It has been an interesting week. Last weekend I was out in Buffalo for Project Play Western New York.  This week I have been out in California for meetings with more sports youth organizations, promoting Sports Philanthropy WORLD 2020 and meeting with speakers and sponsors for that event coming up June 25-26, 2020. If you would like to register, you can get our SUPER EARLY BIRD rate through December 31, 2019.

For much of the week I have been attending MEGASUCCESS, a conference run by JT Foxx. It has been an amazing experience.  I have also had an opportunity to reconnect with some good friends and have a chance to sit down for meaningful conversations with people who are trying to change the world.

Amidst all of the travel and activity, I am feeling very thankful for the people that I have in my life and recognize how fortunate I am to have many supportive people in my life.  While I am involved with sports philanthropy all year round, especially at this holiday time, I encourage people to think about their good fortune and donate to causes that help with food insecurity.  Blessing in a Backpack is great organization my daughter Julia is raising money for through her sorority. Blessings helps feed children in need and is something that runs across all races and geographic locations.

What I was following this week:

• Colin Kaepernick—This situation got out of control quick.  You can see what I wrote about “Plenty of Blame to Go Around in NFL/Kaepernick Fiasco.”  Ultimately, even many of those who have spoken out in support of Kaepernick’s right to protest, like Stephen A. Smith, have come down harshly on him agreeing with what I wrote about him trying to dictate terms of a job interview.  Stephen A’s comments this morning focused on the fact that the NFL was even allowing him an opportunity after he sued them, took a huge settlement and more. I will be surprised if he ends up on an NFL roster this season.

• Tua Tagovailoa injury—People heaped blame on Saban, but the injury occurred in the first half so that is clearly absurd. No team sits starters in the first half, regardless of the score.  The bigger concern might be the issue raised when it became apparent that Tua did not have the proper insurance to protect him in the event of an injury.  That is a place where they are rightfully angry at the school because he should have had coverage to protect a drop in value, not just the total permanent disability. This is why athletes need representation to help them negotiate and ensure the proper steps are taken.

• Athlete violence—In the wake of the Myles Garrett fiasco, there were many calls for the NFL to take a stronger stance against domestic violence or other violence against women. Some expressed disappointment that there was more outrage from Garrett’s conduct than some of the recent examples of violence directed to women.  It becomes interesting to watch some of the double standards that exist where players and many members of the media seem to be more willing to give players a second chance or benefit of the doubt for a domestic violence incident than they do for Myles Garrett’s helmet swing, with some calling for a permanent ban.

• The NCPA (National College Players Association) held an event at UCLA which was primarily focused on two issues:  1) health and safety of college athletes; 2) whether players should be paid or allowed to capitalize on their name image and likeness.   The stories from the women on the first panel were heartbreaking.  Listening to the abuse they suffered and hearing about the number of failures in the administration, you have to wonder how so many people could turn a blind eye to their pleas.  Yet it has happened frequently.  (You can read my more detailed summary of each panel coming soon if you check back on this site). The second panel focused on the issue of payments to players, either in the form of direct payments from the schools or allowing athletes to capitalize on their name image and likeness.  Here are a few articles that I have previously written about the topic.
  • NCAA Statement on Name, Image, Likeness Leaves Gaping Holes
  • Only Two Choices Left for College Sports: Level Playing Field or Free Market

• MEGASUCCESS by JT Foxx—Each year JT Foxx puts together an incredible lineup of celebrities for his MegaSuccess event.  So far, the event has featured: Hugh Hilton, Steadman Graham, Gabriel Macht (Harvey Spector from Suits), Omarosa, Dr. Phil, Vince Vaughn, Dolph Lundgren, Jillian Michaels and many others.  The celebrity aspect is truly just one part of the environment because the event draws over 2500 entrepreneurs from over 80 countries around the world.  It is an incredible opportunity to engage with business leaders from around the world, learn about different cultures and network with successful business people trying to help each other improve their businesses.

• California Organizations—Great trip out to California to have the chance to meet with several organizations.  Met with LA Scores (Spotlight), AVP First (Spotlight) and GOALS (Spotlight coming soon).  Each of them perform incredible work in their community and I especially enjoy the opportunity to take a site visit and see the way each group works. If you want to support our efforts to help organization’s like these, you can become a member of the Sports Philanthropy Network by joining here!

