Position Statement: Risks won’t stop people from playing football

The big news of the day for those with an anti-football agenda was that Junior Seau had chronic traumatic encephalopathy. But Mike Florio says this should surprise no one. Seau played football for 20 years. The real question is how will this change behavior in the NFL. Will it cause people to choose not to play football? But even as people become aware of these issues, people are still playing the game.

Very rarely does anyone walk away from the game because of concussions, especially when they’re earning big money. We’re a nation of risk takers, he says, and we’ve always been a nation of risk takers. People jump out of airplanes and climb mountains. It’s just what we do, says Florio. He thinks that those with an anti-football agenda are going to keep banging a drum, but no one will listen. He agrees that it’s a serious problem, but people are still going to choose to play football.