Tag Archives: NFL

NYT Reports “At Least 1 in 4 N.F.L. Players Gets Brain Disease”

A New York Times article published yesterday, August 25, 2026, focuses on a study published this week in BMJ: at least one in four former N.F.L. players who died between 2016 and 2021 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy. While The Times’ headline, Study’s Alarming Finding: At Least 1 in 4 N.F.L. Players Gets Brain Disease, captures the reader, it and the study itself omit an even grimmer finding: it appears that only about approximately a quarter of the 878 players who died had their brains examined. The real risk for CTE could be almost one hundred percent.

Worn navy football helmet with number 24 on a wooden bench

CTE comes from the cumulative force of repeated head impacts. (No tackle football position is safe, but low-contact positions like punters and kickers are the safest, while linemen absorb thousands of blows.) Roughly 60% of the players found with CTE had dementia and severe impairment, including an inability to feed or groom themselves.

This isn’t a call to ban tackle football. But public universities, however lucrative their football programs may be, are taxpayer-supported government institutions. Perhaps lawmakers should at least weigh the benefits and drawbacks of the sport on college campuses before federal funds are provided.

Football: The Government Gets Into The Game

This past year, special attention has been given to the link between football and brain injury, particularly in the NFL.  For good reason, this past season, the incidences of concussion in the NFL rose by 58% – from 182 to 271.

The National Institute of Health, in association with Boston University, studied the brains of 91 deceased NFL players, finding that 96% of them had some form of brain injury – a stunning number, but not surprising from a sport that is rife with head-to-head defensive collisions.

Naturally, “The NFL rejects the allegations,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.  In fact, the NFL initially offered to donate $30 million to fund this study – perhaps to surreptitiously sway the findings.  However, when they found that Robert Stern, Boston University researcher and an expert on the link between football and TBI, was leading the study, the NFL dropped its promised donation.

What I do not understand is how the NFL can deny the magnitude and relevance of these statistics, especially in a study of now deceased players.  They also say that Mr. Stern was biased.  Personally, I do not understand how the NFL can claim someone can be biased on a study that relies on statistics.  Furthermore, Mr. Stern may have personal feelings about the link between brain trauma and football, but I do not believe, as an expert in the field, he would sacrifice accuracy for point of view.

Lastly, I do not think that there is a person in this country who, if asked, does not have an opinion on football and its potentially negative effects.