CTE STUDIES MAY BE START OF FOOTBALL’S DECLINE
There’s much we don’t know, but little doubt playing sport increases risk of brain trauma
When Randy Ambrosie was introduced in early July as the new commissioner of the CFL, he was quickly asked the concussion question: did he think there was a link between football and the brain disease CTE?
Although Ambrosie was an offensive lineman in his playing days, on this question, he punted.
“I don’t think it would take a lot for me to convince many of you that I’m not a doctor nor a scientist,” Ambrosie said. “There are parts of that question, for a layperson, that it would be impossible to answer.”
Ambrosie went on to say that in his early discussions with team executives and officials — he had, after all, just been hired — he was aware of “how deeply and passionately they feel about player safety” and the important thing was “making sure we do everything possible to make this game as safe as we can.”
Neatly avoided in this response is the question of whether the game can be made safe at all.
Evidence has continued to tumble forth about the risks associated with playing football. On a small scale, a Toronto hospital that studied the brain of former CFL player Rick Klassen found it showed signs of CTE, and also signs of a form of dementia. On a much larger scale, a Boston University study of the brains of former football players detected defining features of CTE in an overwhelming number of subjects: 99 per cent of players with NFL experience; 87 per cent of a much smaller subgroup of former CFL players.
Neither of those developments was necessarily unexpected. In the case of Klassen, he had shown symptoms associated with CTE — anger, irritability — in the years before his cancer-related death in 2016. It is often the case that when someone suspects they have CTE while alive, a post-mortem examination of their brain confirms the suspicion. (This is, notably, not always the case.) And with respect to the large Boston University study of more than 200 brains, the findings were in line with previous studies of brains after death, which tend to discover a prevalence of CTE pathology in at least 95 per cent of the brains of former NFL players.
After the study was released, the CFL said in a statement many questions “remain unanswered” and player health safety remains an “important priority.”
Huge parts of the CTE puzzle remain unsolved. How does the rate of CTE characteristics in the brains of former football players compare with the rate in the wider population? And how many of those people with the telltale CTE proteins in their brains outwardly suffer from symptoms like depression, memory loss and anger seen in so many high-profile cases, like Mike Webster and Junior Seau?
Put another way, is there a population of people whose brains show signs of CTE but who do not seem particularly harmed by it? Because post-mortem tests are the only avenue available, researchers have no means to compare the football-playing group with a control group.
That Boston University study acknowledged these limitations, saying its findings should not be used for an “estimation of the risk of participation in football and neuropathological outcomes.”
Still, the risk is not close to zero. Baltimore Ravens lineman John Urschel, who happens to be pursuing a doctorate in mathematics at MIT, retired last week and said the new study was a factor in his decision. Former NFL player Domonique Foxworth, who was also the president of the NFLPA, said he would not let his young son play football. The benefits — lessons about teamwork and work ethic — no longer outweighed the risks, he said. His kid could get those lessons from soccer or basketball.
That’s the discussion that will continue to evolve. Lost somewhat in what we know or don’t know about CTE is there is little uncertainty about the links between football and brain trauma. The longer someone plays the former, the greater their exposure to the latter, full stop.
The NFL’s own research says about one-third of former players will develop dementia or Alzheimer’s, which is double the risk of the normal population.
But much of this has been known for years, too. Urschel is not the first pro player to retire early to protect his brain, and the Ravens will have no problem filling his roster spot.
The CFL has similarly marched on, even though it doesn’t offer nearly the potential wealth nor fame to its players. The allure of a professional career, for a great many players, still remains worth the associated risk.
It’s fair to wonder how long that will last. Fifty years ago, more than 40 per cent of adults in Canada were smokers. That number is close to 15 per cent now. There wasn’t a massive dip or demarcation point, just a steady decline. That could be football’s path.
In March of last year, when the NFL acknowledged a link between the sport and CTE, there were headlines that the “Game May Never Be the Same.” It has since remained pretty much the same. But a generation or two from now? That is far less certain.