New Challenges

Roger Goodell was the best-prepared person to be the New Commissioner having served in every significant division of the NFL. Immediately he was faced with difficult issues starting with “Deflategate” and the New England Patriots. Then came player discipline issues involving Michael Vick, Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and Ben Roethlisberger. Goodell faced heavy criticism in every case. These were followed by drug issues, general player health issues, and, most significantly, concussions. Goodell’s major mode of response to the concussion issue was denial. The case of Mike Webster and the work of Bennet Amalu was the first major development. This led to a book and motion picture with the title League of Denial. Court cases, major studies, and congressional hearings all dogged the NFL and Goodell. Junior Seau’s suicide and others repeatedly raised the issue and the NFL continued public denial. The concussion issue also expanded beyond the NFL to college football and youth football. Major research centers including that of Ann McKee and the Boston Group received donations of brains from NFL players for study posthumously. The dramatic retirement of Andrew Luck in 2019 refocused the public attention on the issue. A major problem for the NFL was that part of the appeal of NFL football was its violence, which it had marketed over the decades.