Dave Duerson And The NFL’s Most Serious ProblemWith the NFL draft over, attention in the football world has returned to the league’s ongoing battle between its owners and players. But the lockout may someday seem minor compared to the NFL’s bigger underlying problem: the health and safety of its players. Dr. Ann McKee, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University’s School of Medicine, today announced her diagnosis of the brain of former NFL player, Dave Duerson. The news is not good for the NFL. McKee reported that Duerson had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a type of brain disease caused by repeated trauma to the head. Duerson was a defensive back for 11 seasons in the NFL, playing for the Chicago Bears, New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals. After his football career, he became a successful businessman, starting his own food company. But eventually, his company went bankrupt. On February 17, at age 50, Duerson committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest. He left a note with family members that asked that his brain be donated to the NFL’s Brain Bank. Duerson joins a sad list of former NFL players, like Andre Waters, Terry Long and Jason Grimsley, who committed suicide and were later discovered to have CTE. But retired players are just the tip of the iceberg for the NFL’s health concerns. Another problem, of course, is the current players. By almost all accounts, the game has gotten bigger and faster and more dangerous since Duerson and his contemporaries retired. This year the NFL took a few baby steps in addressing its head-injury problems, outlawing helmet-to-helmet hits. Still concussions happen. This past season’s Super Bowl featured two quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger, who have troubling concussion history. But perhaps the most troubling thing for the NFL is the future of the sport. Earlier this year, the New York Times interviewed Chris Collinsworth, a former player who is now perhaps the best and most thoughtful football announcer on TV. Collinsworth has been outspoken about the issue of helmet-to-helmet hits in the NFL. His two sons play football (one at Notre Dame and one in high school), and he expressed his concerns about their well-being. This is a league that we’ve always celebrated the biggest hits and the bone-jarring blows, but you can’t hide from the evidence anymore,” Collinsworth, in a telephone interview, said regarding the short- and long-term effects of football head trauma. “We’re talking about the very essence of the game. I’d be less than honest if I said I didn’t have my doubts as to whether my children should be playing football. He followed that statement up with this one: You try to teach toughness and to hit hard, and also say to be safe and don’t hurt anybody — there’s a contradiction there,” Collinsworth said. “The very fundamental question for the long road is, Do you want your kids playing football? That’s the scary question, especially for the N.F.L. I think we’re talking about the survival of the game to some extent. Collinsworth raises the central question in all of this: given what we now know, will parents be willing to let their sons play football? Perhaps we’re already seeing our answer. One troubling trend for the future of football is the decline in participation. According to the latest figures from the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association, over the last nine years, participation in tackle football (for those 6 years of age and older) has declined by 17.4%. (During that same time period, the American population has increased by 8.6%.) Some of that decline has to be attributable to concerns over health. Someday, the battle between NFL owners and players about how to split the $9 billion in revenue that the most popular sport in the U.S. generates every year will end. There will be NFL football again. But then the league will have to turn its attention to what is becoming its most serious problem: what to do about its players’ brains.

With the NFL draft over, attention in the football world has returned to the league’s ongoing battle between its owners and players. But the lockout may someday seem minor compared to the NFL’s bigger underlying problem: the health and safety of its players.
Dr. Ann McKee, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University’s School of Medicine, today announced her diagnosis of the brain of former NFL player, Dave Duerson. The news is not good for the NFL. McKee reported that Duerson had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a type of brain disease caused by repeated trauma to the head.
Duerson was a defensive back for 11 seasons in the NFL, playing for the Chicago Bears, New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals. After his football career, he became a successful businessman, starting his own food company. But eventually, his company went bankrupt. On February 17, at age 50, Duerson committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest. He left a note with family members that asked that his brain be donated to the NFL’s Brain Bank.
Duerson joins a sad list of former NFL players, like Andre Waters, Terry Long and Jason Grimsley, who committed suicide and were later discovered to have CTE.
But retired players are just the tip of the iceberg for the NFL’s health concerns. Another problem, of course, is the current players. By almost all accounts, the game has gotten bigger and faster and more dangerous since Duerson and his contemporaries retired. This year the NFL took a few baby steps in addressing its head-injury problems, outlawing helmet-to-helmet hits. Still concussions happen. This past season’s Super Bowl featured two quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger, who have troubling concussion history.
But perhaps the most troubling thing for the NFL is the future of the sport. Earlier this year, the New York Times interviewed Chris Collinsworth, a former player who is now perhaps the best and most thoughtful football announcer on TV. Collinsworth has been outspoken about the issue of helmet-to-helmet hits in the NFL. His two sons play football (one at Notre Dame and one in high school), and he expressed his concerns about their well-being.

This is a league that we’ve always celebrated the biggest hits and the bone-jarring blows, but you can’t hide from the evidence anymore,” Collinsworth, in a telephone interview, said regarding the short- and long-term effects of football head trauma. “We’re talking about the very essence of the game. I’d be less than honest if I said I didn’t have my doubts as to whether my children should be playing football.

He followed that statement up with this one:

You try to teach toughness and to hit hard, and also say to be safe and don’t hurt anybody — there’s a contradiction there,” Collinsworth said. “The very fundamental question for the long road is, Do you want your kids playing football? That’s the scary question, especially for the N.F.L. I think we’re talking about the survival of the game to some extent.

Collinsworth raises the central question in all of this: given what we now know, will parents be willing to let their sons play football?
Perhaps we’re already seeing our answer. One troubling trend for the future of football is the decline in participation. According to the latest figures from the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association, over the last nine years, participation in tackle football (for those 6 years of age and older) has declined by 17.4%. (During that same time period, the American population has increased by 8.6%.) Some of that decline has to be attributable to concerns over health.
Someday, the battle between NFL owners and players about how to split the $9 billion in revenue that the most popular sport in the U.S. generates every year will end. There will be NFL football again. But then the league will have to turn its attention to what is becoming its most serious problem: what to do about its players’ brains.