The Cost of Football
Doris Nicosia
Dr. Michael Babcock
ENG 112
5 April 2016
The Cost of Football
For some, the obsession with football is all-consuming. It is no wonder there is a lot of money spent and made on this sport. Fans spend an average of $483 annually in support of their NFL team (usatoday.com). Considering the amount of fans out there, that comes to millions of dollars. The average salary for a high-ranking football player is 15 to 20 million annually (spotrac.com). That is a big draw for young boys growing up aspiring to be a famous football player. The consideration of long-term effects on their bodies does not come into play at all.
Approximately 300,000 sport-related concussions occur annually in the United States (jeffwp.org). A new study from Boston University School of Medicine suggests that boys who start playing tackle football before the age of 12 may face a higher risk for neurological deficits as adults. The concern stems from an assessment of current memory and thinking skills among 42 former National Football League players, now between the ages of 40 and 69. Half the players had started playing tackle football at age 11 or younger (webmd.com). In 2011, investigators recruited former NFL players to participate in an ongoing study called DETECT. The players' average age was 52, and all had played at least two years in the NFL and 12 years of "organized football." All had sustained a number of concussions throughout their careers. All had a minimum six-month history of mental health complaints, including problems with thinking clearly, behavior and mood (webmd.com).
However, as we are screaming at the TV during super bowl, the injuries the players could be receiving aren’t even a passing thought in our minds. We could care less. We sit and joke about the commercials and wait for the game to begin again. Football is associated with passion, emotion, excitement and dedication. As I have seen for myself, “Such is the intensity of the experience that two thirds of fans have cried at football matches — mostly through joy, but occasionally because of despair” (www.sirc.org). Football provides, for many fans, an opportunity to let themselves go emotionally — to release the frustrations of everyday life. With such strong emotions, it is not surprising that we do not focus on the aspects of concussion and injury, no matter how many articles or movies that are put out there for public consumption. Our kids see this obsession and want to be a part of it. They want to grow up to be a famous football player. Who cares about injuries?
The long-term effects of multiple concussions are varied. It can cause a wide range of functional short or long-term changes affecting thinking, sensation, language, or emotions. A staggering 96% of former NFL players show some form of brain damage. New research on the brains of deceased former football players found high rates of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—a degenerative disease believed to stem from repetitive brain injury (theatlantic.com).
For years, the NFL denied that there was a link between football and long-term neurocognitive conditions. As more studies, including one conducted by scientists at the University of North Carolina and another at the University of Michigan, found heightened rates of dementia and other cognitive decline in football players, the league softened its stance (nytimes.com). Aiello, the N.F.L. spokesman, said in 2009 “It’s quite obvious from the medical research that’s been done that concussions can lead to long-term problems,” The first time any league official had publicly acknowledged any long-term effects of concussions (nytimes.com).