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The NFL waged an improper campaign to influence a major U.S. government research project on concussions and football, ESPN reported Monday.
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Top NFL officials waged a behind-the-scenes campaign to influence a government research project on football and brain disease, according to a congressional report released Monday.
Titled "The National Football League's Attempt to Influence Funding Decisions at the National Institutes of Health," the report details how the NFL attempted to strip a $16 million research project from expert Robert Stern -- a Boston University professor who specializes in clinical research for CTE -- and redirect the funds to members of the league's committee on brain injuries.
In September 2012, the league pledged $30 million in support of research on "serious medical conditions prominent in athletes" that are also relevant to the general population," according to the congressional report. In a press release, the league called the gift "unrestricted." The NFL and NIH entered a letter of agreement giving the NIH exclusive control over "scientific and administrative aspects of the Research Plans."
According to the new congressional report, the league began to voice concern about the grant selection process when it appeared that a group led by Stern would be in charge of leading the research.
The league ultimately pulled the funding in December 2015, according to ESPN's Outside The Lines, because the NIH had awarded the project to Stern, who had been critical of the NFL in the past. Per ESPN, taxpayers ended up bearing the cost that was originally supposed to be covered by the NFL.
According to the 2015 OTL story, the study aimed to capture "what has been described as the holy grail of concussion research: the ability to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in living patients."
Following the 2015 OTL story, Democratic members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce initiated an investigation into whether the NFL had acted inappropriately in attempting to exercise influence over the NIH.
The investigation yielded the following findings:
An NFL spokesman said Monday that the league "rejects the allegations laid out in the Democratic Staff Report of the House Energy and Commerce Committee."
"There is no dispute that there were concerns raised about both the nature of the study in question and possible conflicts of interest," the NFL said in a statement. "These concerns were raised for review and consideration through the appropriate channels. Ultimately the funding decision was made by the FNIH/NIH, not the NFL, as the FNIH's public statement of December 22, 2015 confirms. The nature of those conversations and a detailed account of the concerns were communicated in full to the committee members. It is deeply disappointing the authors of the Staff Report would make allegations directed at doctors affiliated with the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee without ever speaking to them."
The league continued its statement: "In 2012, the NFL committed $30 million to the NIH to advance the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of head injuries. To date, $12 million has been allocated for pathology studies through the Sports and Health Research Program (SHRP), two $6-million cooperative agreements dedicated to defining the long-term changes that occur in the brain after a head injury or multiple concussions: Boston University School of Medicine and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs received $6 million for a study on CTE and post-traumatic neurodegeneration, and Mount Sinai Hospital received $6 million for a study the neuropathology of CTE and Delayed Effects of TBI...The NFL is deeply committed to continuing to accelerate scientific research and advancements in this critical area, and we stand ready to support additional independent research to that end."