A recent ESPN, Outside the Lines story, focused on a $765 million proposed concussion settlement between the NFL and its former players. The settlement concludes the NFL will pay $765 million plus legal costs, but will admit no wrongdoing. The lawsuit included over 4,500 former players, however, the settlement went beyond just those who filed suits to cover all of the league’s retired players, making the number able to receive compensation total over 18,000. The money from the settlement would go toward medical exams and concussion-related compensation for retired players and their families. In addition, $10 million will go towards medical research (Steve F. & Mark F., 2013).
This settlement is of an incredible importance to the media. Over the course of the last decade, there has been an increased emphasis on the injuries sustained within a player’s career and how that affects their life post NFL. In the past two and a half years alone, there have been three suicides committed by former NFL players with ties to brain damage. In one instance, former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson, committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the chest so that his brain could be researched for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The university of Boston researchers found CTE in the brain, which is the same disease found in other deceased NFL players. This is important because it has been known over the past few years that these injuries are being caused during player’s careers but the extent has been unknown (Josh, L., Steve, A., & Joe, S., 2013). These extreme cases resulting in death have forced the media, as well as the NFL, to take a closer look. The available research has led to this settlement, which now will provide former players with funding to better assist their condition, support their families, and provide medical research not only for themselves, but for future players as well.
The NFL has not solved their player safety issues entirely. While the proper steps seem to be taking place off the field, on the field is another issue. New rules have been implemented to insure player safety, including leading with the crown of the helmet, launching into a player, and/or targeting defenseless players. Breaking these rules can result in fines and possible suspensions. However, there are many questions now as to what is legal, and what is not. Bernard Pollard, safety for the Tennessee Titans, was recently fined $42,000 for a play that was not flagged and deemed legal.
"The bad part of it is, for us as players, for the fans, for the coaches, for the refs, there's a lot of gray area. So they don't know what to call and what not to call. There's no call and now you come back and fine me $42,000 for ... a play that was legal… But like I said, if you don't want us to play defense, don't call us defense. Take us off the field. Just let them go against air. Let's see what that does to the ratings,” Pollard said.
Situations such as these are the NFL’s biggest media issue surrounding player safety. Players such as Pollard who are repeat offenders of the conduct policy continue to speak out against the policy, its effect on the game, and television ratings. The media coverage continues to focus on these player’s comments because it is a noteworthy story. There are not any players making statements about the positive aspects of the policies, just those who are negatively affected. The issue with this is that it takes away from the true meaning of the rules. The rules are being incorporated solely to focus on player safety. The media spins this into being more focused on the player, the hit, the fine, and/or the suspension. Using this instance for example, the story has no focus on the concussion the player hit received. The entire story is based on dollar amounts, ripping the NFL, and television ratings. This completely misses the point the NFL is trying to establish. Until the NFL, its players, and the media can get on the same page, all publicity surrounding these policies will continue to focus on all the penalties players receive, not the injuries the NFL is trying to prevent. This is a shame because the since the NFL has introduced these rules, the percentages of concussions have dropped tremendously. CNN reports that in 2010, there were .679 concussions per game (218 in 321 combined preseason & regular season games). In 2011, there were only .594 concussions per game (190 in 320 combined preseason & regular season games) (Library, C. 2013).
The last issue the NFL faces within the media is its own hypocrisy. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell once wrote in a letter to personnel and fans, "There is no higher priority for the National Football League than the health and wellness of our players." However, the NFL continues to insist on an 18 game schedule being implemented, more games in London being played, and Thursday night games every week. All of the desired changes are completely revenue oriented and not a bit focused on player safety. Adding more games to the schedule, shortening player preparation during the week, and adding more travel is only going to make players more susceptible to injury. The NFL is trying to have the best of both worlds. Implement safety policies to cover the league, while increase marketability to put more dollars in their pockets. It’s a very thin line that they are toying with and the media continues to cover all angles in this billion dollar industry. The NFL must be careful with their choice of words and the decisions they make going forward. Everyone is watching, not just the media, and the most prominent sports league in America has some decisions to make regarding the future of their sport. The before mentioned player suit was considered by many to be a potential demise of the league, they were able to escape that, going forward they must not be greedy and look out for the best interest of the players, not their wallets in they want to maintain credibility.
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In the Outside the Lines report, written by Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, details in the $765 million settlement between the NFL and former players are discussed. They highlight key parts of the settlement, including individual caps based on what type of injury a player sustained while playing football. They also discuss some players that will be left out of the settlement because the injuries occurred before 2006. The authors go on to discuss the number of brain injuries that are occurring in the NFL and the impact this has on players for the rest of their life. They close the article by describing how some lawyers may get paid multiple times.
The authors do a great job of presenting the details of the settlement and offering opinions of former players involved with the settlement. They present different quotes and thoughts from players that are both happy and unhappy with the settlement. They also dig deeper into the story when they talk about the increase in concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). 52 out of 54 players who signed agreements to have their brain studied after death had CTE. Currently, it can only be tested postmortem but some doctors believe there could be a way to test and treat the disease for living athletes in the next few years. The authors also incorporate how much players will get paid based on the settlement regarding different diseases. They write that relatives of deceased players would be eligible to collect nearly 1 billion dollars, which is almost 33% more than what the settlement was agreed upon. The last part talks about how the NFL agreed to pay a “common benefit” fund for lawyers so all the settlement money could go to the players; however, within individual contracts between players and lawyers many of them already agreed upon a number at the beginning of the process. Potentially lawyers may be getting paid out multiple times by the NFL and then individual players as well. The article closes with a quote from Boyd when he talks about his frustration and how the settlement seems to not have accomplished anything and that players are back to where they started.
This is relevant to the course because it is a high profile case in the sports world. The media covering the story need to be able to present the facts to the public so the public can make their own opinion on the NFL and their take on player safety. The media always highlights big hits because that’s what makes them the most money. They also seem to only interview athletes that do not like the rule changes which may distort the opinions of the public. The media should make bigger stories out of some of these players that commit suicide and suffer from CTE. In an industry that makes 10 billion a year, they only agree on 765 million to cover players that have made them all the money. The media has the power to influence the public and they seem to only cover one side of the story.
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