People and perception tend to change when there is money involved so the question that arises frequently is: Do the ends justify the means?

ABSTRACT

The National Football League (NFL) is a multi-billion dollar organization in which their employees (players) have sustained numerous concussions under their watch. There is an ongoing debate and controversy between the organization and the players, as well as the families of deceased players on whether or not the NFL provided adequate information on the dangers of playing football and the injuries that can be derived from it. Former players have reported to have major health issues due to football related injuries such as early Alzheimer’s, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), shortened attention span, and even suicide.. This thesis will provide information and research to further analyze the National Football League’s handling of concussions and related responsibilities of the organization’s management. My research is going to contribute an immense amount of evidence that the NFL knew about the health risks of the sport and decided to deny its accountability .

INTRODUCTION

All too often, when a business or a company prospers financially and an issue arises where its morale is questioned, administration inclines towards looking the other way if it hurts the business or company in a negative manner. It is the truth that everyone knows but is too uncomfortable accepting it in the eye of the public. People and perception tend to change when there is money involved so the question that arises frequently is: Do the ends justify the means? The National Football League (NFL) is a prime example of an organization that ignores all the grey areas because of the capital they are able to bring in.

The NFL is a professional football organization that was founded in the United States. Contrary to what most people believe, American football is not soccer like it is for the rest of the world. Football actually evolved from rugby in 1843 when a college student named William Ebb Ellis was tired of the rule restrictions and wanted to carry the ball rather than dribble it (“Talk American Football”). Almost thirty years later, college students from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Yale wanted to make new rules in rugby in order to adapt to their needs. The game began to evolve into the football society knows today when Walter Camp, head coach at Yale, decided the number of players on the field for a team would drop from fifteen to eleven. He also created a scoring system where a touchdown (when a player that is carrying the ball crosses the opposition’s end zone) is worth six points. In addition, he introduced the most intrical difference between Rugby and American Football and that was the system of ‘downs’, in which “a team is only given a certain number of plays to cover a particular area of the field before they are forced to give up possession (“Talk American Football”).