NCAA Concussion Settlement: Some Positive Steps
By Ken Reed
In a preliminary agreement, the NCAA has agreed to settle a concussion lawsuit by funding research and testing, as well as establishing new safety policies.
If the settlement receives final approval from the judge overseeing the case, a $70 million fund will be established to test current and former athletes in contact sports to determine if they suffered brain injuries from playing their sports.
Perhaps most importantly, the settlement requires that every NCAA member school has the same return-to-play guidelines regarding potential brain injuries suffered during competition. Previously, return-to-play guidelines were left up to individual schools, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
An internal NCAA survey done in 2010 found nearly half of college trainers put athletes with signs of brain injuries back into the same game. The outcome of that action can be long-term neurological damage and even death.
“I wouldn’t say these changes solve the safety problems, but they do reduce the risks,” said Joseph Siprut, the lead plaintiffs’ attorney. “It’s changed college sports forever.”
Let’s hope that’s the case.
Of note, the NCAA settlement doesn’t set aside money to pay players who suffer brain injuries during NCAA competition. It allows individual athletes to sue the NCAA for damages on their own.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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