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[Parch]

Any changes will be bandaid solutions. Short of complete banning it's not getting fixed, so it's never going to happen. Don't underestimate the business value and popularity of the NFL. They'll make adjustments to appease the concerns, but the NFL is going nowhere.

The NFL's fallback is always going to be the risk vs reward argument. Here are the risks when you sign the million dollar contract, and players will continue to sign the contract. Athletes have consistently proven they will take any risk to become a professional athlete.

 

[MrS]

Absurd sport.
Just ban it.

No it's fun.

The players know what they're signing up for and they get remunerated accordingly.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Primary and secondary school football needs to be outright banned. But that'll never happen as too many school districts care more about their football programs than actual education.

 

[DogDude]

I had heard from someone that the cte rate in a random sample of people was 92%. No idea if that's true or not.

 

[NJSlay]

Nothing should happen at all. These guys nowadays know the risk. We gonna ban combat sports now?

 

[Shake Appeal]

So what's the next step here?

Significant rule changes or delete the sport.

 

[HStallion]

No it's fun.

The players know what they're signing up for and they get remunerated accordingly.

Well no they didn't know what they were signing up for because we only just publicly learned about CTE since the NFL was brushing this stuff under the rug for so long.

 

[darkazcura]

Significant rule changes or delete the sport.

I think the NFL should stay around however they see fit as long as they acknowledge these issues and properly educate their players. If adults want to play the sport professionally knowing the risks, that's fine.

I do think there needs to be significant changes at the public school level, though. Either get rid of the sport as an option or get rid of tackle football (which essentially erases the sport pretty much).

For NFL fans, this would slowly reduce the league, but I don't know what else should be done. Football has no place in public schools with all of this data on CTE, imo. Unfortunately I can't see schools getting on board so easily, which saddens me. Football is too engrained in the culture here. I would love to be wrong, though.

 

[Lamel]

No it's fun.

The players know what they're signing up for and they get remunerated accordingly.

Nothing should happen at all. These guys nowadays know the risk. We gonna ban combat sports now?

The whole point of these studies is that the risk is not well known. It's only recently being discovered to be a very prevalent issue that the NFL has tried to keep under wraps.

I had heard from someone that the cte rate in a random sample of people was 92%. No idea if that's true or not.

Why don't you research it then instead of posting a random number on a forum.

 

[gutshot]

Once brain-machine interfaces and VR becomes commonplace, we can replace our own bodies with virtual ones. That's the only way that football survives. Because our bodies weren't made to take the kind of punishment football players take on a weekly basis.

 

[Wanda/Wander]

As someone who played football in high school and has gotten multiple concussions. This is what keeps me up at night.

 

[siddx]

No it's fun.

The players know what they're signing up for and they get remunerated accordingly.

No, they don't. Most of these players are pushed into at a very young age by parents or by the lure of popularity. And the better they are, the more they are lauded with adoration and praise, made to feel special and important. What kid is going to walk away from that? Entire towns come out to see you play, colleges seek you out and let you attend despite having terrible academics, then the promise of big money comes into play. These players never had a choice. They were conscripted into a sport that makes it incredibly hard to leave if you have a talent for it. An 18 year old isn't going to quit playing when he can smell riches and fame just around the corner. By the time they are old enough to recognise the dangers and that perhaps it isn't worth it, it's too late.

 

[MrS]

No, they don't. Most of these players are pushed into at a very young age by parents or by the lure of popularity. And the better they are, the more they are lauded with adoration and praise, made to feel special and important. What kid is going to walk away from that? Entire towns come out to see you play, colleges seek you out and let you attend despite having terrible academics, then the promise of big money comes into play. These players never had a choice. They were conscripted into a sport that makes it incredibly hard to leave if you have a talent for it. An 18 year old isn't going to quit playing when he can smell riches and fame just around the corner. By the time they are old enough to recognise the dangers and that perhaps it isn't worth it, it's too late.

I simply don't agree with the bolded. The preceding four lines are neither here nor there, frankly. CTE is well known issue now and very few players, if any, have quit the league because of it. New contracts are being signed weekly in spite of the knowledge of concussions and CTE. Why is it too late for them to quit/retire? They've made bank and can get out whenever they want, but they continue to play. Guys who will enter the league from the 2017 NFL Draft all know the dangers and are still joining the league anyway. They either join for the love of the game or for the money. Who are you to say their decisions are wrong when they have the same information available to them as you do?

