NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is set to be honored with the Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program Leadership in Sports Health, Safety, and Research Award in Jacksonville, Florida next week.
NFL commish Roger Goodell will be honored next week in Jacksonville with the JSMP Leadership in Sports Health, Safety & Research Award.
— Justin Barney (@JustinBarneyTV) March 25, 2016
Obviously, Goodell isn’t being honored for his work in regards to concussions and brain trauma in the NFL, but according to Jacksonville.com, because of the NFL’s work with the Jaguars in founding Project 17, which has a goal of putting a full-time athletic trainer in all 17 public high schools in Duval County (where Jacksonville is located) by the year 2020.
Goodell, the NFL and the Jaguars partnered with Jacksonville University and the Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program last July to create Project 17, an initiative to put 17 full-time athletic trainers in all 17 Duval County public high schools by 2020. The cost for that program, which was estimated at $1.5 million by Duval County Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, is being funded by grants from JU, the Jaguars and the NFL.
The Jaguars Foundation made a $50,000 donation toward the first-year funding of the program, which the NFL agreed to match. The city of Jacksonville also committed $53,000 to Project 17 at last year’s announcement.
The timing of the award comes mere days after recent investigations by the New York Times identified flaws in concussion research by the NFL. According to the reports, the league came to a conclusion on studies based on a complete report of all diagnosed concussions from 1996 to 2001. But, when asked about the data, the NFL admitted that not every team submitted information about concussions sustained by their players, as they were not acquired to do so.
Goodell and the NFL responded that the investigations mischaracterized the information provided in the studies, and that the New York Times “ignored the facts.” The NFL also stated that it never claimed the original studies were complete and released a list of clarifications regarding the report, though previous investigations have shown that the league used them to downplay their concussion problem. The NFL also bought ads bashing the Times’ story…on the Times story itself.
And to top off Goodell’s week, Congress is wondering why the NFL intervened in concussion research at Boston University. Congratulations on your health, safety, and research award, Roger!
