The broken promises of the NFL’s concussion settlement
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2024
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
The “landmark” settlement promised payouts for suffering players. But a Washington Post investigation found that strict guidelines and aggressive reviews have led to denials for hundreds of players diagnosed with dementia, including many who died with CTE.
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This week, there has been a lot of excitement about football as fans gear up for a Super Bowl attended by Taylor Swift (assuming she can make it in time from her concert in Tokyo.)
It’s easy to forget that just a few years ago, we were having a very different conversation about the NFL.
“It actually goes back to 2011 or so, which is when hundreds and eventually thousands of former players began suing the league over allegations, basically, that the league had lied to them about the long term dangers of concussions,” explains sports reporter Will Hobson.
A “landmark” settlement in 2015 promised payouts for players with dementia and their families. But a Washington Post investigation found that behind the scenes, the settlement routinely fails to deliver money and medical care to former players suffering from dementia and CTE.
Read the key findings from The Post’s investigation of the NFL concussion settlement here.
What questions do you have about The Concussion Files? Ask The Post.
Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Maggie Penman. Thank you to Joe Tone and Wendy Galietta.
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Transcript
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| 0:14.6 | This week there has been a lot of excitement about football. I'm not a big football fan, but even I have found myself trying to calculate in my head whether Taylor Swift would be able to make it back from her concert in Tokyo and time to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelsey play in the |
| 0:18.8 | Super Bowl next weekend in this moment when people are so excited about this sport, it's easy to forget that just a few years ago, we were having a very different conversation about the NFL. |
| 0:30.0 | Tonight, the epic story of football's concussion crisis. |
| 0:34.8 | Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE. |
| 0:39.1 | Number of retired NFL players were diagnosed with CTE, so right. It is there a link? Yeah. |
| 0:45.0 | Yeah. Because we feel that. |
| 0:47.0 | Actually goes back to 2011 or so which is when hundreds and eventually thousands of former players began |
| 0:54.0 | suing the league over allegations basically that the league had lied to them |
| 0:57.9 | about the long-term dangers of concussions and spread missed information about the relationship between concussions and brain disease. |
| 1:05.4 | Very similar to the lawsuits against Big Tobacco. |
| 1:08.2 | Here's a go over the link between smoking and cancer. |
| 1:11.4 | This is Will Hobson. He's a sports investigative report. smoking in cancer. |
| 1:12.6 | This is Will Hobson, he is a sports investigative reporter for the post. |
| 1:16.4 | He says that the NFL was under enormous pressure, both in court and in the court of public |
| 1:21.2 | opinion, to do something about CTE. |
| 1:24.0 | And then, finally, in 2015, those lawsuits ended with a landmark settlement. |
| 1:30.0 | And so what this settlement effectively did for the NFL is it put this concussion crisis in their rearview |
| 1:37.5 | mirror. |
| 1:38.5 | So they didn't admit any wrongdoing, but what they did agree to do is they said any former player who comes down with any brain disease |
| 1:44.8 | linked to the sport the dementia related symptoms with CTE Alzheimer's Parkinson's |
| 1:48.7 | ALS if you get any of those conditions you're not have to prove that plane in the NFL caused it, |
| 1:54.8 | we're going to cut you a check, could be as high as several million dollars, and if you have |
... |
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