Goodell waffles on football-CTE link
BRAIN INJURIES: NFL still seems unwilling to explicitly acknowledge sport’s impact on players’ health
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was asked Wednesday to clear up the continuing confusion, and state both his and the league’s view on whether there’s a link between football and CTE.
He did nothing but make the league’s position even murkier.
The context: two weeks after the NFL’s senior VP of health and safety policy, Jeff Miller, told a U.S. congressional subcommittee that there “certainly” is a link between football and the degenerative brain disease, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Tuesday said it was “absurd” to suggest such a link exists.
Goodell gave a vague one-minute, 34-second discourse on the matter.
“I think the most important thing for us is to support the medical and scientists to determine what those connections are,” Goodell said. “We think the statements that have been made by Jeff Miller and others have been consistent with our position over the years.”
The NFL’s position last decade was that there most definitely was not a link between football and the debilitating brain disease, which as of this month has been found in the brains of 90 of 94 deceased NFLers examined by Boston University neuropathologist Ann McKee.
This decade the league transitioned to a non-committal stance of long, waffling answers — summed up as “well, we just don’t know.”
In December, the league’s official position was to not state where it stood on whether a link exists, but rather refer inquiring journalists to the medical community.
Goodell on Wednesday continued down Waffle Road while, at the same time, claiming to support Miller’s concise, unequivocal statement at the congressional subcommittee.
Possibly, Goodell has been advised by the league’s lawyers not to flatly state the football/CTE link exists — for fear it might help an appeal of the league’s $1-billion settlement of a master complaint filed by 5,000 former players and/or their families over this issue. As part of the settlement, plaintiffs did not have to prove pro football caused their brain maladies (such as ALS, dementia and Parkinson’s), while the NFL did not have to admit any guilt, or acknowledge a football/CTE link exists.
“We’ve actually funded (CTE research efforts),” Goodell said Wednesday. “So we not only are aware of those and recognize them, we’re going to support those studies. A lot of the research is still in its infancy, but we’re trying to find ways to accelerate that. And that’s part of what we’re doing with investing in additional research this week.”
Goodell said the league this week “spent a significant amount of time” discussing health and safety initiatives, and owners “agreed to fund additional research.” The league did not say whether such funding will pertain to CTE or brain injuries.
“But we’re also not waiting for the research,” Goodell said. “We’re going ahead and making changes to our game, and making the changes to our rules, which you’ve heard about today ... All very positive changes.
“You’ve also seen a lot of the changes we’ve made in equipment, and there are more to come. There are changes with fields, changes with helmets. Some of you may have been able to see the tech lab today where the latest helmet was out there. So there are exciting technological changes that are going to make our game safer, and we’re embracing it. We’re driving it.
“So our view is to try to continue to do that. We’ll support science and medicine and allow them to make those decisions, and try to see what we can do to support that and advance that.”
“A lot of the research is still in its infancy, but we’re trying to find ways to accelerate that.” — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell