OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

[Sparetire]

CTE, the concussion crisis, and an economic look at the end of football - Grantland

I dont want to even imagin a situation like that, but according to this article its quite possbile. I hope not

 

[Tunescribe]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

That's a pretty outrageous article, I didn't even finish reading it. I can't even begin to imagine high school coaches and referees being hauled into court on concussion-oriented civil lawsuits.

 

[Immaculate12]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

Technology works wonders my friends. No need to be worried.

 

[jnug]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

The argument in that article seems more of a strawman than anything else. It is a little hard for me to buy into the idea that the recent findings with regard to concussion and long term effects result in the demise of pro football.

I do think that the recent studies are leading some to conclude that a good bit of the damage is already done long before a player becomes a pro. If that does prove out to be the case I don't wonder what changes we might see that have an impact on the game. From its inception, the hard shell helmet has been more of a weapon than a protector and we could ultimately see significant changes in helmet design intended to turn the hard shell helmet into something that protects more and is less of a weapon.

I think Hockey has more issues with concussion at least as a percentage of total players. Hockey helmets have always seemed something of a joke to me at least as far as concussion is concerned. I would not be surprised to see changes in the hockey helmet as a means of controlling some of this damage. In the case of hockey some of the league's biggest stars that are targeted by opponents are at risk for having their careers shortened. Losing the league's biggest stars would be a real issue for pro hockey I think. Guys skating into each other and into boards and plexiglass at high speed with the kind of mass that they have would seem to demand something better than those hard plastic shells we see them wearing today.

 

[Husse]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

If lawsuits were to start shuffling in and they become such a big problem that football itself was at risk it's easy to avoid liability.

For the NFL, just make the players sign a contract that says they understand the risks of playing and do it anyway. This put all the liability on themselves and the risk vs reward factor is heavily in favour of the reward. Even the the lowest salary in the NFL is much bigger than most of these players could expect from any other job.

College could probably also do this, and people will take that chance to get an education. Provided every player has reached the age of majority they can sign such a contract.

High School would be the only problem since the player aren't old enough to sign a contract. A parent could probably still sign it.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

Once the Ambulance Chasers are involved things fall apart pretty quickly....hopefully the agreements will be enough to protect the game from these parasites...

 

[Tunescribe]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

If lawsuits were to start shuffling in and they become such a big problem that football itself was at risk it's easy to avoid liability.

For the NFL, just make the players sign a contract that says they understand the risks of playing and do it anyway. This put all the liability on themselves and the risk vs reward factor is heavily in favour of the reward. Even the the lowest salary in the NFL is much bigger than most of these players could expect from any other job.

College could probably also do this, and people will take that chance to get an education. Provided every player has reached the age of majority they can sign such a contract.

High School would be the only problem since the player aren't old enough to sign a contract. A parent could probably still sign it.

Yup, two words: liability waiver. That pretty much sinks the entire article.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

CTE, the concussion crisis, and an economic look at the end of football - Grantland

I dont want to even imagin a situation like that, but according to this article its quite possbile. I hope not

Just over a century ago, the same thing was playing out because of the deaths on the football field, Football was saved because of a visionary President...

Theodore Roosevelt Association

>>>>Strange as it may seem, high school football, college football, and even the Super Bowl might not exist today if President Theodore Roosevelt had not taken a hand in preserving the game. As originally played on college campuses, the game was extremely rough, including slugging, gang tackling and unsportsmanlike behavior. Quite a number of players died (18 in just the year 1905 alone, with 20 times fewer players than there are today). Interest in becoming a football player was declining!<<<<<

 

[Tunescribe]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

Just over a century ago, the same thing was playing out because of the deaths on the football field, Football was saved because of a visionary President...

Theodore Roosevelt Association

>>>>Strange as it may seem, high school football, college football, and even the Super Bowl might not exist today if President Theodore Roosevelt had not taken a hand in preserving the game. As originally played on college campuses, the game was extremely rough, including slugging, gang tackling and unsportsmanlike behavior. Quite a number of players died (18 in just the year 1905 alone, with 20 times fewer players than there are today). Interest in becoming a football player was declining!<<<<<

Teddy Roosevelt was the first Goodell!

 

[black&gold]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

Yup, two words: liability waiver. That pretty much sinks the entire article.

Liability waivers are ineffective if they're based on misrepresented facts. As I understand, the current lawsuits brought by former players allege that the NFL intentionally misrepresented the risk of head injuries.

 

[Deus Irae]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

Football is the modern American version of the Roman "breads and circuses". Congress will pass any liability waivers needed to keep the NFL afloat.

 

[Gwedd]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

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.

 

[Onedaful]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

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]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

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]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

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]

re: OT: End to football? The concussion crisis & its economic impact

Yup, two words: liability waiver. That pretty much sinks the entire article.

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.