• Project Play Western New York— Last weekend I had the honor to present to Project Play of Western New York in Buffalo.  There were over 75 people leading youth sports organizations about how to improve their organizations and build their capacity. There was amazing energy in the room and people that are very passionate about helping kids in their community remain active, learn through sports and develop needed life skills and relationship building through their sports activities. A special treat to end the trip was the hospitality of the Buffalo Sabres who gave me my peek into the Key Bank Center as they hosted “Hockey Fights Cancer” night. I managed to be a good luck charm to help the Sabres end their 7-game losing streak (with a 4-goal game from Jack Eichel).

If you didn’t have a chance to see some of the other things I have been involved with or written recently, take a look here:

• Sports Philanthropy Newsstand, November 22, 2019
• Why an 8 Team Playoff Will Save College Football
• Plenty of Blame to Go Around in NFL/Kaepernick Fiasco
• FIRE SABAN!! Be Careful What You Wish For ‘Bama Fans
• Why Second Guessing Playcalling is Like Second Guessing Rock, Paper, Scissors
• Roy’s Ramble November 15, 2019
• Roy’s Ramble November 8, 2019

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

• Packers-Lions Controversy—This really is not a Packers/Lions issue.  It is an issue that is occurring on a weekly basis in the NFL.  There is a lot of difficulty officiating games properly when every single play is examined with a microscope and the benefit of slow motion replay, high definition television and thousands of “experts” weighing in on Twitter.  The NFL probably made things worse instead of better in the wake of the blatant miss in last year’s NFC Championship Game between the Saints and the Rams.  Trying to re-adjudicate judgment calls to the microsecond are going to bring us to the same point that we have been at with the catch rule, where for a few years even a minute movement of the ball would cause a pass to be ruled incomplete.  If you focused the cameras on any play and zoomed in on the offense and defense lines, you would likely see holding or a hand in a facemask on every play.  It is hard to see where the NFL is going to be able to clean this up. But at minimum, there were some very funny memes to come out of the game.

• Chicago Ideas Week.      One of my favorite weeks of the year is Chicago Ideas Week.   A week-long program focused on larger societal issues and a series of presentations that are like mini Ted Talks, CIW annually turns out some provocative sessions.  The ones that I was able to attend this week included:
  • What Will The World Look Like in 2050
  • Does Activism Make a Difference
  • It’s time to kick Your Addiction to Algorithms
  • Do We Have All the Answers
  • Who Draws the Line Between Right and Wrong?
  • Entrepreneurs can Change the World
  • Who Do Your Kids Trust More:  You or YouTube?
  • Leaders Aren’t Born, They’re Made

• JT Foxx                 His MegaSpeaker series was held in Chicago this week.  JT Foxx bills himself as the World’s #1 Wealth Coach.  I first went to one of his events about 15 months ago.  At the outset he can come across as arrogant and condescending.  After you have a chance to listen to him for several hours and hear the way he engages with participants and hear from those that have attended multiple events, you realize how much depth there is to his systems.  He has built a terrific team led by Francie Baldwin and by Brent Turley.  Brent always opens for him, much in the way that Joseph McClendon frequently opens for Tony Robbins.  He bills his presentations as a way to help people get speaking opportunities, but the reality is that the events are so much more.  He helps them focus on getting a mentor, branding and being decisive in their decision making as a way to get better results in their business.  If you have a chance to attend one of his events, you can feel the energy and passion he has.  Despite his critics, he is an extremely hard worker and travels around the world speaking and putting on events.  Typically over 320 days per year!! His upcoming MegaSpeaker event has 2000-3000 people in Anaheim and attracts high level entrepreneurs from across the globe.  If you can handle a bit of the schtick, you might get a lot of benefit out of it.

