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The NFL is one of the most popular sporting leagues in the United States. The athletes who play this game are some of the most highly trained, most physically fit people on the planet. The NFL and its merchandise produce nearly 13 billion dollars in profits annually.
In the last several years, more evidence has emerged linking NFL concussions, and other head trauma to CTE has emerged. Since 2011, more than 4500 lawsuits have been filed against the NFL by former players claiming negligence on the part of the league. In response, the NFL says that they have been conducting studies to evaluate an association between CTE and the NFL in an effort to determine how to better keep players safe. However, the New York Times recently reported on the significant flaws in the NFL’s own studies—missing data, incomplete analysis, etc. In their investigation of the NFL’s research, the Times found that nearly 100 documented diagnosed concussions were omitted from the NFL’s on data collection and analysis. When the concussion rates were calculated, these omissions likely made the injuries seem far less frequent. The NFL admitted recently that teams were not required to participate and not all teams submitted head injury data. Over the last 15 years, the league published several papers using their data to refute any link between concussions and permanent brain injury. However, there are documents that have been located by New York Times investigative reporters that showed that there were major concerns over the accuracy and legitimacy of the NFL’s data voiced by independent reviewers prior to publication.
This week, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke to the media saying that there was “no evidence linking CTE and the injuries sustained by NFL players." Really?
It is clear that Mr. Jones does not want to admit the truth about the relationship between recurrent head injuries and permanent neurological damage for fear of loss of profit. Just as the flamboyant owner meddles in his own team's on-field affairs, he now, apparently, is an expert on Neurobiology, head injuries and their permanent neurologic effects.
The Cowboy’s owner was adamant that there was no link: In fact, he is quoted as saying: “There’s no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There’s no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion.”
Don’t Just Trust Jerry: Let's have a real look at the data
Since the 1920s researchers have known about an association between repeated head trauma in boxers and a risk for progressive neurological deterioration called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is associated with memory disturbances, mood disorders, and behavioral changes. In autopsy studies in patients who were diagnosed with the disease, similar structural changes were identified in all of the brains examined at autopsy.
In February 2015, researchers at Johns Hopkins published a small study in Neurobiology of Disease. In the study, 9 NFL players were evaluated with cognitive testing and imaging studies and the results were compared to normal controls. While none of the normal volunteers had any evidence of damage to the brain, investigators found that the players had damage in several specific areas of the brain—including the amygdala, (a region that plays a significant role in regulating mood) as well as in the supramarginal gyrus, (an area linked to verbal memory). While this particular study is small, it does demonstrate that there are structural changes in players with repeated blows to the head and that these changes are permanent—resulting in chronic neurologic changes.
Data released from the Boston University/Veterans Affairs CTE center in Massachusetts studied the brains of 128 former NFL players found that 101 players—80%—tested positive for CTE.
We Must Do More To Protect Players: Both Professional and Amateur
There is a growing body of data supporting the association between head trauma and CTE. Professional football players, as they age, are beginning to show signs of behavioral changes and mood disorders. There have been several high profile suicides such as Junior Seau and other high profile deaths from CTE such as Frank Gifford. We must do more to better understand the pathology of the disease and how to better protect players. More importantly we must make sure that we are able to protect young players in youth leagues, middle schools and high schools. Football is a great sport and teaches our children the value of hard work, teamwork, personal responsibility and integrity. More study is needed in order to design better protective gear, revise rules and we must do more to ensure that players are not put at risk.
Jerry Jones and those like him must be held accountable for ignoring the well being of players and their families. The NFL must serve as a model for safety in football—no longer can the league ignore the data. CTE is real. Its consequences are life changing. Let’s keep players safe in the future—in spite of Jerry Jones and his football empire.
