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Supreme Court Makes Billion-Dollar Decision In NFL Concussion Case

The settlement covers more than 20,000 retired NFL players for the next 65 years

 James Poulos
12.23.16

After putting players through years of concussions—and their costly health consequences—the Supreme Court effectively finalized the tab the NFL must pay to set things right in the eyes of the law.

It’s a big one. Rebuffing some challenges to the settlement plan, the Court greenlit $1 billion in payouts from the league. “The settlement covers more than 20,000 retired NFL players for the next 65 years,” ESPN reported. “The league estimates that 6,000 former players, or nearly three in 10, could develop Alzheimer's disease or moderate dementia.”

Growing awareness of the sharp dangers to brain health posed by pro football careers—and the years of top-tier play as a child and teenager that precede them—has contributed to a shift in public opinion that’s seen to put the future of the NFL into unexpected question. Ratings have been plummeting: they’re down by nearly a third across all major broadcast networks. The league has even had to bat away rumors that Thursday Night Football could be pared down or eliminated entirely. Still, the trend is undeniable.

And health concerns aren’t the only culprit. The rise of online entertainment, the increased politicization of football by players, an increasing crackdown against on-field celebrations, and other factors, including the presidential campaign, have all been fingered. Whatever unfolds in 2017, one thing is clear: football’s dominance atop the American sports heap is no longer a no-brainer.

Sports

A former Miss World contestant was disqualified for being a mom. Now she's fighting back.

Some beauty pageants, like the Miss America competition, have done away with the swimsuit portions of the competitions, thus dipping their toes in the 21st century. Other aspects of beauty pageants remain stuck in the 1950s, and we're not even talking about the whole "judging women mostly on their looks" thing. One beauty pageant winner was disqualified for being a mom, as if you can't be beautiful after you've had a kid. Now she's trying to get the Miss World competition to update their rules.

Veronika Didusenko won the Miss Ukraine pageant in 2018. After four days, she was disqualified because pageant officials found out she was a mom to 5-year-old son Alex, and had been married. Didusenko said she had been aware of Miss World's rule barring mother from competing, but was encouraged to compete anyways by pageant organizers.

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NASA's solar probe sent back its first findings, and it's more incredible than we thought

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One mystery in our universe is a step closer to being solved. NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched last year to help scientists understand the sun. Now, it has returned its first findings. Four papers were published in the journal Nature detailing the findings of Parker's first two flybys. It's one small step for a solar probe, one giant leap for mankind.



It is astounding that we've advanced to the point where we've managed to build a probe capable of flying within 15 million miles from the surface of the sun, but here we are. Parker can withstand temperatures of up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and travels at 430,000 miles per hour. It's the fastest human-made vehicle, and no other human-made object has been so close to the sun.

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The Army's football program ditched a team motto after learning it's used by white supremacists

via Sportstreambest / Flickr

Since the mid '90s the phrase "God Forgives, Brothers Don't" has been part of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's football team's lexicon.

Over the past few years, the team has taken the field flying a black skull-and-crossbones flag with an acronym for the phrase, "GFBD" on the skull's upper lip. Supporters of the team also use it on social media as #GFBD.

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