The National Collegiate Athletic Association

The topic I will be discussing in this draft is the debate on whether the National Football League should be held liable for injuries that their employee’s sustained while playing professional football. The injuries that I will discuss are concussion and traumatic brain injuries related to multiple concussions. In years past this injury wasn’t know n to be as prevalent because that game was played at a much slower speed. Players in todays’ game are bigger, faster and stronger than ever. It has been documented that the players themselves willingly know the risk they are taking yet still take the chance at playing the game. Players and player group representatives are now seeking compensation for their player and player’s families.

Surveys were conducted among athletic trainers to see their institution’s policies. Approximately forty seven percent of trainers stated that their institution had a scripted policy regarding concussion management. Forty percent admitted that they did not have any policy regarding concussions. Fewer than one-third of respondents reported academic policies at their clinic. Institutions with more trainers are more likely to implement academic accommodations for injured athletes. The NCAA provides policies regarding concussions and its athletes. It is required that an athletic trainer inform the athletic teams of concussions and how to prevent them. The trainer will also provide them with the signs and symptoms to help identify a

The NFL attempted to hide the truth and resolved to a biased decision that was unethical. The most important unethical issue was the lack of clarity for the players involved. The players were uninformed about the risk factors of their career. The NFL did not compensate for the injuries acquired during their career. Lastly, the issue broadens beyond professional football to different sports, even those involving many American youths, who are affected by CTE. The three main concerns led to the ethical question which examines whether or not it is ethical to allow players to continue participating in sports activity that would result in long-term damages to the brain. Facts from journals examine cognitive impairment related to concussions, methods that NFL took to handle the cases, and application of the study results to sports beyond the NFL.

The video “Big Hits, Broken Dreams” tells the story of a high school football team in Greenville, North Carolina. The video also tells the story of tragic deaths of high school football players who suffered concussion injuries that were not properly handled. Although everyone plays a role in the protection of high school athletes, the primary responsibility for reducing concussions and concussion related deaths falls on the shoulders of school administration. School administration is responsible for distributing funds in different areas of the schools, and these officials must make the choice to hire an athletic trainer to advise and evaluate these athletes. Several questions are raised in regards to this topic. Why aren’t the players and coaches

The case study selected for week three centers on a liability and assumption of risk case study. In this case study, Brent Thomas and George Banks are facing liability charges after Ricky Watts sustained a serious injury during hockey practice (Essex, 2016). In this situation, Thomas is the school principal, and Banks is the hockey coach as well as the gym teacher (Essex, 2016). Ricky obtained injuries after improperly blocking the puck (Essex, 2016). This case study was selected because it highlights a situation that will likely be faced by all future school leaders. Sports are popular among students, and there is inherent risk in each sporting event. A school is open to liability if they do not ensure that proper protocols are met.

The ambiguities and the variations in state concussion laws demonstrate a need for a more comprehensive and uniform system to protect student athletes. State laws are often ambiguous as to their scope in whether they apply to only those under the age or eighteen, or in their application to private schools and recreational youth activities. Although most states require an educational component, states vary drastically in who is required to have educational training, who is responsible to for developing it, and who is responsible for ensuring compliance with state requirements. Moreover, the decision on who is responsible for ensuring possible concuss athletes are removed varies by state, with many failing to even identify a person or persona.

The fact that a use of a more efficient test for diagnoses of the injury has not been implemented into the league’s concussion protocol provides support for this argument. Improper education of the true amount of risk involved that will affect a player in the long-term displays the carelessness of the league’s front office. Almost every athlete that remains connected to the NFL has a family that relies on them for income and support. By discerning the safety of its very own employees, of which the league would cease to exist without, the NFL is putting the lives and welfare of the players and their families at risk. Money must become a secondary concern when one is dealing with a person’s safety on the football field. The league cannot continue to put the lives of its employees at risk in order to avoid money loss. The National Football League is not doing enough to prevent concussions from continually occurring in the league today and a change in policy is mandatory in order to provide a safe environment for its players. Nothing matters more than a person’s

