Report: NFL sought to influence government head-trauma study

A new congressional report has found that the NFL sought to improperly influence a major government study on connections between football and brain disease, according to documents obtained by ESPN's "Outside The Lines." (Update: the NFL has rejected the conclusions of the report.)

The congressional research report indicates the NFL had given the National Institutes of Health a $30 million unrestricted gift in 2012, but later sought to pull $16 million in funding from that gift away from one researcher and reroute it to researchers working on the league's own brain injury committee. When the NIH declined to redirect the funding, the NFL balked at paying for the study, despite having signed documents it would do so. Taxpayers were thus on the hook to pay for the study.

"In this instance," the 91-page congressional report concludes, "our investigation has shown that while the NFL had been publicly proclaiming its role as funder and accelerator of important research, it was privately attempting to influence that research."

"They wanted to look like the good guy, like they were giving money for this research," said Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.). "But as soon as they found out that it might be somebody who they don't like who's doing the research, they were reneging on their commitment, essentially."

ESPN's "OTL" notes that the report includes several other potentially damning instances of league conduct, including NFL officials apparently acting in self-interest rather than in deference to scientific study; league attempts to avoid the NIH's stringent independent review of studies; and the very real scenario that if the NFL withdrew its funds, "other meritorious research" would not receive funding. The NFL ended up contributing $2 million to the study.

"I wish I could say I was surprised," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said upon hearing the news of the report, "but the league has a history of being bullies."

"It is deeply disappointing the authors of the Staff Report would make allegations directed at doctors affiliated with the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee without ever speaking to them," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement. The league maintained that it negotiated "through the proper channels" and stipulated the amount of money it had already paid out to fund studies.

The NFL dominates the sports landscape and, as ever-growing television ratings for both the regular season and the Super Bowl demonstrate, claims a decent chunk of the nation's overall entertainment attention as well. But fighting Congress is another matter entirely, and this is one of several issues that has landed the league in the sights of the federal government. Whether it's from the fallout of the Ray Rice domestic abuse saga, ongoing controversy over Washington's team name, or the "pay-for-patriotism" appearances of vets at NFL games, the league's actions, and inaction, continue to draw federal scrutiny.

Under that kind of spotlight, the NFL's never-give-an-inch approach to concussions is bound to raise eyebrows. When a PBS/"Frontline" study shows that 96 percent of NFL players tested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the NFL's technique of attacking its critics head-on isn't the kind of approach that fosters collaboration or progress.

The brain injury study will begin next week in Boston, with 50 researchers from 17 institutions surveying hundreds of former professional and college players.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.