Ever since American football was created it has developed an association with things such as Sunday, the fall and developing into America’s new favorite pastime. However, in the past few decades, a negative association has developed within football and has become more prominent than all others; concussions. During the first peak of popularity for professional football in the mid 70’s, concussions were a new, but not yet pressing problem. Now concussions are public enemy No. 1 for football, causing people to; stay away from the sport, parents to stop their children from playing, retire from the NFL at a much too early age and even die. Although much research has been done to try and prevent concussions, still the severity of the injury remains as prominent as ever. So the question is, with all of the research being conducted and improvements being discovered, why are concussions still a prominent and dangerous issue? Is it a matter of implementation? Is it a lack of education? Are concussions sprouting from an unsafe hitting style? And why is the NFL not doing more to solve this problem? It is no secret that the higher-ups of the NFL have become corrupt, caring more about the money in their pockets than the health and safety of their employees, i.e. the players. With that being said I believe that the only real way to solve the NFL’s concussion crisis would be for the players to go on strike.

While it is the general assumption that brain diseases in football players are normally brought about by excruciating, cringe worthy hits that make you want to look away but keep you staring at the television at the same time. After years of research and “improvements” to the design of the football helmets, it has been discovered that while these gruesome hits are a major contributing factor, it reality it is the little hits to the head, the ones that are more common and less severe, that eventually bring about brain diseases such as CTE. Borden and his coworkers on staff at the New York Times are merely trying to explain and inform the public of the lesser known facts about concussions with this article written in January 9, 2017, the height of the period of scrutiny that the NFL is under. In their research, they found one lineman suffered minor hits to the head 62 times in one game proving that it is not just major hits that can cause concussions (Ward). As well as the stat that shows how high school football players are the most susceptible to concussions (Borden). This is easy to see, as I suffered from multiple concussions in high school football.

The integral question for my argument focuses on the NFL’s actions, or rather lack thereof in dealing with the concussion problem. In his book “Three and Out: The NFL’s Concussion Liability And How Players Can Tackle The Problem” Jeremy Grove analyzes the lengths that the League goes to in order to keep both their players and the public in the dark about the concussion problem.  “In 2011 the NFL, in the heat of the crippling owner’s lockout, the NFL decided to try and hide certain findings that would have been a killing blow to the NFL.” (Grove 650). Grove’s work, featured in the Vanderbilt Journey of Entertainment and Technology Law attempts to prove that the NFL should be punished for its actions. “This eBook shows both the negligence as well as fraudulence of the NFL, highlighting the lengths that the organization went to in order to keep these findings in the dark.” (Grove 660). Now Grove does not just solely criticize, but rather he offers solutions and suggestions on how the NFL should go about solving the problem. “The NFL should institute game suspensions for players who recklessly lead with their helmets, causing helmet-to-helmet contact (spearing).” (Grove 690). He also offers up a suggestion to current and former NFL players, stating that they should “band together to bring a class action lawsuit against the NFL for its negligent and fraudulent acts regarding its concussion policies and safety rules.” (Grove 690). I fully agree with Grove when he argues that the NFL has to answer for its negligent and fraudulent conduct toward past and current players. Grove also believes that the League has to make the game safer, however they must do so in a way that does not jeopardize the longevity of the game, as McGrath warned earlier. “This will help protect the league’s most valuable commodity—its players.” (Grove 690). I also agree with Grove when he stated that while the NFL has taken steps in the right direction, it still has a long way to go. 

The symptoms of concussions are not something that can quickly be solved, and can continue to inflict the brain for as long as several years. These long lasting symptoms eventually lead to CTE, a brain disease that can last a lifetime, and was even found in the brains of deceased football players. Jason Breslow analyzes studies that have shown that this disease can come from multiple concussions, and the age that the brain is most susceptible to multiple concussions is during their high school years. The study conducted and featured on Frontline-in an article written in 2013-estimated that “high school football players suffered 11.2 concussions for every 10,000 games and practices. Among college players, the rate stood at 6.3.” (Breslow). Breslow has also worked on Frontline’s investigation into the NFL’s concussion crisis as well as “Football High” an examination of the changing nature of high school football. Frontline, which is a part of PBS, is trying to convey how these concussions may not just be occurring in the NFL, but rather much earlier, as in High School Football. Breslow discovered that certain things had been left out of NFL conducted studies. “While documenting a link between concussions and memory loss, the report left unanswered the question of whether football-related head trauma in young players can lead to a range of other issues that many former NFL stars have said they’ve had to battle in retirement, including depression, suicidal impulses, Alzheimer’s disease or the neurodegenerative condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).” (Breslow)