• Airwick VIP Pre-Poop Toilet Spray.   So I usually don’t question the powers that be and their marketing strategies, but after having to endure this ad for the last month on the sports talk radio morning shows, I can no longer remain silent.  Let’s put aside for a moment that it plays about 4-6 times per hour (and sometimes more) during the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. timeslot.  Let’s also put aside the fact that it seems to be targeted at women (or maybe I am misunderstanding that.  But what troubles me the most with this commercial, it that it seems to be giving women, young ladies, and girls the feeling that they need to “hide” their bodily functions from their boyfriend or spouse.  The mom on the commercial literally tells her daughter that her father did not think she pooped for three years.  Really?  I doubt he is that dumb.  But the commercial might be.  The only redeeming performance in the commercial is the (presumably) teenage daughter giving her mom the typical teenage attitude when spoken to about her “body changing”, “needing protection” and the mom’s other inane comments.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

Targeting, Helmet-to-helmet and Vontez Burfict.              Targeting is bad.  Taking cheap shots at players heads is bad.  Failing to control your aggression and causing potentially life-changing injuries is something both the NCAA and NFL need to prevent.  But the trouble comes about when they penalize a result or a repeat offender way beyond the actual offense.   You will be hard pressed to find someone to defend Vontez Burfict’s typical behavior and on-field aggression.  He has served multiple suspensions and most of them are well deserved. Suspending him for the remainder of the year for a hit that occurred within the scope of the play seems excessive even given the escaxlating punishments. But his reputation has a major impact here.  Here is a link to Burfict’s hit.   For comparison, take a look at this hit on Green Bay Packer Running Back Jamaal Williams by Eagles’ Derek Barnett.  The hit on Williams was FAR later in the play and completely unnecessary to bring Williams down.  It is hard to understand how the NFL can look at that play and not believe he should have been tossed from the game and suspended. To my eyes, the hit on Williams was much more of the hit you are trying to eliminate, especially since it is not really in the scope of the play.

• The Aspen Institute Project Play Summit in Detroit.  Supported by the Ralph Wilson, Jr. Foundation, the Summit brought together community organizations from around the country to look at some of the major issues in youth sports.  Some of the most interesting points are listed below.   I have noted a few points here but there is so much more substance that goes into these issues and I will be writing more coverage over the next few weeks.

• Tim Shriver from Special Olympics had one of the best analogies of the conference.  He talked about the fact that sports is virtually the only subject where we discourage participation at a very early age if someone does not show immediate proficiency.  Many athletes are “retiring” or quitting at increasingly earlier ages because they are not selected for elite travel sports teams or because they feel they will not be successful at higher levels of that sport.   Shriver emphasized that we do not stop teaching kids math or English after 2^nd grade, just because they do not demonstrate proficiency at an early age. We continue to educate them and improve their skills.  Yet a lot of kids do not keep playing sports after 10 or 12 years old.  The problem arises in that they do not continue to develop a love for the sport which prevents them from getting the needed amount of activity, decreases the likelihood they will become passionate fans about sports and increases the likelihood that they will fail to develop all of the positive things which come out of participation sports such as a healthier lifestyle, decreased obesity and abilities to collaborate, lead and problem solve.

• Age of boys retiring, age of girls retiring.  These early retirement ages impact all of the issues listed above and have an enormous downstream cost through education, health care, obesity and criminal justice issues.  The challenges continue to overlap because as we see from this whole process, the lack of participation in sports has a detrimental impact on so many other parts of their lives.  The increased opportunities for leadership, improved self-image, healthier eating habits, life-long increases in activity levels and much more demonstrate how crucial it is that we keep kids engaged and active.  Some communities struggle not only to “keep” them involved in sports, but to get them involved in the first place.  It is challenging to see an easy path to increase these levels of engagement without substantial investment in the organizations that have their roots in the community and receive support from the community.

• The recommended level of activity for kids is no less than 60 minutes per day.  You have probably seen the NFL “Play 60” Commercials.   Unfortunately, in the USA, despite all of our resources, 75% of kids do not get that recommended level of activity.  As schools eliminate recess, gym classes and many intramural sports, many metro areas see that level of inactivity rises to over 85%.  What is hidden in these numbers, is the fact that the downstream costs to the community are enormous.  Estimates from the Buffalo and Detroit markets are that reducing the inactivity level “only” to the 75% level would save over $1 Billion.  Yes, billion with a capital “B”.  So if you break that number down it is approximately $100 Million per percentage point.  So the investment in activity and youth sports is clearly something that has benefits beyond those that most people observe solely in the competitive sports sphere.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

Here are a few of my favorite images of humor, motivation and life from the week ending April 28, 2019.

• Special Olympics event—Special Olympics Chicago held a fantastic event at Carnivale.  It was a huge turnout and a ton of energy and amidst the usual speeches from the board and others supporting the organization, it was terrific to see some of the Special Olympics athletes taking part in the celebration and posing for photos as celebrities.

