Retired Nfl Players

Imagine this… you walk into your grandparents’ house only to find out your grandfather cannot remember who you are or how you relate to him. “Grandpa, it’s me, your granddaughter,” you try explaining to him. “Who?” he inquires. Although you are deeply saddened he cannot remember your name or the memories you created with him, you smile and pretend everything is all right—nonetheless, it takes an emotional toll on you and your family. Despite the fact this does not directly pertain to me, I know many people who encounter these challenges. One example is my friend’s grandfather, Jim Cadile. Cadile played eleven seasons as an offensive guard for the Chicago Bears from 1962-1972. At the height of his career, he won the NFL Championship—which is equivalent to the Super Bowl. During his NFL career, he suffered too many concussions which explains why he is currently struggling with Sundown Disease—a symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease. A concussion occurs when the brain jolts and its tissue breaks or stretches. When this happens, the brain can no longer send proper signals, thoughts, and commands to the body (LaMendola). In 2013, there was a $765 million lawsuit between the NFL and retired players—including Cadile—for covering up the risks of concussions resulting from playing football (Schwarz, Bogdanich, Williams). In the lawsuit, some people claim concussions have become an accepted part of football, due to its “tough guy” attitude (Farmer). However, concussions should not be

As a result former football players are experiencing health issues. Sports news headlines have been abundant with stories concerning former NFL players currently suffering from headaches, loss of memory, dementia, and early Alzheimer’s (Ellenbogen, 2010;Neumann, 2011). Even though the devastation of concussions is just beginning to rise to the surface, they have always been around. There appear to be several recent cases involving former and current NFL players committing suicide that was influenced by some of the suffering due to medical maladies associated with playing football (Amen, 2011). Many skeptics of football related concussions have indicated such health issues are coincidental and people commit suicide for different reasons; or that early Alzheimer’s as well as dementia are known to develop with age (Casson, 2010). Recently attention has been given to the fact that there may be a link between various cases (Nowinski, 2006). Consequently, each of these players associated with these stories all sustained repeated concussions while playing football. Although several of these concussions were documented, players were forced to sit out for a few plays; however, others were not documented, and because the game was close, were asked to stay on the

After the NFL commissioner came under scrutiny from Washington lawmakers on whether or not the injuries in his sport were the cause of traumatic brain disease. The commissioner enacted a policy that players had to pass a series of test by a neurologist prior to them being allowed to return to play( Grove, J) This policy change is similar to a normal employee passing a physical from their primary Doctor before they could return to work. The Commissioner enacted this policy to prevent players from returning to the game to soon. The current NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wasn’t the first recognize that his sport had a problem taking care of its players. In 1962 the rule of no “Face masking” was enacted. This rule prohibited a player from grabbing another player’s facemask (Grove, J 657). In the late 1970’s an additional rule was enacted. The NFL finally passed a rule prohibiting players from using their helmets to

The last twenty five years of the twentieth century contained some of the best NFL players ever to step onto the football gridiron. Players like Jerry Rice, Lawrence Taylor, and Walter Payton all played the majority of their careers in

Imagine a person fresh out of college getting fined thousands of dollars. This happens all of the time in the NFL. The bad thing is they’re not even breaking the law. Players are breaking the rules in the NFL and get fined. The reason behind all of this is to keep a fair game between the franchises. Yet these people make thousands and thousands of dollars anyways. Does fining even make a difference to them anyways? Some say the NFL fining its players is a good thing.

These lawsuits represented over 2,000 former players claiming that the NFL didn 't teach them the dangers of a concussion. On August 29, 2013, over a year after the lawsuits were filed, there was an agreement between the NFL and the players; the NFL agreed to pay $765 million to pay for medical examinations, compensation for the concussed athletes, and research towards concussions. Just as the NFL thought the lawsuits were over, on January 14, 2014, the agreement was declined by a federal judge because the judge believed that $765 million was not enough money (“NFL Concussion”). These lawsuits over the issue of concussions prove that the athletes have experienced a multitude of medical issues that resulted from multiple concussions. These former athletes are working hard to ensure that young athletes do not have to suffer like they do.

The NFL has decided not to directly address the mental health problems of current and former players in fear of negative publicity and financial consequences league wide. Also, they have not compensated players for their injuries or put in enough time or effort to improve the conditions for players. These things are deemed unethical, because in a sense by being injured, these players are being stripped of their freedom to do things the way that they want. Also, the NFL is putting the greed for money over the health and well being of the community.

The former players have a great argument against the NFL in each lawsuit. Dr. Ann McKee is a professor of neurology and pathology, and she receives the brains of deceased former players. Each brain has suffered brain trauma or brain diseases. The families of the former players want to see if there is a connection between football and psychological harm. After deep analysis, she confirms this connection; however, she believes each player knew the risks of playing contact sports (King).

