Pro Football and OSHA

One of the greatest Super Bowls ever, and I raise the possibility that the Occupational Safety and Health Act covers pro football? Yes. And yes, OSHA does apply to the National Football League. In fact, there have been a few OSHA investigations when players have died on the field. But what’s a government agency to do when thousands of fans yell each weekend: “Hit him. Get him. Kill him”?

OSHA might finally become interested in the NFL in light of a new study linking chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) to the brains of former pro football players who die when they’re younger than age 50. The brains of seven NFL veterans who died between the ages of 36 and 50 have been tested, and all seven were found to have CTE, a progressive condition resulting from repetitive head trauma. In addition to death, CTE can cause dementia in people in their 40′s and 50′s.

I watch pro football enough to be amazed that someone isn’t killed in every game. The players are faster and bigger than ever. The hits they put on each other are vicious. That’s what they do — part of their job descriptions. Watching a decades-old game and comparing it to the modern game is like watching a silent movie and comparing it to a movie with today’s special effects.

One wonders if pro football will be viewed one day in the distant future the way the gladiatorial games of the Roman Empire are viewed. Of course, those games almost always resulted in the death of one of the gladiators. Maybe that’s what it’ll take in pro football to get OSHA interested. It’s unlikely that deaths occurring long after the game is played, once CTE has done its work, will attract more than media coverage.