• Crain’s Chicago Business Chicago Cubs event—We all know the Cubs have made a huge amount of progress in the redevelopment of the area around Wrigley. It has been a tremendous undertaking which was spearheaded by Crane Kenney.  Nice to see him again after we had golfed together in law school and hear his perspectives about the challenges of making changes to the ballpark while trying to retain the characters (and the urinal troughs).

• Tony Robbins event—I met Kayla at Tony Robbins last July, so it seemed appropriate that we went together to this most recent event in Chicago.  In addition to Tony Robbins, it was fantastic to hear from Kevin O’Leary (Shark Tank).  His harsh brashness has a sort of endearing quality to it, something that seems impossible, but he pulls it off.  Gary Vaynerchuk also got on the stage and in between the f-bombs, Gary gave some frank advice.  He has tremendous energy and passion and he has no qualms about calling people out for their BS.  Tony Robbins came on to bat cleanup for the event and despite a depleted look and his recent illness, he managed to really put a ton of energy on display. It was “only” 4 hours for him, instead of the usual 4 days, but his passion and ability to push people the right direction continues to amaze me. So much has changed in my life since I went to the first event last July it is almost amazing. Great new energy and people in my life and I definitely learned a lot about myself. I would encourage you to attend one of his events if you have the opportunity (or I should really say you need to “make” the opportunity).

• Simon’s Heart—It was a pleasure having time to talk with long-time friend Darren Sudman, the Founder of Simon’s Heart.  Darren started the organization after his son had passed away and he has spent many years building up the organization to make sure that his tragedy will help other families. Both Darren and his wife Phyllis have been remarkable at their ability to grow the organization and I hope you will listen to his Sports Philanthropy Podcast which is coming up on June 19, 2019.

• Prom—Julia had a fantastic time at prom. It seems like it has become a much bigger event than I remember, but maybe that is just because I didn’t go.  I joke that I was waiting for one of the girls to invite me and since that never happened, I stayed at home.  Sadly, they had brutal weather including a horrific, late April snow storm that made photographs challenging.  In addition to the actual prom, they had a group of 30+ kids rent a house down in the city and spent Saturday night and Sunday night there since Monday was Senior ditch day.  Sounds like they had a great time even with some of the mom’s that were chaperones.

• Evans Scholars—I love hearing about how different organizations use sports for social good and/or social change.  I am impressed by the creative ways different organizations help harness the power that sports has.  Evans Scholars has really built a long track record of providing support which allows former caddies to get support for their college careers.  Sitting down for lunch with Ryan Jones, the Director of Development really opened my eyes into the scale of the operation and the complexity of managing so many different board structures, country club environments and other groups that are aligned with Evans Scholars.  I hope you will tune in to learn more their work when Ryan joins the Sports Philanthropy Podcast on June 19, 2019.  I know it will be very interesting. 

• NFL Draft—The NFL Draft is culmination of a long football career for many athletes.  The emotions are amazing to watch. Some interesting facts that many casual (and even hard-core) football fans don’t know, include: 

• These are the players that are identified as the best in college football. 
• Approximately 1500 players sign with agents each year. 
• Approximately 330 of them are invited to the NFL Combine. 
• Only 250 players get drafted (meaning only just over 2/3 of the players at the Combine get drafted). 
• About another 350 get signed as undrafted free agents. 
• Doing the math, that means that only about 40% of the players who signed with an agent even get INTO a NFL Training Camp. 
  Very difficult business for the players and very difficult business model for the agents. 

• Power Brain—Excited to start working on a new client called Power Brain.  This is a neuroplasticity brain training system which has been used in a variety of settings including military, business and sports.  The founder of the system has engaged us to work with him to expand the operations and scale the business.  Some terrific applications that exist for this program to be able to benefit so many people.  Keep your eyes open here and I will share more details over the coming weeks and coming months. 

Held the night before the official NFLPA’s annual required training, Inside the League sponsored its annual gathering of agents at the NFL Combine.  The meeting was led by long time agent Peter Schaffer who set a strong leadership tone for the conversation.  The agent community has long been splintered into factions, and the divides typically look like this:

1. Large agencies;
2. Successful smaller agencies;
3. The solo guys;
4. The dabblers;
5. New agents.

The challenge has been to bring these groups together, because while they compete against each other, the only way to protect the value of the agent and to fight against the NFLPA’s attempts to reduce compensation and restrict activities, is for the agents to work together. The larger agencies usually do not want to be involved with the efforts to reform the system, since they are the ones that usually have the resources to spend the money on recruiting and servicing clients that the other groups cannot afford.  So efforts to restrict any of those tactics run counter to their professional objectives.

