Gwedd

If memory serves me correctly, and I believe it does, Back in the early 1980's, Maine's Attorney general ruled, and the Maine State Supreme Court upheld, that an individual cannot sign away their right to sue, thus effectively gutting liability waivers in the state of Maine.

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Onedaful

As a Pre-Law student (Which isn't saying much), I've learned that liability waivers are easily beatable if you have a good lawyer. Meaning they don't hold up well. Not saying this would be the case for the NFL. But I am merely stating that its just not as easy as coming up with a liability waiver in this situation.

As far as the article my take is that it is just preaching doomsday and might be a little over the top.

black&gold

As a practicing lawyer, liability waivers are shaky depending on the subject matter and/or level of potential injury risk assumed. That being said, I think it's extremely improbable that lawsuits alone would bring down the NFL.

Legal arguments aside, I do think this article raises a good point. While football has always been a dangerous game, there's a big difference between tearing up your knees and destroying your brain. Parents might simply forbid their children from playing organized football, and the sport could begin whither from the bottom up.

MassPats38

A nice hypothetical, but far from plausible. Assumption of risk doctrine is still in full effect. The question is whether players have full knowledge of the known risks when taking the field. This may be a problem for the NFL with regard to previous years if it concealed studies that would have warned players of risks, but that is unlikely to be a prospective issue.

Athletes take big pay days to play the game, whether the game is boxing, football, hockey, etc., and it is difficult to argue the athletes are ignorant to the requirements of the sport. America loves football, and I agree Congress will protect what America loves if its memberships wants to stay in office. Congress limited class actions to stem litigation and its effects, so there is no way this issue brings down the game before the legislature passes laws to minimize liability.

ForThoseAboutToRock

I would expect that it's standard practice for all high school student athletes to sign a liability waiver such as http://www.cps-k12.org/athletics/HSLiabilityWaiver.pdf

A lawyer friend of mine once gave me the impression that liability waivers aren't ironclad in the manner that some might expect. For instance, if a coach is willfully neglectful of a player's concussion, and even possibly tries to make him go back into the game when being told that the player had been concussed, well I could see liability waivers doing nothing to protect that coach.