Commentary: Five myths about the NFL, from concussions to socialism
By Steve Almond Special to The Washington Post.
Over the past few weeks, Americans have been confronted by a slew of scandals besieging our most popular sport. Outrage over the off-the-field violence of star running backs Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson has been accompanied by the revelation that the National Football League expects almost one-third of its retired players to develop long-term cognitive problems at "notably younger ages" than the rest of the population. Amid all this scrutiny, the NFL remains enshrouded in myths. Let's consider five of the most stubborn.
1. The NFL is on its way to resolving its concussion crisis.
This talking point, trumpeted by league officials and routinely repeated by sports reporters and fans, relies on the notion that new helmet technology and rule changes will suffice. In fact, the number of concussions was up more than 50 percent in this year's first three preseason games compared with the same games last year.
And even if the league reduces concussions, the profound risks to its players will remain in the form of sub-concussive hits, the hundreds or even thousands of lesser blows that damage the brain without registering as full-blown concussions, and that are absorbed not just during games but in every full-contact practice.
The NFL doesn't have a concussion crisis, in other words; it has a violence problem. Players are bigger, stronger and faster than ever. When they collide, their brains soft organs smash against the inside of their skulls. No miracle technology or rule tweaking is going to undo the basic physics and physiology of the sport.
2. The NFL's economic model is socialist.
Pundits from Chuck Klosterman to Bill Maher have echoed this canard.
It's true that NFL teams share revenue generated by TV and merchandise deals. But this fact is a testament to the league's canny corporate ethos. In 1961, for instance, lobbyists persuaded Congress to pass a law that allowed the NFL to circumvent antitrust rules and to sell TV rights, collectively, to the highest bidder. In effect, the NFL became a legal monopoly. A few years later, lawmakers cut a deal with the league that granted it tax-exempt status.
Like most effective monopolies, the NFL has leveraged its power at the expense of taxpayers, who supply 70 percent of the funding for NFL stadiums along with millions in infrastructure according to Judith Long, a professor of urban planning at Harvard University. Team owners also receive lucrative "inducement payments" to keep them from moving their franchises to other cities. Billionaires shaking down cities and states for public monies? That's not socialism. It's crony capitalism.
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Commentary: Five myths about the NFL, from concussions to socialism