Schaffer sought a unifying environment as he led the conversation into the following areas:

• Inducements
• Transparency
• Payments to players over 52 weeks
• Strike preparation
• Agent Association
• New leagues

INDUCEMENTS�One of the biggest issues for anyone trying to break into the agent business is how to compete with the large inducements given to players coming out of college.  One of my ongoing criticisms of the NFLPA has been its fictional attempts to enforce its regulations.  Though it purports to ban inducements” the NFLPA has repeatedly refused to consider marketing advances, training payments, living expenses and many other items paid by the agent as inducements.  The NFLPA says that anything paid after the player signs is not an inducement, essentially meaning that an agent can show you what he paid for other players last year, and that does not constitute an inducement.  In any other body of law, that would clearly be held as an inducement.  Schaffer quoted research which showed him that the average agent netted less than $5500 per client, a number that is far lower than most new prospective agents expect when they enter the business.  Under this business model, he said that nobody is making money.” This number is likely skewed up based on the successful agencies, meaning that for most new agents, this is not a viable business, a viewpoint reiterated by many solo agents and those trying to break into the business.  The $15,000 training bills along with six figure marketing guarantees are significant barrier to entry for most agents.

TRANSPARENCY�One frustration for agents (and many others) has been the lack of transparency in this process.  The addendum’s that agents ask players to sign have never been released and so there is no way to tell if the agent (or player) is being truthful in their characterization of the relationship.  Without transparency, many players (and their families) are not comparing apples to apples in the selection of their agent.  Schaffer would like to see the addendum’s standardized and allow the agents access to a database that shows what the players are being offered and promised.

PAYMENTS TO PLAYERS OVER 52 WEEKS�An ongoing challenge for NFL players (and athletes in many other sports) is their ability to manage their finances.  The NFL pays the players on a 17 week schedule.  This means that they have seemingly huge amounts of money in every paycheck.  This distorts the reality that the money they are paid needs to last an entire year.  While the amount that they are paid is enormous in any normal context, the players are typically inexperienced in managing money and fail to take into account some critical elements: 1) They need to pay taxes; 2) They need to make the money last an entire year; and 3) They are likely to have VERY short careers.  Some agents believe that spreading the payments of 52 weeks will help with those issues.  This is one of the few areas where I disagree with the push of agent group. My advice to my clients is ALWAYS get the money as early as possible. I would much rather have the money in my hands than in the hands of another party.  Good planning and financial management can help alleviate the other issues for the players.

STRIKE PREPARATION— Everyone in the football world is anticipating a strike when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in 2020.  It is hard to imagine how any extension will be reached in advance of that time.  So what this means, is that the players may face a lockout and may need to be prepared for a work stoppage.  The agents are recommending that the players start putting away 10% of the money from each game check, 20% of the playoff money and 50% of performance bonuses so that they have the funds to endure a lockout.  Negotiating from a position of strength is always preferable and by making sure the players are not desperate to take any deal, it will be give the Union some backing in the negotiations.

AGENT ASSOCIATION�A long overdue initiative, an agent association will ultimately help the players as well.  This association will give the agents some leverage with the NFLPA and possibly even with the NFL.  There are a multitude of issues that the agents face regularly that are dismissed completely by the NFLPA as either unimportant at all or not relevant for the power agents that the NFLPA has long catered to.  The room was surprisingly unified in the desire to create an agents association and many agents expressed their willingness to pay a fee that would be required.  One important note in this area was raised by longtime agent Jack Bechta, as he strongly cautioned the agents against litigating with the NFLPA.  Bechta’s fear was that it would ultimately cost their own client’s money and that given the expense it would be unlikely to produce any meaningful changes.

NEW LEAGUES�The event was Co-Sponsored by the XFL, and former Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley spoke to the agent group. It was interesting to hear some of the input the XFL has taken from the agents, most notably, that the XFL will have the agents paid directly by the league.  This is a significant change since one continual battle for many agents is to have their players pay their fees and expenses.  The NFLPA’s refusal to allow this payment structure is the cause of many fee disputes, because it is easier for the player to just not pay” without any good reason. 

