NFL backs away from funding major BU brain study

[amfootball]

The timing of this, if true, could not be any worse for the NFL given the Concussion movie is about to come out this week.

 

According to OTL, the NFL, which spent years criticizing researchers who warned about the dangers of football-related head trauma, has backed out of one of the most ambitious studies yet on the relationship between football and brain disease, sources familiar with the project told Outside the Lines.

The seven-year, $16 million initiative was to be funded out of a $30 million research grant the NFL gave the National Institutes of Health in 2012. The NFL has said repeatedly that it has no control over how that money is spent, but the league balked at this study, sources said, because the NIH awarded the project to a group led by a prominent Boston University researcher who has been critical of the league.

 

When the NFL's "unrestricted" $30 million gift was announced in 2012, the NIH said the money came "with no strings attached;" however, an NIH official clarified the gift terms two years later, telling Outside the Lines that, in fact, the league retained veto power over projects that it funds.

Sources told Outside the Lines that the league exercised that power when it learned that Robert Stern, a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Boston University, would be the project's lead researcher. The league, sources said, raised concerns about Stern's objectivity, despite an exhaustive vetting process that included a "scientific merit review" and a separate evaluation by a dozen high-level experts assembled by the NIH.

 

Read full story here, http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/14417386/nfl-pulls-funding-boston-university-head-trauma-study-concerns-researcher

[SteelCityColt]

Wait, I thought ESPN was just a schill for the NFL? 

[amfootball]

3 minutes ago, SteelCityColt said:

Wait, I thought ESPN was just a schill for the NFL? 

They are which makes this story very interesting. A lover's tiff perhaps?

 

For the record, the NFL has denied the report.

[Superman]

From the article: 

"The NFL's $30 million grant -- its largest single donation -- is administered by the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH), a nonprofit organization that solicits donations for NIH research. Koroshetz said he had asked FNIH since May whether the NFL would fund the project but never received a commitment. There has been no indication that the league is walking away from its original donation."

 

So what's the issue?

[AustexColt]

The importance of CTE and football is a National concern due to the future of our children. If the NFL does not take a leadership role I am afraid the HHS (Federal Govt agency) may jump in an election year. I am of the firm belief that the sport has enough incentives and money to invest to make it safer through equipment and rules. Don't let greed and fear drive football become what happened to boxing. It would be a shame.

[amfootball]

25 minutes ago, Superman said:

From the article: 

"The NFL's $30 million grant -- its largest single donation -- is administered by the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH), a nonprofit organization that solicits donations for NIH research. Koroshetz said he had asked FNIH since May whether the NFL would fund the project but never received a commitment. There has been no indication that the league is walking away from its original donation."

 

So what's the issue?

OTL believes the NFL has exercise its veto power over the grant and pulled out per "ESPN sources" that is in the beginning of the story. Believe what you will. I don't trust ESPN in general but normally they are pro NFL so it is interesting that they have put this report out that paints the league in a bad light with regards to its most important issue in terms of player safety. I am sure more will surface this week about the actual details of what has actually happened and if the NFL did indeed veto the grant.

 

 

[Superman]

1 hour ago, amfootball said:

OTL believes the NFL has exercise its veto power over the grant and pulled out per "ESPN sources" that is in the beginning of the story. Believe what you will. I don't trust ESPN in general but normally they are pro NFL so it is interesting that they have put this report out that paints the league in a bad light with regards to its most important issue in terms of player safety. I am sure more will surface this week about the actual details of what has actually happened and if the NFL did indeed veto the grant.

 

So, unverified information, reported as fact. Basically demagoguery. 

[amfootball]

30 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

So, unverified information, reported as fact. Basically demagoguery. 

Yes. That is the perfect definition for ESPN.

[Superman]

32 minutes ago, amfootball said:

Yes. That is the perfect definition for ESPN.

 

LOL

 

You define "ironic."

[amfootball]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

LOL

 

You define "ironic."

Thank you.