Throughout Concussion, many ethical concerns were enumerated. The first concern is the manner in which the NFL handled the discovery of CTE. The MTBI committee was composed of NFL doctors, not including a neuropathologist, which showed a lack of integrity in being able to interpret the neurological findings. The committee refused to accept Omalu 's research and claimed that the correlation between concussions and football was a misinterpretation. The second concern was the lack of clarity for players in the league. The players were uninformed about the risk factors even after the discovery of CTE and did not receive compensation for injuries acquired during the career. The third and last concern was the finding that concussions affect athletes beyond NFL players, including other contact sport athletes. The three main lkjljlksjconcerns led to the ethical question which evaluates if allowing players to participate in sports that could result in long-term damages to the brain is ethical. Data from scientific journals aid in my decision making to answer the ethical question.

As the athletic director in the situation it would be imperative that he seeks the advice and counsel of the school’s legal team and even outside lawyers that specialize in sports law (Hoffman, 2013). It would also be wise for the athletic director to attend professional development in order to stay on top of the ever changing laws and standards of best practice (Bezdicek, 2009, p. 16). It is also wise to seek the help from other athletic directors and learn from

In this era of big-time college sports, it seems the main focus of Division I athletics evolves around the money that schools and conferences make through different deals. These deals typically involve television rights for individual conferences with major television networks. Currently the NCAA has a 14-year, $11 billion TV deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting for the NCAA basketball Tournament, and this upcoming year ESPN will pay around $470 million to broadcast the new college football playoffs. The majority of this money is streamed to a teams athletic departments via their respective conference. The largest percentage of this money goes to teams that perform well on the field and on the court. Therefore the size of a school’s

The article Sports and the Assumption of Risk Doctrine in New York, opened my eyes to the various cases that pertain to college student-athletes and the manner in which injury cases have historically been managed. In my research, the 1996 case of Searles v. Trustee of St. Joseph’s highlights the need for guidelines to neutralize student-athlete and administrator responsibilities as it relates to injuries. Searles alleged that he informed his basketball coach and trainer of a knee injury, which was later diagnosed as patellar tendinitis. Searles claims that his coach demanded that he continue playing after, even though his athletic trainer did not agree. Searles subsequently ended his college basketball career and underwent two surgeries

Debra Pyke and her son, Joseph, were not informed of the dangers from receiving a head injury, and they had no idea what would happen if Joseph were to become involved in various different sports, one of which was football. Unfortunately, they found the consequences only after Joseph committed suicide at the age of 25. He was found to have CTE, which is related to multiple different brain injuries, and his mom was left to endure the blame. Many people who have learned of learn their story have decided that it was her fault for putting him in football at such a young age, however, in truth, it was no one’s fault. Debra has decided to attribute the death of her son to the Pop Warner Football Association, for not properly educating people on the dangers of playing football at such a young age. Though I understand her pain, and I agree that they were not educated accordingly, I disagree with her approach toward the

The basis for this paper is the concept that there are legal duties used to determine negligence in Athletics. The duties should be viewed as obligations to be met or exceeded by the University and all athletic personnel. While no one can ever guarantee that a school or coach will not be sued, it is incumbent upon the University to take preventive steps to minimize situations that could cause possible liability for the school or coach and athletic administrators. By using the Best Practices of the University of California risk management UC Merced has established some duties that will help in negligence of the athletic department. Strategically managing risk to create greater financial stability and help the university achieve

From a very early age children around the country begin dreaming of playing a sport in college and eventually as a professional, but the number of them that succeed in just reaching the college stage is staggeringly miniscule. The table below reflects the probability of competing in athletics beyond high school, both college and professionally, based on estimated data. It shows how little of an opportunity student athletes have to make it into collegiate sports and collegiate athletes to make it into the professional arena.

The hazards of coaching has become very relevant and it is very important for coaches to be familiar with their legal rights and responsibilities. Coaches have newer obstacles to endure in reference to legal issues. The need for safety and risk management awareness among coaches is greater than ever before. Negligence, which is the failure to use reasonable care to protect against foreseeable harm under the circumstances, is the legal theory relied on by athletes who have sued coaches for sports’ related injuries. (Straton, 1999) Most negligence suits arise from the lack of supervision among the coaching staff.