Medical science and litigation have combined to change the playing field for college football. In just the last few years, we've learned far more about the permanent brain damage concussions can cause. Read any of the complaints filed by former NFL players or read stories about their lives now, and one realizes the toll hit after hit has taken. Do a search on Google or Yahoo for football concussions and you find millions of results.
But what's missing in those results is an interview with a university president. With states across the country cutting funding for higher education, the head of any state-supported university faces serious budget concerns. One multi million dollar cost that's now on the president's plate is the potential cost of concussion litigation. Unlike the NFL, the university's mission is not to maximize profit and entertain. The university's mission is education. Unlike the NFL players who are represented by a union, college players have no representation. So how do those two differences between the NFL and college football affect the risk of litigation? What's the potential cost?
What is the future of football at each of Ohio's Division I-A Universities? That's the question I asked on August 30th of each Division I-A University President (sample letter below) with the assurance that the response would be posted in its entirety. I plan to continue to ask university presidents across the country the same question.
Contact: Karl Idsvoog: idsvoog@gmail.com office: 330-672-8301