The concussion has been a consistent issue for the NFL since its inception and the past two years have not been an exception. Following the 2015-16 season, a survey-conducted by the NFL-of all NFL athletic trainers reported 275 concussions in the 2015-16 season, nearly a 32% increase from the previous season and does not predict a decline in the coming years (Seifert). Through the NFL conducted survey, trainers were asked how the concussion was caused. Most people would assume that football related concussions would come from helmet-to-helmet hits, but in reality-as well as shown in an earlier source, concussions can also be caused by contact with the playing surface or from another player’s shoulder. Kevin Seifert, a featured writer for ESPN, explains that the NFL is conducting studies and looking into the concussion issue. What he does not express, however is what the NFL is doing with results they find. If anything Seifert states that the NFL merely lowered the standards for what could constitute as concussions symptoms, allowing for players to be taken out of play easier. However, while conduction an interview with Richard Ellenbogen, Co-chairman of the NFL’s Head, Neck, and Spine committee, Ellenbogen explained that he “saw coaches report players and pull them out of the game.” He also saw “players report themselves, as well as hold each other accountable.” This depicts the rising levels of awareness among players and coaches, but could pure awareness be enough?

In recent years the NFL has implemented a new wave of strict rules, due to the increasing amount of concussions and football related deaths.  However, while creating these rules in order to combat these injuries, it has also caused the game to stray away from the deliciously violent nature that brought it so much popularity. Ben McGrath, a writer for the New Yorker, asks whether the game has a professional future at all. McGrath is attempting to call out the NFL on their lackadaisical efforts in trying to solve this problem, hoping it will ignite a response. McGrath begins the article by telling the story of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward. Heyward played for five different teams over an 11 year NFL career. Heyward was given the nickname due to the fact that he would lower head into opponent stomachs, and one “victim” said it hurt so much that his head had to be maid of iron. McGrath emphasized how Heyward embodied the old style of football that one will rarely see today. “He was strictly a running back after high school, but he looked more like a lineman: a “bread truck with feet,” as one writer called him. Heyward did not run sweeps. He ran up the middle: into, through, and over, but seldom around, defenders.” (McGrath). However there is a reason why you do not see this type of play anymore. Heyward died from a brain tumor at the young age of 39. And while there is no concrete evidence that this cancer came from his football career, his “Ironhead-ed” nature certainly did not help. When McGrath attended a special meeting of the leagues Head, neck and spine committee in 2011, the main point of focus was changing the tackling style as well as introducing a new type of helmet. McGrath recalls both points being extensively argued and seriously considered. However neither potential improvement was implemented by the NFL, which again begs the question; What is bringing about this lack of action from the NFL? As well as the question: Does Football have a Future? I believe it does, but only if the League reduces the concussion problem to a mere memory and parents feel safe allowing their children to play the sport.

Earlier I spoke of the dangers of concussions at the professional level, particularly within the last season or so. The worst of these concussions happened this season, during a Thursday night matchup between the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints. During the game the Panthers star middle linebacker Luke Kuechly suffered a not so gruesome hit that produced gruesome results. The impact that his face had on the hearts and minds of both Panther’s fans and football fans alike is not properly portrayed through words. What everyone thought was a ACL tear or an extremely painful injury was not what actually brought this grown man to near uncontrollable sobs. It was not really the injury at all but rather the realization that, with this being his second concussion in two years, another one in the near future might mean the end for Kuechly. This even brought me to tears, knowing how much he loves the sport. This concussion in the professional level had a lasting impact even in high school football players, especially in St. Xavier high school, where Kuechly is an alumni (Vrentas). This concussion enlightened the public on the fact it does not take just a large and gruesome hit to cause a concussion, but rather even multiple small coinciding hits to the head can be enough to cause a concussion. It got the students and players at St. Xavier, and at a broader scale, the general populace looking to the NFL, in order to see how they would deal with the situation. Jenny Vrentas, a reporter for Monday Morning Quarterback—an all things NFL news source for Sports Illustrated—explains in her article that [Kuechly’s] concussion, as well as multiple other concussions around the league that occurred less than a week after his, served as a “wake-up call” in the sense that the concussion problem seemed to decrease throughout the latest NFL season, up until these occurrences, that revitalized the public awareness of how relevant this problem still is.