It was refreshing to see so many agents addressing the issues that have plagued the agent community since I was first in the business in 2000.  Sadly, the issues really have not changed and the agents have never pulled themselves together.  Prior attempts to create an association have failed, frequently because the individual leading the charge did not have enough respect in the agent community.

Schaffer seems to have that respect and seems to be marshalling the resources that are needed to make an agent association a reality.  It will be interesting to see how the NFLPA reacts at Friday’s meeting and over the next several months.

The one noticeable absence at this meeting was the large agencies.  There did not seem to be any representation from CAA, Athletes First, or Rosenhaus Sports, three of the biggest agencies.

An agents association would ultimately serve the players better as well, a fact which seems to escape the notice of the NFLPA.

One of the things that has always mystified me on the concussion front is how the NFLPA has been virtually ignored.  As the entity charged with representing the players and protecting their health and safety, the NFLPA has essentially been given a free pass on the issue.

Currently, there are lawsuits pending against the NFL, Pop Warner, the NCAA and many other entities.  The basic allegations in each complaint rely on the fact that the sponsoring organization had a duty to the athletes and failed to protect them, and in many cases, hid the dangers of concussions away from them.

The NFL in particular has been accused of downplaying the dangers of concussions and using a committee of highly unqualified individuals to make the decisions for the league.  The problem the league faces is that, until recently, their actions are quite clearly against the weight of medical science.  Their Head, Neck and Spine committee consisted of people who were not neurologists and did not have the credentials to advise on these issues, much less lead the way.

But the question I don’t see anyone asking is Where was the NFLPA while this fiasco was going on.”  It is reasonable to be in the camp of believing that the NFL acted inappropriately and that the league hid dangers and used unqualified people to distort the research (or at minimum, minimize the impact of the research).  Yet I see no groups taking on the NFLPA or even questioning where their leadership was while the concussion crisis started to take shape. 

The group in the best position to take on the powerhouse of the NFL is the NFLPA.  The players alone have little power.  The agents have virtually no power on these issues. Long time agent Leigh Steinberg has said that he was presenting concussion issues to the league in the early 1990’s with no success.

So while the NFLPA may not have been in a position to take the lead role, surely it had the obligation and the right to question how the NFL examined this issue. It seems to me that this was a failure of leadership on the part of the NFLPA and the NFLPA may have been more concerned with other financial issues for the players and with long term health benefits, both worthwhile causes.  You may read this and say, hey, Roy Kessel, who are you to question the NFLPA.  Having been certified as an NFL Contract Advisor (i.e. agent), and having attended numerous NFLPA seminars, Sports Lawyers Association Seminars and having taught at Northwestern, this is an issue that I have examined on many occasions.

While I agree that the NFLPA should not have primary liability on this issue, I do not see how the media has failed to question the union as it relates to their actions.  I have asked this question to former players, media members and even many involved in the concussion” industry.  I am still waiting for an answer.  If you have one, I would love to hear it below.

Super Bowl weeks are always a very hectic time.  If you are associated with the business of sports, there are more events than you could possibly have time to attend in that period of time.  As you read through this summary, you will see the links embedded to the coverage of the various events provided by the Sports Philanthropy Network.

This past week in Atlanta, I was fortunate to participate in a whole variety of events giving me the opportunity to interact with a wide array of individuals from all across the country.

The weekend prior to the game, I was able to attend the NFL Experience at the Georgia World Congress with Kayla Bradham, who is joining the Sports Philanthropy Network as the VP of Community Relations.  We had the opportunity to go through the exhibits and explore the venue in a much less crowded environment than you would see later in the week.  One of the highlights was getting the chance to meet some of the team from RISE, Stephen Ross’ initiative getting its acronym from Ross Initiative for Sports Equality.  As the owner of the Miami Dolphins, Ross has put his name on many things, including the University of Michigan Business School, but this is one that could make an every longer lasting impact.

The first couple days of the week are quieter as the schedule ramps up in anticipation of the crowds heading into the weekend.  It was comical as the City of Atlanta prepared itself for a winter storm.”  The whole city was on high alert mode on Monday as it prepared for horrific conditions on Tuesday.  The TV weather broadcasts warned everyone of impending doom.  Schools were cancelled by Monday afternoon.  The end result?  A day with temperatures in the high 30’s and low 40’s.  A sunny afternoon.  Even the health club I managed to use to squeeze in a few workouts was telling me the facility might close because the weather could change.”

