While Miller’s statements were sort of a “one foot in, one foot out” kind of comment, it’s still the first time that an NFL executive has formally admitted a connection between football and C.T.E. It’s a groundbreaking admission and potentially a watershed moment for the NFL and the movement toward greater awareness of C.T.E.
Advertisement
“The answer to that question is certainly yes”, Miller replied to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who asked if a link between the two had been conclusively established.
You’re on the go!
December also saw the release of the movie Concussion, a film based on the true story of Dr. Bennet Omalu and his fight to uncover the link between football and CTE.
League officials have long denied proof of a connection between playing in the NFL and the condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The NFL has previously acknowledged that head trauma, particularly concussion, poses a risk to the long-term health of players. “But the fact that we have so many millions of children, some as young as 5 years old, bashing heads, and now we know exposing themselves to the risk of CTE, that conversation now becomes front and center”.
When asked to clarify if he believes there is a link, Miller said “sure” and noted that he is not a doctor. Seven years ago, National Football League spokesman Greg Aiello acknowledged the issue, but didn’t specifically talk about CTE.
Miller appeared at a roundtable discussion of concussions before the House Committee on Energy & Commerce. And the league still faces litigation from hundreds of other former players who opted out of the settlement.
For more context, we’ll refer back to an interview with Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic pathologist who discovered CTE – and who was featured in the PBS Frontline special League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis. Does this open up the door for current players to be more involved?
However, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said there’s only so much they can do. “We continue to make rule changes to our game to make the game safer and protect our players from unnecessary injury, from acts that we see can lead to increased probability of an injury”.
Even as recently as the Super Bowl. Some former players are now appealing a settlement that was reached past year after a group that included thousands of former players sued the league for the damages caused by CTE, so Miller’s admission could help their cause.
Today, CTE can only be diagnosed post-mortem, which has prompted some athletes, like soccer legend Brandi Chastain, to donate their brain to research.
Seau committed suicide in 2012 and a study of his brain later showed he had CTE.
Advertisement
Miller’s comments also come just a week after the Pop Warner youth football organization confirmed to NBC News that it had settled a high-profile lawsuit brought by the mother of Joseph Chernach, a Wisconsin man who was suffering from CTE when he hanged himself in his mother’s shed in June 2012.
