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 Three dozen doctors and executives from rugby, hockey, soccer and
athletics will meet in London at the NFL's second annual
professional sports concussion conference.
Concussions and head trauma suffered by athletes remain a
controversial topic, prompting many contact sports to change rules
and adopt new protocols to ensure a higher level of player safety.
The NFL in April settled a lawsuit brought by about 5,000 former
players who accused it of covering up the dangers of concussions in
a deal that could cost the league $1 billion.
Items on Saturday's agenda include an expected announcement of an
NFL collaboration with a foundation studying the long-term impact of
concussions on jockeys, and the sharing of a Canadian Football
League study on identifying concussions through eye movement tests,
said Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president of health and
safety policy.
Miller said the conference will also consider a proposal for the
NFL, international rugby and Australian Rules Football to test
active rehabilitation as a better form of concussion treatment.
Some critics see the NFL-hosted London event as window dressing by
the various sports bodies to protect their revenue streams. The
most-popular and powerful U.S. sports league, revenues at the NFL
topped $12 billion last year.
But the co-chairman of the NFL's head, neck and spine committee, Dr.
Richard Ellenbogen, said the conference is meant to help fill in
gaps in an area of medicine where a lot about concussions remains
unknown.
"It is accelerating the research because... when you get a lot of
scientists in a room you get a lot of controversy and discussion so
the science is just better," Ellenbogen, also chairman of
neurological surgery at the University of Washington School of
Medicine, told Reuters.
Fifteen different organizations will be represented in London,
including the world soccer governing body FIFA, Australian Rules
Football, World Rugby, the Canadian Football League and the
International Federation for Equestrian Sports.
Also sending officials are the U.S. Olympic Committee, the National
Hockey League (NHL) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA).
The conference is being held ahead of an NFL game in London on
Sunday between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Some critics said the NFL conference is a marketing bid to shape how
the public views an issue that is still unfolding.
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"What they're attempting to do is create a body of opinion and body
of literature that tells the public that these concussions are
manageable ... short-term problems," said Michael Kaplen, an
attorney specializing in traumatic brain injuries who teaches at
George Washington Law School, and a long-time critic of the NFL's
science around the subject.
While Ellenbogen acknowledges the criticism is fair, he said the
leagues must fight their biases to protect the athletes' health.
Miller said player safety is a top priority for the NFL, pointing to
39 rules changes over the past decade related to player safety and a
34 percent decline in concussions in the league over the last three
years. The NFL has awarded more than $135 million in grants over the
same period related to research on player safety.
The league and players union estimate that 30 percent of former
players will develop brain conditions such as Alzheimer's or a less
debilitating form of dementia.
Most sports leagues have been caught "flat footed" by the concussion
issue, said Ohio University sports business professor Robert Boland.
In addition to the NFL, lawsuits have been filed in recent years
against FIFA, the NHL and the NCAA. Even on the youth level the
issue has gained prominence.
U.S. President Barack Obama and National Basketball Association
all-star LeBron James are among those who have said they would not
allow their children to play pro football due to the dangers from
head trauma.
Several suicides by former NFL players, including Hall of Fame
linebacker Junior Seau in 2012, garnered public attention. Last
month, a study released by the Concussion Legacy Foundation found
all but four of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains for
research were diagnosed with a disease linked to concussions and
head trauma.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Jill Serjeant and
Alan Crosby)
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