NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reiterates his office commitment to players’ safety-NFL News
The National Football League (NFL), the representative body of 32 American professional football teams, has reiterated its commitment towards the players’ safety.
NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, who has recently been preoccupied with the issue of payment of controversial rewards to the players, said that the safety and security of the players remain on the priorities of his office.
Last year has proved to be quite harder for the league office given the amount of legal suits it has faced over its policies of concussions and controversies around their handling.
A number of former NFL players have waged legal fight against it respectively, almost all of them accusing the office of mishandling concussion and demanding compensation against the sufferings to them and their family members, which they say are result
of the faulty league policies.
Some of the suits have claimed that the office encouraged excessive pre-game use of painkillers and confusing the head injuries with dementia and other problems, and thus aggravating the problems.
The complainants said that they have to endure effects of those injuries in the longer run, even after their retirement and consequently causing difficulties to their family members.
All of the players have demanded compensation from the league office. The league, however, has denied all those accusations and requested the respective courts to dismiss those suits.
The NFL has maintained throughout that the safety of its players has always been its priority and that the office has never compromised on the issue.
Now the commission during the owners’ meeting has shown its conviction on the matter of players’ safety.
Separately, the office has appealed to a local court for consolidation of all suits before a single judge, while pleading for their dismissal at the same time.
The league office said that according to terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the players, the court of law is not the right forum for them to seek remedies or compensation.
However, no decision on consolidation or rejection of the lawsuits has been made by any court so far, but the matter remains on call for hearing in the near future.
Respective lawyers of the players have claimed that the suits merit hearing and the league office will have to come up with an explanation against all the allegations sooner or later.
A number of players have cited problems of different nature that they and their family members have been through due to their lingering head injuries.
Almost all of them have criticised the league’s policies for handling those injuries, claiming that the players’ safety was compromised at many occasions.
Others claimed that mishandling of their injuries by their respective teams resulted in effects in the longer run, making their lives even harder in the post-retirement phase.
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