The NFL has long-touted the way it has handled C.T.E. and concussion research related to its sport but whatever flimsy legs they’re still standing on have been cut out recently by a New York Times discovery that their own research was incomplete, if not deliberately fixed.
Meanwhile, though Congress isn’t doing much these days, four representatives are asking the NFL for documents and information to explain why it tried to intervene in the concussion research done by a Boston University researcher, as reported by Outside the Lines.
The letter was sent to Roger Goodell and includes new information which showed how the NFL tried to replace Dr. Robert Stern, who was critical of the league and its handling of head injuries, and replace him with league-friendly researchers.
“Efforts by outside entities to … exercise influence over the selection of NIH research applicants are troubling, and we are committed to a full understanding of the sequence of events that led to this dispute,” the legislators wrote. The letter was signed by Reps. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J.; Gene Green, D-Texas; Diana DeGette, D-Colo.; and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
In the letter to Goodell, legislators wrote: “Despite this information, the NFL did not commit to fully funding the CTE study, according to the documents and briefings we have received.”
Green, the Texas congressman and one of the letter’s signatories, told Outside the Lines last week that “The NFL usually gets their way. But that’s not how you get the real valuable information. You don’t game the study, particularly through NIH.”
The study cost $16 million and was supposed to be funded by a $30 million gift from the league to the National Institute of Health, but it withdrew funding after the league claimed Stern was biased against them.
The league and the foundation for the NIH, which administered the grant, denied that the league intervened into the study.
This revelation comes at a time when the league is at a crossroads in the concussion crisis. The aforementioned New York Times report underscores what many have thought. Jerry Jones, the league’s most visible owner, compacted issues by denying any links between repeated head trauma and CTE.
Try as they might, this issue will not go away until the NFL puts all it’s card on the table.
[ESPN]
