The National Football League regular season is finally here with Kansas City and New England facing off. The NFL logo, the shield, has been dented somewhat but Americans cannot turn away from football even though the Commissioner Roger Goodell, his 31 owners and the Green Bay Packers board of directors have given fans reasons to turn away.
Goodell and the league owners have in the past 21 months have abandoned two markets, St. Louis and San Diego, and have approved the move of the Oakland Raiders franchise to Las Vegas. The owners claim to care about their fans and customers, they have proven they don’t.
Then there is the entire issue of Colin Kaepernick. The NFL owners cannot say they blackballed Kaepernick for his political views. The New York Giants owner John Mara walked right up to that line and laid out reasons why he would not hire Kaepernick claiming fan backlash. Other owners have given some excuse that I would not be against signing him but my football people don’t want him.
But those two issues are not as important as the concussion/brain injury/brain damage discussion. The NFL has been denying that evidence exists between concussions suffered on the field whether in practice or a game and brain injuries and brain damage. That is the issue that could doom the money gravy train for NFL owners.
Football is a game built on violence and has been sold to the public with that in mind since the 1960 CBS television program that included a segment called, “The Violent World of Sam Huff”. The first NFL player to ever appear on the cover of Time Magazine was Huff in 1959. Huff was a New York Giants linebacker known for delivering devastating hits on his opponents. In 2012, Huff was diagnosed with dementia. Parents are still allowing their children to play football.
People like the NFL, and money is flowing in. It’s all good.
By Evan Weiner For The Politics Of Sports Business
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Evan Weiner.