STUDY SAYS 3 IN 4 DEAD NFL PLAYERS HAD CTE

Researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham and the Concussion & CTE Foundation went through 2,362 former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 and came back with a number the league will not be printing on a tote bag. An estimated 74.5 percent of them likely died with CTE. Among the 396 who donated their brains, 93.5 percent had it. In community brain banks, it turns up in under 1 percent of donors. The standard objection is selection bias, because families tend to donate a brain when something was obviously wrong for years. The researchers checked that, found players with cognitive symptoms were about five times more likely to be donated, adjusted for it, and still landed on three in four. They also estimated 27.2 percent had dementia during their lifetime, roughly four times the general population, and said that figure is probably low. The NFL, asked to comment on all of this, pointed reporters to a statement it already issued back in August about continuously striving to make football safer. Reusing your own press release is at least on brand. The NFLPA said studies like this are critical and that it remains committed to supporting research and player care. Neither response contained a single number. The authors do note the estimate covers deceased players only and says nothing about who is playing Sunday.

Why you should give a shit: More than 20 million men alive today in the US have played football, which means this stopped being a sports story right about the time the league's best answer was a press release it had already sent.