The Concussion and Traumatic Brain Injury lawsuits against the NFL and the NCAA are just getting going and we already have a major fall out from them brewing. And it is one that will not effect the NFL or the NCAA as much as High School Football. And this could be a game changer.
In a story published by the New York Times this week reporter Ken Belson touches on something we have been writing about for 3 years now. These lawsuits are real folks. No one on the right side of this argument expects these legal cases, which now include thousands of former players, to end without a significant pay out.
Cutting to the chase on the matter it appears the first group to run for cover, even before the coaches and teams being accused by the lawsuits do, is going to be the Insurance companies. They are refusing to pay for the NFL or NCAA legal expenditures and they believe they may or may not have any responsibility in this matter.
With the potential there for not Millions but Billions of dollars in settlements these insurance companies are looking at this whole thing now and asking “why”?
A fair question. Why would they insure youth football or High School football or camps, combines, and clinics. The industry itself is designed to make money by covering risk right? And they are simply not going to take on this category anymore. Or at least it looks that way.
With the deadly killer CTE which is now 100% known to be caused by football being a newly discovered and disclosed risk the stakes have risen even higher. The top doctors in the world are saying that No kid under 14 should play a contact sport like football.
With the number of lawsuits pending in the US against Youth and High School organizations it is only a matter of time before the rates rise. In fact before the next season begins rates could move up several hundred percent.
If a single brain injury claim is made it can run into the Millions. Right here in the Pacific Northwest we have have the largest settlement to date in the US against a school district and that was upwards of 18 Million dollars.
That is more premiums then any insurance provider could charge in one year perhaps.
And the amount of money expected to be paid out in this NFL and NCAA suit could reach astronomical numbers rivaling the “Big Tobacco” settlement amounts.
Fearful of future lawsuits, insurers may start raising premiums or excluding concussions and other injuries from their policies. As information about the link between head trauma and long-term injuries has grown, coaches, athletic directors and others will have a harder time claiming they did not know of the connection if they are named in lawsuit. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/sports/football/insurance-liability-in-nfl-concussion-suits-may-have-costly-consequences.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0
Without insurance and coverage for concussion and brain trauma there will be no football in public schools or on publicly owned properties. And there is going to be a special emphasis put on youth who are at the highest risk for injury.
Coaches, Leagues, and school districts are supposed to know all of these new risk factors and the Standards of Care are mush higher then ever before. One injury and your school or your family can be bankrupt without coverage.
Ask yourself if you were an insurance company would you want any part of this? Not likely. Things are changing folks and the game is not top blame really. Some of the wrong sort of people are pushing it to this possible conclusion and these new medical findings are leading the way too.
Kids used to be allowed to drive, to drink, to smoke, and work in factories. Those things were all harmful so the Nation passed laws to protect them. You can see these new laws being passed nationwide are aimed to protect and they all make sure there is insurance in place too.
So be aware of what is happening. This very well could be the twilight years of a sport that has grown to be the National past time. But it is a mans game being played by boys. And that has been one of the underlying problems the entire time.
In all we do or aspire to do we should strive to live by the infamous Latin phrase Primum non nocere.
First Do No Harm.
So are we as a Nation interested in Education or a game? And can we ever separate the two?