One of the most interesting parts of the week was the ability to get press credentials which gave me access to many of the official NFL events and the various summits and educational seminars around time.  It gave me some great insight into how the media work and the access they receive to all parts of the Super Bowl compound.

• WEDNESDAY: From my end, the week got kick started with a Women’s Empowerment Summit hosted by GladiatHers. Terrific messages from many powerful women. Well over 100 women attended and there were a surprising number of men also supporting the vision of GladiatHers.
• WEDNESDAY: From there, it was a quick run over to the Crucial Catch event held at the American Cancer Society HQ. A strong turnout of NFL representatives, team mascots, cheerleaders and former players led the way as the stations were set up to caution about various cancer risk factors and provide prevention suggestions.
• WEDNESDAY: The GladiatHers evening panel had some very frank conversations from leading women in the Atlanta sports community.
• THURSDAY: The Most Valuable Philanthropist event hosted by Champions for Philanthropy at the amazing venue called The Estate.” Honoring some terrific players who have made a great impact in their community, this event really set a strong standard for other philanthropic events to follow.
• THURSDAY: RISE held their Town Hall Meeting at the King Center with a star-studded and impressive lineup taking the stage to push for social justice and significant reforms in the criminal justice system.
• THURSDAY: Very impressive event at the Porsche Experience, sponsored by AWIS (Atlanta Women in Sports). A terrific turnout and many great women leaders took the stage to accept their awards and talk about their motivations and the impact they desired to make.
• FRIDAY: The NFL Man of the Year Community event was held at the Boys and Girls Club. Attended by almost all of the Man of the Year nominees, this event featured Roger Goodell working the shovel and wheelbarrow and setting the lead example of hard work.
• FRIDAY: George Washington University’s Sports Philanthropy program hosted a networking Happy Hour for the many professionals in town for the Super Bowl and received a strong turnout of people making their career in the sports philanthropy space.
• FRIDAY: A special treat was an invitation to dinner by NFL Hall of Fame LB Rickey Jackson and getting the opportunity speak to him and Eric Dickerson during a late dinner.
• SATURDAY: Leigh Steinberg, Nicole Fisher and the Brain Treatment Foundation hosted a Brain Health Summit as a prelude to Leigh Steinberg’s annual party. The Summit had an insightful panel discussion that examined the difficulties of addressing the concussion problems on a practical level.
• SATURDAY: Leigh Steinberg’s party hosted over 2000 people crammed into the venue and the highlight was Patrick Mahomes taking home some of the awards and showing off his strong presence and command of the audience. Later that night, he took home the Player of the Year.

Unfortunately, I did not get to stay for the game.  Aside from the ticket prices running well over $2,000, it was time to get back home after the two week trip for the Senior Bowl and the Super Bowl.

One thing that struck me as I walked around the streets of Atlanta during the week, was the dichotomy exhibited by homeless individuals asking for food or money, while literally a few yards away, party goers are entering into parties that whose tickets ranged in price from $200 to $1000+.   I haven’t seen any reports on the total amount spent on parties during the week, but you can bet it is a large number.

Overall I felt that the movie did a pretty good job of highlighting some of the most severe examples of what could happen as a result of ongoing head trauma and potentially as a result of CTE.  Obviously, I am too close to the issue and not really part of the “target market” so maybe my expectations are a bit off.

I am not sure that the movie needed the love story element with Omalu but it seemed that they wanted to use that as a way to tie the story together and humanize Omalu a bit more.  I give incredible praise to Omalu for being willing to stand up to the NFL and the football establishment and fight on this issue.  His work laid the foundation for the great increase in concussion awareness over the past 5 years.  Despite being right and despite his success, he was demonized by many and I am not sure that the depth of the attacks on him was portrayed in the movie.