In 2013, PBS produced “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis”, a documentary that aired through their program Frontline. This documentary highlights one of the main issues plaguing the NFL and football in general; concussions and head trauma related injuries. The NFL has been in the hot seat when it comes to their concussion protocol for the past decade. Thousands of former players have argued on how for years the NFL has covered up the long term effects of concussions. Michael Kirk and PBS produced this documentary in order to analyze and validate these claims. The two-hour investigation was released in the height of the concussion crisis, allowing for a large amount of evidence for the documentary. This documentary, coupled with the article written by Jason Breslow that was mentioned earlier, depicts the lengths that PBS has gone to in order to try and hold the NFL accountable for its actions. Ultimately the documentary display that the NFL’s ability to solve the concussion crisis is present, and yet the NFL is not doing anything substantial. 

Despite the controversy focused on player safety-especially with Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton- at the end of the 2016-17 NFL season the NFL announced a declined in the number of diagnosed concussions. It was announced, and reported through Bleacher Report that the number of diagnosed concussions dropped from 275 last season to 244 this season (Daniels). In his article, Tim Daniels found that there was a decrease in every category, from preseason practices and games to regular season practices and games. He also found that the number of self-reported concussions had increased since the previous season. “In September the NFL announced its intention to spend an additional $100 million to develop new technology that could make football safer as well as fund more research on the impact of head injuries.” (Daniels). Daniels applauds the NFL, as their announcement at the beginning of this season showed that they were going to do something about concussions and that improvements could actually be seen.  However, this is one of the few articles that I could find that actually depicted the NFL doing something about concussions and CTE.

The integral question for my argument focuses on the NFL’s actions, or rather lack thereof in dealing with the concussion problem. In his book “Three and Out: The NFL’s Concussion Liability And How Players Can Tackle The Problem” Jeremy Grove analyzes the lengths that the League goes to in order to keep both their players and the public in the dark about the concussion problem.  “In 2011 the NFL, in the heat of the crippling owner’s lockout, the NFL decided to try and hide certain findings that would have been a killing blow to the NFL.” (Grove 650). Grove’s work, featured in the Vanderbilt Journey of Entertainment and Technology Law attempts to prove that the NFL should be punished for its actions. “This eBook shows both the negligence as well as fraudulence of the NFL, highlighting the lengths that the organization went to in order to keep these findings in the dark.” (Grove 660). Now Grove does not just solely criticize, but rather he offers solutions and suggestions on how the NFL should go about solving the problem. “The NFL should institute game suspensions for players who recklessly lead with their helmets, causing helmet-to-helmet contact (spearing).” (Grove 690). He also offers up a suggestion to current and former NFL players, stating that they should “band together to bring a class action lawsuit against the NFL for its negligent and fraudulent acts regarding its concussion policies and safety rules.” (Grove 690). I fully agree with Grove when he argues that the NFL has to answer for its negligent and fraudulent conduct toward past and current players. Grove also believes that the League has to make the game safer, however they must do so in a way that does not jeopardize the longevity of the game, as McGrath warned earlier. “This will help protect the league’s most valuable commodity—its players.” (Grove 690). I also agree with Grove when he stated that while the NFL has taken steps in the right direction, it still has a long way to go. 

 There are hundreds of thousands of cases that prove the danger and presence of the concussion crisis, as well as the afflictions it can have later in life. Whether it be in the NFL, college, high school, or in my case; even in little league. The NFL however has shown on numerous cases that they do have the tools necessary to try and solve the problem. And yet, the closest they get to a solution are empty promises and short term improvements. It is not that NFL is doing absolutely nothing to solve the problem, though, as it was shown that the number of concussions has declined, it is the mere severity of the concussions that are still occurring that produce the more severe consequences later on in life. Throughout all of my sources I have seen one fairly consistent theme; the NFL is more likely to either weasel their way around the concussion problem, when it is brought in to light, or rather provide an ineffective procedure, or just sweep it under the rug in general. A handful of my sources have shown the NFL to do so in past incidents. 

So this begs the question; What will it take to make the NFL actually take steps to effectively solve the concussion? It is obvious that the NFL is a business, and what is the number one concern for any business? Profit. So it would seem fit that the only thing that could motivate the NFL to make a substantial effort in solving the problem would be if the league started losing money. I believe that the only way that would happen is that if NFL players, owners and teams were to go on strike, until the NFL does something drastic. Hopefully the NFL can find the strength to get of their asses and save the sport that is quickly becoming America’s newest favorite pastime, and it can stay that way for generations to come.
