The NFL Awards Over $35 Million in Grant Money to Support Its Players

The National Football League awarded over $35 million in grant money to fund medical research for brain health and injuries last month on November 11, 2018. In an article written by Mark Maske from The Washington Post, the grants were part of the “Play Safe. Play Smart” $100 million-dollar initiative announced by the league in 2016. The funds will be distributed with $60 million going to technological research and $40 million toward medical studies on the effects of head injuries. Improving the quality of helmet safety is another of many ways in with the money will be used. Maske mentions that the league established an “independent scientific advisory board of doctors, scientists and clinicians to identify and support research proposals.” The grants were also distributed to research projects that were analyzed and selected by the same advisory board. “The largest award announced Thursday was a nearly $14.7 million grant to Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School for a study to assess the neurological health and track the progress of a group of as many as 2,500 former NFL players originally assessed in 2001,” says Maske. The funds were also spread out elsewhere, with $9.4 million going to a University of Calgary study of concussions suffered by high school students; “nearly $6.1 million to a study of brain health of retired football players by the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; nearly $3.5 million to a University of California-San Francisco study of clinical knowledge and research into traumatic brain injury; and nearly $1.6 million to a study by the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Harvard Medical School into brain injuries suffered by young athletes in football, hockey, soccer, rugby and other collision sports,” says Maske. The remaining $5 million was entrusted to Peter Chiarelli, a retired U.S. army general and former CEO of the nonprofit One Mind, who chaired the Play Safe Play Smart panel during the funding. According to the N.F.L., the amount of concussions suffered by players during the preseason this year dropped roughly 13 percent from 2017. “The decrease came after the league enacted a plan to reduce concussions following a 2017 season in which concussions were up,” says Maske. The strategy was designed to reduce the number of concussions during the preseason, get players to wear performance-enhanced helmets and implement rule changes. The modifications include adjustments to kickoffs and bans on players for “lowering their head and using their helmet to initiate hits.” This is another effort by the league to hopefully continue to support those who are suffering from head trauma due to their participation in football.