NFL officials tried to influence a government research study on the connection between football and brain disease, according to a congressional investigation report.
The report, obtained by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, shows that the NFL originally donated $30 million to the National Institutes of Health, but tried to redirect funding to their own committee on brain injuries instead of allowing for an independent study. When it became clear that the study would be done by people who may be critical of the NFL, the league withdrew funding, forcing taxpayers to shoulder the cost of the $16 million project. A significant reason for the NFL’s change of plans was the fact that the NIH refused to remove Robert Stern, a neurodegenerative disease expert who had previously been critical of the NFL, from the project.
According to the report, the league’s actions violated rules that prohibit private parties from interfering with the NIH’s research process.
“In this instance, our investigation has shown that while the NFL had been publicly proclaiming its role as funder and accelerator of important research, it was privately attempting to influence that research,” the report said.
Back in December, the NFL claimed that they hadn’t backed out of funding the study, and the NIH publicly supported that side of the story. It’s unclear why that was said at the time given the contents of the report, and even more unclear why the NIH went along with the NFL’s side of things. It is noted that the NFL offered a last minute $2 million donation largely to save face, but the NIH turned it down. Perhaps the NIH told the NFL “thanks, but no thanks” when it became clear that they were going to try to meddle in the process.
Still, is anyone really surprised? This is a league that will go as far as throwing its own employees under the bus for daring to even acknowledge the obvious link between football and brain injury. They don’t want people to admit it, and they go running whenever someone gets too close to the truth for their liking.
