omalu, I’m not out to erase football either. I enjoy watching it a lot. I just think there’s concern for how dangerous getting a concussion can be and no one is aware of that danger.