If any of these player safety rules have been broken recently, the NFL has come down swiftly and harshly against the culprits. These swift and efficient actions performed by the NFL have taken notice by the parents and fans of the sport. These forms of punishments come through fines, suspensions, and in extreme cases bans from the league for years or even indefinitely. Recently a defensive coordinator on the New Orleans Saints was found to have installed a “bounty program” on his defense. This program would fund the defensive players with bonuses for various actions in a game. Although this may seem okay, it is actually highly illegal in the NFL. This bounty program would fund the players for knocking out other athletes they were competing against. Injuring players was one of many forms of bonuses that players would be able to accrue. The problem with this in sports is because football is already violent enough. Now teams are actually “gunning” to injure others on purpose. The NFL’s quick and extreme punishments for the creation and participation in this bounty case definitely put the player’s safety aspect into the mainstream of what the NFL is worrying about these days.

While growing up in the state of Texas I was introduced to National Football League (NFL) at a very young age. Not only was I obsessed with great players like Emmitt Smith and Michael Irving, I had a more finical appreciation for the lucrativeness associated with the NFL. My young adulthood as well as my teenage years was spent playing and learning football with the aspirations of hopefully making it to the NFL. Unfortunately, my playing days ended with tryouts at Texas Tech University, but my love for the game has remained stagnant over the years even till this day. The NFL today is Americas most watched sports league and has taken the crown as the most lucrative and unique economic force in sports. Forbes offered approximations stating that on average, the NFL generates more than $6-9 billion a year in revenues alone. A third of the individual franchises in the league were appraised at over more than $1 billion while the other franchises average nine figures or higher. The NFL as an organization generates its revenues through a multitude of ways ranging from huge television contracts, in-stadium ticket sales, advertising ads paid for by sponsors and merchandise. Their business model unlike most other leagues, is centered on a hard salary cap on player contracts which provides cost certainty with its sponsors. In this paper, I will examine the economic and historical narrative associated with the growth of the NFL’s

The scientist is discovering, that players are being diagnosed with life threatening illness. They are looking at former athletes and finding they have ALS disease. : In order to qualify for the new NFL Settlement Funding program, former players must have received a diagnosis for at least one of the following: - Level 1.5 Neurocognitive Impairment- Level 2.0 Neurocognitive Impairment- Parkinson's- Alzheimer's- ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) aka Lou Gehrig's Disease- Death with CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. (“NLC introduces new NFL concussion funding program”) There are also other diseases that come from concussions. CTE is another disease that former players are suffering from. : Recently, a group of researchers from the Department of

Many people may think that the players knew what they signed up for when they started playing football, but did they really? Did NFL players really know what risks they were put at by playing football? What we now know today as football was invented in 1869, the NFL was established in 1920 and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) was discovered in 2002. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, sounds like a bunch of scientific words for a head condition but CTE is much more than a minor head injury. CTE cause a variation of horrific symptoms like, irritability, aggression, speech difficulties and motor impairment, just to name a few. Bennet Omalu, the man who discovered CTE and brought up a living nightmare to NFL found that there was a strong link between football and the degenerative disease. According to Journal of the American Medical Association, “%99 of the 111 ex-NFLers brains’ were diagnosed with CTE.”. So, you tell me in the, 70’s, 80’s 90’s and even 2000’s did NFL players really know what they were at risk of.

With constrains from salary cap every NFL team have to think beside financial incentives to compensate players. Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots coach, altered his approach to incentivize players. He eliminated larger salary gaps among players, as he believed that it is hard build motivation in player being paid $350,000 where as other guy is being paid $10 million.

Whether it be baseball, football, soccer, or basketball, sports are appreciated not only in America, but all over the world. One of these sports that is particularly popular in America is Football. The immense crowds of people who sit at a stadium or on the couch to watch a game never fail to recognize every single play on the field; however, many fans pay little to no attention to one of the most important components of the game, the player-association relationship. When signing a contract with an NFL team an NFL player is effectively dedicating his life to his new organization. His duty is to play for his team in order to make the organization money, and money they make. In the NFL last year “each team received $226.4 million” (Brady 1).

If a person chooses to play the sport, then they must fully understand the fame, the consequences, and discuss with their families, families can fall apart just as easily as the players mind and body. Football is known to cause CTE, but there are other long term damaging effects that players have still not been informed of by the NFL. Football has been detected to cause early signs of Alzheimer, Dementia, and physical disabilities. According to the article, “Study: No Proof that Football Causes Alzheimer’s or CTE” was posted in the Cincinnati Bengals, the NFL had a $765 million settlement with retired football players that claimed that they were not fully informed of the risks that came into play when they ran onto the field. Once football players heard of the first few cases of CTE that were diagnosed in retired football players, the players began wondering if the NFL was aware of the causes of football and the long term effects it had on the players. The NFL had also denied all the claims of the relation from CTE, Dementia, and Alzheimer to football. However, the NFL later revealed a study conducted by themselves that later revealed that football had caused early cases of Dementia, a brain disease that could have been avoided if the NFL had bother sharing the information with their teams and coaches. The NFL however eventually denied their own study as well. In