The NFL Concussion Lawsuit 2014
The National Football League has agreed to pay $765 million to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 4,500 former players with dementia and other health problems caused by concussions playing football. The amount represents less than 3% of the $28 billion in media revenues the league will receive from CBS, NBC, and Fox between 2014 and 2022. The recipients will also include families of ex-players who died from what the families claimed were the effects of head injuries.
The money would be used for medical exams, concussion-related compensation and medical research for retired players and their families.
Individual awards would be capped at $5 million for men with Alzheimer’s disease; $4 million for those diagnosed after their deaths with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative disease of the brain; and $3 million for players with dementia. The presence of actual dollars, and the swiftness with which those dollars will be available for people that truly need the help to partially offset lost earnings capability and higher medical costs, underlie how crucial these funds can be for affected players and their families.