Oral Content:
Topic: NFL is not committed to preventing head injuries to players
Purpose: Many college students are avid professional and collegiate football fans, but they do not understand the ramifications of repeated head injuries to the players. When supporting a professional football team, they are supporting an organization that does not value a players’ present or future wellness. This speech is not designed to make students feel guilty for supporting professional football or that they need to stop supporting the game, but rather to think twice before they give money to a multibillion dollar industry that does not consider its players’ health to be of the utmost importance. If consumers send a message to the NFL that they want players to have better qualities of life in the future, it will cause the NFL to have to get serious about head injury prevention, which will in turn effect the rules of the collegiate and youth game.
Thesis statement: While mounting evidence has suggested that CTE is linked to the repeated sub- concussive head traumas professional football players encounter each game, the National Football League still hesitates to take action, refusing to act on the link between football and permanent brain damage.
Introduction: The National Football League makes 9 billion dollars a year. But how much is the life of a player worth?
· Anecdote of player Josh Cribbs, who played after multiple concussions and now at 32 has the brain of a 52-year-old
Body:
Main Idea 1: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee
· Was created by 1994
· For 13 years NFL stood by this research
· New studies have found this research was flawed
· Information/cases were omitted
· Studies said brain injuries did not cause long term harm to players
· Used these studies to contradict/discredit Dr. Omalu’s evidence of CTE
· For this idea, use New York Times article and USA Today piece
Main Idea 2: NFL Tries to Influence National Institute of Health’s study on concussions
· Donated unrestricted gift
· Then tried to pick the doctor who would oversee research
· Doctor had ties to NFL
· NIH did not end up receiving the unrestricted gift from the NFL
· They hired a doctor who oversaw CTE research at Boston University
· NFL said they did not think BU doctor could be unbiased
· Use New York Times article in link below
Main Idea 3: New Funded NFL study on concussions redirects attention from football
· Funded study, being conducted in England, focuses on why horse jockeys are not prone to CTE
· Doctors leading this study do not believe CTE is tied to the head injuries sustained in football
· Many worried NFL will use results to argue the league does not have a concussion problem
· “internal research that the NFL controls”
· Use espn article “NFL retakes control of brain research as touted alliance ends”
Conclusion: So how much is a player’s life worth to the NFL? Is it worth the approximately 1 billion dollars the NFL will pay out to injured players and their families, which is only a fraction of what they make in a year? Is it worth the 100 million dollars they committed to concussion research, even though only 40% of that money has actually gone to scientific projects? Or is it worth an unlimited investment made over a period of time, a commitment to sound, legitimate research? Is it worth changing the rules, and the game, if it means players will have a better quality of life? Ultimately, is football worth someone’s future? It is, after all, just a game.
Visual Outline:
· Introduction: picture of Josh Cribbs
· Idea 1: picture of testifying committee members, or players being treated for concussions (possibly those omitted from study)
· Idea 2: picture of doctor from boston university/his CTE lab
· Idea 3: pictures of horse jockeys in study
· Conclusion: picture of violent collision on football field
Websites for works cited:
https://www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/2016/04/14/concussions-nfl-player-tells-his-story-part-1
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/10/07/frontline-documentary-nfl-concussions/2939747/
“NFL’s flawed concussion research and ties to tobacco industry”
“NFL retakes control of brain research as touted alliance ends”