What next? Are you going to try to persuade me that Ali didn't know being that punched in the face repeatedly could lead to brain damage? Get real, Sid.

NFL and football will never be banned because there will always be people willing to play and there will always be people willing to watch. Long may it continue.

 

[DBT85]

Don't expect it to be banned but I'm sure more and more parents will pull kids out or it'll be flag only. How is that going to affect the college game and therefore the NFL?

 

[Fitts]

I played DE in high school. I was undersized for the position, but I would fuck dudes up. I would deliberately head hunt to "get color." (go helmet to helmet to get various streaks of colors from the opposing teams' helmets on my own -- mine was silver so they were super obvious) The only penalty I remember drawing was for getting into it with someone after the play was blown dead.

Oops. Sorry, fellow kids. I probably messed myself up doing that too. It was about 15 years ago so I would certainly hope no one can get away with doing something similar now.

 

[commedieu]

How do you know this?

Because they don't smash their heads into objects as a goal.

They tackle, and sometimes bump their heads. But it's not the goal of the sport, and is just as enjoyable. Soccer, is a huge industry as well, without terminal cte. There are rugby players, and all contact sport players with cte. There is a spectrum.

Football can be lucrative without folks drinking coolant to death after they retire.
Cte happens, but it doesn't need to be enhanced with banging helmets on purpose.

This isn't that hard to believe, is it?

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Because they don't smash their heads into objects as a goal.

They tackle, and sometimes bump their heads. But it's not the goal of the sport, and is just as enjoyable. Soccer, is a huge industry as well, without terminal cte. There are rugby players, and all contact sport players with cte. There is a spectrum.

Football can be lucrative without folks drinking coolant to death after they retire.
Cte happens, but it doesn't need to be enhanced with banging helmets on purpose.

This isn't that hard to believe, is it?

The only way to know that for sure is if they have been through the same level of investigation, research, and reporting the NFL/football has been recently. To my knowledge, those sports are not researched nearly at the same level football is. Also not sure if they have the same on-field protocols as football does. Same for hockey and other contact/collision sports.

 

[BlastProcessing]

I simply don't agree with the bolded. The preceding four lines are neither here nor there, frankly. CTE is well known issue now and very few players, if any, have quit the league because of it. New contracts are being signed weekly in spite of the knowledge of concussions and CTE. Why is it too late for them to quit/retire? They've made bank and can get out whenever they want, but they continue to play. Guys who will enter the league from the 2017 NFL Draft all know the dangers and are still joining the league anyway. They either join for the love of the game or for the money. Who are you to say their decisions are wrong when they have the same information available to them as you do?

What next? Are you going to try to persuade me that Ali didn't know being that punched in the face repeatedly could lead to brain damage? Get real, Sid.

NFL and football will never be banned because there will always be people willing to play and there will always be people willing to watch. Long may it continue.

If we had a poll if all NFL players, what percentage do you think could describe what CTE is, what causes it and what it's prognosis is?

I think that number is somewhere south of 10%.

 

[Sulik2]

As someone who played football in high school and has gotten multiple concussions. This is what keeps me up at night.

If you have kids will you let them play football knowing what you know now about brain injuries? This is really the key question to the future of football, if parents don't let their kids play it anymore, the sport is dead.

 

[newdayrocks]

If you have kids will you let them play football knowing what you know now about brain injuries? This is really the key question to the future of football, if parents don't let their kids play it anymore, the sport is dead.

I played offensive/defensive line in school, but our 13-year-old son is forbidden from playing any kind of football. Just not worth the risk.

 

[Parch]

If we had a poll if all NFL players, what percentage do you think could describe what CTE is, what causes it and what it's prognosis is?

I think that number is somewhere south of 10%.

Because they don't care.
You could give them a 2 week course and 100% educate them on the CTE risks,
And they still wouldn't care.

If it ever got to the point where the sport was threatened to be banned, it would be the players who would be fighting the hardest to prevent it because it would be threatening their livelihood.

Risks be damned. Show me the money. That's what the overwhelming majority of athletes in every pro sport care about.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Because they don't care.
You could give them a 2 week course and 100% educate them on the CTE risks,
And they still wouldn't care.

If it ever got to the point where the sport was threatened to be banned, it would be the players who would be fighting the hardest to prevent it because it would be threatening their livelihood.

