Tuesday by league media relations head Greg Aiello, and at first glance, the site would seem to be pretty boilerplate stuff, but it’s actually a nice repository of info regarding the progress that has been made, particularly over the last year, in combating brain injuries.

There’s a nice section recapping the Zackery Lystedt Law, passed by Washington state in 2009 and which helps protect youth from the lingering effects of concussions, as well as links to NFL-funded research that conducts medical research on TBIs. (Bonus point for transparency there, NFL.) There’s also the expected linkage to various NFL efforts, like the Korey Stringer Institute (the Minnesota lineman who died from heat stroke during training camp in 2001) and NFL Play 60, which encourages kids to get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Also helpful, and somewhat unexpected, is a page that aggregates noteworthy media stories that deal with safety and health issues, like the New York Times on helmet testing and the AP following up on illegal hits during games. Most interesting is the timeline that runs down the history of rule changes that have affected player safety in ways obvious and not-so.

How could it be better? Make every video posted on the site embeddable. If the point of the site is to spread awareness about concussions and player safety, it behooves the league to stick to its stanch policy of not allowing its content to be included on other sites in an easily shareable way. See, I’d love for you to just stay right here and watch this enlightening interview with executive VP of football ops Ray Anderson as he talks on NFL Network about the enforcement of player safety rules. But alas, you’ll have to click through if you want to see that. The faster the NFL realizes that the site is not about increasing page views or the appearance of protecting IP, the better the public will be served.

Will it have any discernible impact on the number of concussions? Well, active players certainly have more pressing things to do with their time than read up on the neuroscience of football injuries, so the guess is that kids and retired players will get the most benefit here. For there to be real change on the gridiron, the NFL needs to keep pushing that effort from the inside.

Photo: Flickr/erin_ryan, CC

See Also:

• Making Headway in the Fight Against Concussions
• Neurologists Call for Strict Sports-Concussion Guidelines
• For Football Players, Concussions Can Be More Harmful
• For Young Athletes, Concussions Pose a Growing Problem
• NFL, CDC Team Up to Crack Down on Concussions

Authors: Erik Malinowski

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