NFL Donates $30 Million For Researching Brain Injuries At NIH

Brain injuries are a hot topic with the NFL season starting this week, as well as an announcement by the organization that they will donate $30 million to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, in order to support research on brain injuries.

The donation is the largest in NFL history and it comes as the league struggles to grapple with controversy over concussions and long-term brain injuries that players suffer from, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Hundreds of former players have sued the NFL, as well as individual teams, for allegedly failing to properly warn them about head injury risks due to playing football.

The research will not only benefit players, but it will also help other athletes, military members, and also the public. The money will initially go toward research on mild traumatic brain injuries.

A new contract signed in 2011 by the league and players’ union included a $100 million commitment to medical research, focusing on brain injuries. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated:

“Our commitment here is to hopefully help set the standard and lead the way in research about head injuries, and we’re doing it with the leading scientists.”

The Washington Post notes that Story C. Landis, the director for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (part of NIH) stated:

“We are really excited about this partnership. I think their engagement and the potential future engagement of other sports organizations has the potential to produce great progress in our understanding of brain injuries in sports and outside of sports as well.”

Do you think the NFL is doing enough to study and warn players about the risk of brain injuries as a result of playing football?