Risks be damned. Show me the money. That's what the overwhelming majority of athletes in every pro sport care about.

The changes are going to be a generation or two from now. Of course current players aren't going to give up the only livelihood they know. It's been ingrained in them that football is everything from the time they were toddlers.

 

[IrishNinja]

We replace the NFL with the KFL

This would get me into sports

same

 

[Zen_Arcade]

They should just ban kids from playing it and let the pro sport be as violent as it used to be 20 years ago. It's a game that hinges on huge bodies colliding with each other. All the new rules are doing is making the sport boring as hell to watch.

 

[navanman]

Has a similar study ever been done with rugby? I wonder how the findings will be like.

Similar issues with rugby but more to do with concussions & effect it has on brain post career.
In the last 2 years rugby has gotten very strict on concussion injuries during game with mandatory HIA and return to game protocols if you fail the test.
High tackles above shoulder & tackles made without arms (shoulder charge) are heavily policed and punished.

 

[Naudi]

Youth football has already gotten a ton safer with limiting how much we can have them tackle as well as all the practice that goes into form tackling as opposed to head hunting. But the sport will never be completely safe, but at youth age I worry way more about knees then I do heads. Ive only seen 2 concussions in 5 years, but in the PNW we don't push them like they do in the south. I'm sure it's a different story for them.

 

[LinkAndEpona]

We've already had a South Park episode over this, we know the solution.

 

[shira]

No it's fun.

The players know what they're signing up for and they get remunerated accordingly.

Having permanent brain damage that makes you insane, suicidal, and homicidal was in the contract?

And 1 in 6 go bankrupt, and a fresh batch of 300,000 kids playing every year.

 

[jdstorm]

So what's the next step here?

Non contact NFL based on Ultimate Frisbee.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Youth football has already gotten a ton safer with limiting how much we can have them tackle as well as all the practice that goes into form tackling as opposed to head hunting. But the sport will never be completely safe, but at youth age I worry way more about knees then I do heads. Ive only seen 2 concussions in 5 years, but in the PNW we don't push them like they do in the south. I'm sure it's a different story for them.

Diagnosed concussions are not the only thing to be concerned about with regards to CTE. This is a misconception.

 

[thehypocrite]

So what's the next step here?

Make the NFL and football illegal.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Make the NFL and football illegal.

Yes, this is bound to happen.....

 

[Sanjuro]

Make the NFL and football illegal.

How will we know our beer is cold though?

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Having permanent brain damage that makes you insane, suicidal, and homicidal was in the contract?

And 1 in 6 go bankrupt, and a fresh batch of 300,000 kids playing every year.

In this day and age anyone looking to make it their career knows the risks or could easily educate themselves about it before going down that path. It was terrible that people in the past signed up for it without realizing the dangers, but that's not an issue for anyone getting into the sport now.

Either let people take the risks and deal with the health issues or decide that they don't want to take those risks and seek other careers.

 

[Naudi]

Diagnosed concussions are not the only thing to be concerned about with regards to CTE. This is a misconception.

Yeah I'm aware of that. But not all youth football is barbaric like Friday night tykes lol. They probably tackle more in 1 week of practice then we do all year. I wouldn't let my kids play either if I was in Texas or anywhere that is that hardcore with youth football.

 

[Gallbaro]

Better helmets, better rules, or R.I.P. kids getting in to football (speaking as a parent that played football)

Helmets make it worse.

The thrill of high speed, high impact collisions is the problem. The sport needs to get boring.

Edit: Woah, late to this thread.

 

[Shake Appeal]

I think the NFL should stay around however they see fit as long as they acknowledge these issues and properly educate their players. If adults want to play the sport professionally knowing the risks, that's fine.

The problem is that the only way you get adults who want to play the sport professionally is if there's an entire ecosystem churning through hundreds of thousands of unpaid amateurs aged 5-21 to find the players worth paying the big bucks. All of those players are exposing themselves to some level of risk, especially when they're underage minors who shouldn't be asked to consider or take responsibility for that risk.

Also the incentives to take debilitating bodily and mental risk are perverse. It's one thing to ask an adult to take a knowing risk. It's another to ask a 14 year-old to give up one of the very few--if only--pathways to any kind of financial reward in their life. Especially when there's an entire predatory industry built around encouraging them to take the risk.

The whole thing is rotten.

