ESPN’s Outside the Lines has obtained the congressional investigators report that says the NFL has been trying to influence a research study on football and brain disease. OTL has the full report but here are some of the points.
The NFL gave a $30 million dollar gift to National Institutes of Health. Of that $30 Million gift The National Institutes of Health was to run a $16 Million study on brain disease and football. Robert Stern an expert in neurodegenerative disease was to run the study for NIH. NFL did not like Stern criticism of the NFL and wanted Stern removed from the project. NFL attempts to have funding moved to members of the league’s committee on brain injuries. NIH blocks the NFL attempts to influence the study and refuses to remove Stern. NFL backs out on funding the project causing taxpayers to have to pay instead.
This is horrible by the NFL. The worse part of this is NFL was given the details of the study and agreed to still fund the $16 million needed. However when they found they couldn’t bully the NIH into running the study how they wanted they backed out.