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Goodell Defends N.F.L.’s Handling of Head Injuries

Published: October 28, 2009
Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League, defended the league’s response to the issue of concussions and the care of retired players while facing tough questions from several members of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in a hearing called to discuss the long-term effects of head injuries in football.

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Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times
N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the issue of head injuries in the N.F.L. during the daylong hearing before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

Prepared Statements (pdf)
Roger Goodell

Gay Culverhouse



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Goodell told the committee the N.F.L. that the league is doing all it can to protect the safety of players, including changing rules to protect players’ heads, but did concede he would be willing to change the structure of a controversial league-sponsored study of long-term concussion effects if it would help its credibility with Congress.

“We want Congress and the medical community to have confidence in our research,” Goodell said. “If that means changing the structure of the research, I’d be happy to work with the committee to do that.”

There was a chorus of voices discussing the issue at the daylong hearing. While DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the N.F.L. players association, called for more independent study of head injuries and promised that players’ safety would not be a bargaining issue with the league, a former N.F.L. team executive, Gay Culverhouse, made an impassioned plea for doctors independent of the teams to oversee care of the players. Dr. Eleanor Perfetto, the wife of the former lineman Ralph Wenzel, who is institutionalized for dementia at 66, pleaded with the league to stop denying a connection between concussions and dementia. “That denial,” she said, “is disrespectful to the players and their suffering.”

It was Goodell, however, who was the primary focus of interest for the committee, whose chairman is Representative John Conyers Jr., a Democrat of Michigan. Conyers pressed Goodell to address the link between concussions sustained while playing football and long-term brain deterioration. The N.F.L., mostly through the comments of Dr. Ira Casson, the head of the league’s concussion committee, has frequently played down studies that have made such a link and cited the need for further study.

Asked by Conyers whether he believed there was a link between concussions and dementia, Goodell replied, “The answer is, medical experts would know better than I do.” He went on to say that he encouraged the debate and that the league was adjusting rules and standards of care to make the game safer even before the answer is found.

“We’re doing everything we possibly can for our players now,” Goodell said.

Goodell and Smith did promise Conyers to share with the committee all relevant medical records held by the league and the players association.

Goodell faced his harshest criticism from Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, who called for Congress to revoke the league’s antitrust exemption because of its failure to care adequately for injured former players.

“I believe you are an $8 billion organization that has failed in your responsibility to the players,” Waters said. “We all know it’s a dangerous sport. Players are always going to get injured. The only question is, are you going to pay for it? I know that you dearly want to hold on to your profits. I think it’s the responsibility of Congress to look at your antitrust exemption and take it away.”

Others, including Representative Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York, and Linda T. Sánchez, Democrat of California, pointedly asked Goodell about the absence at the hearing of Dr. Casson. Goodell said he was not involved in whether Casson testified and said Casson was not an employee of the league. “It would have been important to have him here,” Sánchez said. “Without him, I’m not going to get medical answers out of you, that is very clear.”

Weiner also pressed the issue of the structure of the league’s current concussion study, prompting Goodell’s concession that he would consider altering it.

While several members of the Judiciary Committee argued that Congress should not be trying to legislate such sports issues, Conyers said that antitrust protections given to the N.F.L. coupled with the league’s influential position in youth sports made the hearing valuable.

“In a matter of public health, I do not think it’s acceptable for the league and the players association to hide behind the collective bargaining agreement,” Conyers said. “These are life-and-death issues that go to the heart of our most popular sport.”

Goodell led the first panel of witnesses, saying there were no issues on which he has spent more time than the health and safety of players.

“I have been clear: medical considerations must always come first,” Goodell said. “We are changing the culture of our game for the better. Our goal is to make our game as safe as possible for those who choose to play it and treat our retired players with the respect and care they deserve.”

In his opening remarks, Smith, the director of the players’ union, did not directly take issue with the N.F.L.’s approach, although in the statement he filed with the committee he assailed the N.F.L. for “denigrating, suppressing and ignoring” research that has linked football concussions to long-term cognitive degeneration. He did, however, declare that medical issues should not be subject to negotiation in the collective bargaining agreement.

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Quoted from Vaedur

OMG, so your saying our modern day Gladitorial combat of teams of 300lb grown men running head first into each other can cause head injuries. Like really?
Congress....

Quoted from GrahamBonnet

Sounds like they will be playing flag football soon if the Democrats get their way. Speaking of which, WHERE ARE the demoncats tonight? Ohhhhhh, that is RIGHT! Over at Mallozzis getting free food again!