 

[OriginofHysteria]

The sad thing is that as awful as this sounds, and as someone who has suffered a few concussions during my hockey days, this will not be something on the minds of fans, including myself, by week 1. And that's the reality of it. The NFL needs to do something about it themselves rather than hear about fan outrage.

 

[Blastoise]

EDIT: Wrong thread.

 

[commedieu]

The sad thing is that as awful as this sounds, and as someone who has suffered a few concussions during my hockey days, this will not be something on the minds of fans, including myself, by week 1. And that's the reality of it. The NFL needs to do something about it themselves rather than hear about fan outrage.

You know, you're right.

Its far too lucrative to play in the NFL. Families with little to no other option besides getting their children geared toward sports, will figure it wont happen to them. Like smoking and cancer. A solution would be better opportunities. To reduce the # of kids lining themselves up for a sport that will likely cause permanent damage to their neural networks later on in life.

But that seems to be what the world is out of these days, especially with Automation coming in hot. To a lot of people, sports is a more realistic lottery.

 

[thehypocrite]

Yes, this is bound to happen.....

It should.

How will we know our beer is cold though?

There's an app for that.

 

[Kill3r7]

Exactly. Either they come to some sort of technological breakthrough in helmet technology or more drastic measures have to be taken.

I'll say this: Everyone laughed at Mike Ditka like 8 years ago when he said that if you want to fix the problem, you get rid of facemasks. The thing is, though: he's right. Get rid of facemasks and the speed drops, players do a better job of avoiding headshots, and players learn to tackle better.

If something isn't done, football eventually dies because the amount of kids going into the sport fades.

I bet if they autopsied old timers "leatherheads" they would find CTE. It is the nature of the sport. Although Ditka's suggestion was on point.

 

[Amibguous Cad]

I'd watch a professional flag football league

 

[Ric Flair]

I bet if they autopsied old timers "leatherheads" they would find CTE. It is the nature of the sport. Although Ditka's suggestion was on point.

No doubt, there isn't one solution to the problem. It's par for the course in any contact sport. They can mitigate it by getting rid of facemasks but helmet to helmet hits will still periodically happen and receivers will still get pancaked in awkward positions going for jump balls. Linemen will still fall on top each other for loose balls. It's a barbaric sport, which is why it's so popular

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

I'm glad my son determined he didn't want to play football at a very early age (before helmet to helmet contact was permitted).

 

[bill0527]

Soccer, bitches.

It's time to catch up to the rest of the world.

 

[Lonewulfeus]

No it's fun.

The players know what they're signing up for and they get remunerated accordingly.

Lol with non guaranteed contracts. The players get fucked every which way and still want to play.

 

[DominoKid]

its funny. my mom never let me play organized football growing up (soccer and basketball). and now that it's common knowledge that football isnt healthy, you think i'd give her slack for making the right decision

but i still wish i could've played football despite all that and even with everything we know now. and i remind her now and then how much it still bites me that she wouldn't let me play football. i'd work on WR drills w/ my pops all year (now i have ungodly good hands as an adult for no reason), and i know i was better than most of the kids cause i played with them in pickup.

my dad and i would go to my mom every year until i was maybe 10 or 11 before we gave up on convincing her.

so if my future son wants to play football, if mom is fine with it i'd probably let him play

but by the time i have a kid old enough to play football (lets say 10 years from now. he'll be 5 or 6, because im in no rush) it'll probably be on its way out.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

Soccer, bitches.

It's time to catch up to the rest of the world.

Soccer isn't immune from CTE issues

 

[O Canada Our Home and Native Land]

its funny. my mom never let me play organized football growing up (soccer and basketball). and now that it's common knowledge that football isnt healthy, you think i'd give her slack for making the right decision

but i still wish i could've played football despite all that and even with everything we know now. and i remind her now and then how much it still bites me that she wouldn't let me play football. i'd work on WR drills w/ my pops all year (now i have ungodly good hands as an adult for no reason), and i know i was better than most of the kids cause i played with them in pickup.

my dad and i would go to my mom every year until i was maybe 10 or 11 before we gave up on convincing her.

so if my future son wants to play football, if mom is fine with it i'd probably let him play

but by the time i have a kid old enough to play football (lets say 10 years from now. he'll be 5 or 6, because im in no rush) it'll probably be on its way out.

wow. Are you sure you didn't play football? Maybe you got hit in the head so much you have a Total Recall thing going on.