Roger Goodell and the rest of the NFL higher ups have fiercely refused to admit to any definitive link between playing football and suffering from brain disease or “CTE” later in life. They are trying to protect the game they are paid millions of dollars to oversee but yesterday one of the league’s top officials did an about face and actually admitted to the link, which was somewhat shocking.
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The NFL’s top health and safety officer acknowledged Monday there is a link between football-related head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE — the first time a senior league official has conceded football’s connection to the devastating brain disease.
The admission came during a roundtable discussion on concussions convened by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce. Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety, was asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., if the link between football and neurodegenerative diseases like CTE has been established.
“The answer to that question is certainly yes,” Miller said.
Miller then more so wanted to focus on what to do moving forward, rather than let them focus on the past years that the league has been in denial.
Schakowsky then turned to Miller. After acknowledging the link, he said: “But there’s also a number of questions that come with that.”
As he tried to continue, Schakowsky interrupted.
“Is there a link?” she said.
“Yes, sure,” Miller responded.
“Because we feel — well, I feel — that was not the unequivocal answer three days before the Super Bowl by Dr. Mitchel Berger,” Schakowsky said.
“Well, I’m not gonna speak for Dr. Berger,” Miller said.
Bergerm a San Francisco neurosurgeon who leads the NFL subcommittee on long-term brain injury, asserted just three days before Super Bowl 50 that there is still no established link between football and CTE.
It’s interesting to see the league suddenly publicly recognize the link between playing and CTE but like Miller said, where do they go from here?