I think the movie missed a few big opportunities:

First, for most people that have not been around this discussion, stating that a concussion occurs at “60 Gs of force” is far too abstract.  They would have been better served to put in a few small clips from hits that were estimated at 60 Gs and then show them in comparison to clips that were part of the “Jacked Up” segment, all of which are probably well over 100 Gs of force.  I think most people would be surprised by how “minor” a 60 G hit looks in comparison to what they are expecting

Second, they took the extreme cases of Mike Webster, Terry Long and Justin S. (I am not even going to try to spell that name here without Google).  It is likely that all 3 of those players suffered significantly due to the head trauma and they did find evidence of CTE.  But those are hardly clean comparisons because that was also the midst of the steroid era and the potential of steroid rage and other drug implications is significant.  The movie conveniently ignored all of that as it focused just on the CTE issues (which should not be minimized, nor should you read this paragraph to mean that they are not significant contributing factors to their mental states).

Third, I think that the failure to compare the current state of concussion management and the way players are being handled post concussion now was disappointing.  It leaves the viewer with the impression that anyone playing football WILL SUFFER the horrendous effects that were highlighted in the movie.  Though people have mocked Roger Goodell saying the game is safer than it has ever been, that is probably true.  Players are removed after concussions and monitored closely.  Players who now miss 3-4 games would have been put right back on the field.  The number of hits players suffer in practice is significantly reduced starting from youth football to high school to college and to the NFL (or other pro league).  The cumulative effect of reduced hitting in practice means thousands of hits fewer for any of today’s players.

Finally, most notably, the party who is tasked with the primary responsibility for protecting the interests of the players gets off without any mention.  The NFLPA is the group that should bear MUCH MORE of the anger and frustration from the players than the NFL. The NFLPA has the resources and interest to fight back and question what is going on with the NFL. It never did.  I think it will go down as one of the great failures of Gene Upshaw, former Executive Director of the NFLPA.  I am not sure how the NFLPA has stayed out of the limelight so long, but it also came out with little criticism in PBS Frontline’s “League of Denial”.  If you haven’t watched that and are interest in this topic, it has much more details.

A few other observations:

1. Joseph Maroon comes across as arrogant and fighting against the science.  My favorite was the line of Omalu when he said that “history will laught at those that deny” and “tell the truth”.

2. Elliott Pelman, who chaired the NFL committee on the traumatic brain injuries for many years was a Rhumatologist. This was rightly pointed out in the movie but this movie did not highlight many of his other outrageious statements and proclamations in the offical reports that were issued.

3. Julian Bailes continues to be heavily involved in concussion related matters.  My favorite line of his was when he told Omalu “You are in trouble, but you are not wrong.”

4. The NFL deserves plenty of criticism for not picking up this issue earlier, and certainly for trying to mask findings that had the potential to hurt the game.  The NFL also certainly deserves flack for trying to bury the issue at the conference and presentation and prevent Omalu from presenting his findings. What everyone needs to remember, however, is that NOBODY ELSE was taking any different action either.  The NHL, MLB, the general medical community etc. were all way behind the times.  In fact, if you look at it, the NFL has actually been at the forefront of dealing with this issue (as it is in many health related issues such as drugs, PEDs, etc).  The general medical community still seems to be well behind the sports community in dealing with concussion issues.

5. Dave Duerson came out looking very bad in the movie.  The movie did not really give any background on him but having met him and had some other interactions, there are several important facts that were omitted.  First, he was removed from Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees because of a domestic violence charge which occurred while he was in South Bend for a trustees meeting.  He was on many other board, belonged to Medinah Country Club and was struggling to uphold his image.  He had a business that ran into significant financial difficulties and he was being investigated and sued on many levels relating to the collapse of his primary business (a meat packing plant that had contracts with McDonalds).  Again, not to minimize the impact that CTE may have had on him or his behavior (or business dealings), but these other issues could have been significant in his decision to take his own life.  Sadly, I had the opportunity to present at an event sponsored by an organization run by one of his closest friends. This friend was the first person to get to the body and cleaned up before the family got there. I got to see the actual photos he took of the bed, blood soaked sheets and the room.

6. Ira Casson, another one of the medical professionals on the NFL’s committees looked utterly ignorant with his blanket proclamations that there was no link to concussions or head trauma.

7. Junior Seau was anothe player that had tried to commit suicide on a few other occasions, before he was successful.

8. Omalu’s boss who was indicted is also a good reminder of the federal government that can choose to indict almost anyone for almost anything if you have any dealings with federal agencies or funding.  I don’t know the whole story in that case but would be interested to read more if anyone has the details.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions, many of which cannot be answered until we can identify CTE in living people.  I will make a list of these questions for next time.