And the remaining $40 million will help fund medical research into the effects of head injuries.
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“We’re doing the best we can to protect them [players] while they’re playing and for the years after”, Goodell said on ‘Today’. “Moving forward, we will do a better job explaining all of these changes and the reasons behind them to our players and our fans”.
Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote a letter on playsmartplaysafe.com stating that the new program will attempt to “drive progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of head injuries, enhance medical protocols and further improve the way the game is taught and played by all who love it”. Asked by The Associated Press about Kaepernick’s decision not to stand before games when the national anthem is played, Goodell says: “I support our players when they want to see change in society, and we don’t live in a flawless society”. Just in recent days, many observers have questioned the decision not to have Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, the league’s reigning most valuable player, undergo concussion testing during the NFL’s season-opening game last Thursday night in Denver after he absorbed a series of helmet-to-helmet hits by Broncos defenders, only one of which was penalized by the game officials. Earlier in the week, both the NFL and the NFL Players Association launched separate inquiries into the execution of the league’s concussion protocols.
“We know there is skepticism about our work in this area”, said Goodell.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Wednesday that the league will commit $100 million toward brain health, and stressed in an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer that the league is deeply concerned about the health and well-being of its players.
“The goal is to pursue scientific research to examine the long-term effects of concussion, the incidence and prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and what can be done to improve long-term player health”, Goodell wrote. Hopefully this new commitment to player safety will pay dividends. Former players have come out in mass, levying lawsuits against the league that resulted in a $1 billion settlement with its former employees, settling a class-action suit that could have cost the league much, much more to amend.
“I’m not a medical expert or scientist”, Goodell said. “We want engineers to use that information to consider design changes that address the specific needs of each position”. We continued our obligations with (Boston University’s) NIH for $30 million that we committed to several years ago.
Goodell said in his letter to the NFL’s 32 teams that the new initiative is “important work”. But I think everyone would acknowledge that we’re still in the early stages of that research.
“Our protocol was violated”, Goodell said of his reaction to seeing that scene play out. “We’re going to do our best to accelerate that”.
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Previously, the National Football League announced it was hiring a chief medical officer who will work with each team’s medical staff, the medical committees of the National Football League and the players’ union, and outside scientific and medical communities.
