Congressman: NFL tried to tamper with concussion research
WASHINGTON — National Football League officials improperly sought to influence a government study on the link between football and brain disease, according to a senior House Democrat in a report issued Monday.
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone says the league tried to strong-arm the National Institutes of Health into taking the project from a researcher who the NFL feared was biased.
“This investigation confirms the NFL inappropriately attempted to use its unrestricted gift as leverage to steer funding away from one of its critics,” Pallone said.
Since its research agreement with NIH was clear that it could not weigh in on the grant-selection process, the NFL should never have tried to influence that process.
Stern has been vocal about the connection between football collisions and brain damage, and filed a declaration opposing a settlement between the NFL and former players, fearing that deserving players would not be compensated.
NFL medical director Dr. Elliot Pellman emailed the executive director of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, which raises private funding for NIH research, and said the league had significant concerns regarding Boston University “and (its) ability to be unbiased and collaborative.”
Tom Brady’s lawyers asked a federal appeals court in New York for a new hearing before an expanded panel of judges, telling them Monday that it is not merely a silly dispute over underinflated footballs; it’s the basic right to a fair process that is shared by all union workers.
Setting the stage for the “Deflategate” scandal to stretch into its third season, and putting Brady’s four-game suspension back in the hands of the courts, the players’ union asked all 13 judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case that a three-judge panel decided in the league’s favor.
The suspension was overturned by a federal judge on the eve of last season, but a circuit court panel ruled last month that Goodell was within the rights granted to him by the collective bargaining agreement.