Most NFL Fans Unfazed By Concussions As Tua Tagovailoa’s Injury Sparks Debate

Topline

Interest in the NFL remains robust even after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a gruesome head injury during a primetime game last month that reignited questions about football’s link to brain trauma among players, according to a poll released Monday by research firm Morning Consult, demonstrating the league’s incredible ability to withstand negative publicity.

Key Facts

Some 70% of self-identified NFL fans said players sustaining head injuries has no impact on their interest in tuning into games, while 23% said head injuries made them somewhat less interested and 7% said they were much less interested, according to the survey of 1,886 American adults conducted October 8 and 9, shortly after Tagovailoa suffered a concussion and was carted off the field during Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast.

Younger Americans are far more likely to be deterred by concussion concerns, with 38% of Gen Z respondents and 37% of millennials reporting player head injuries make them less interested in the game, compared to 27% and 22% of Gen X and baby boomer respondents.

Tagovailoa’s injury particularly sparked national debate given his jarring on-field reaction to the concussion, and because it came just four days after Tagovailoa hit his head against the ground in Miami’s previous game and stumbled shortly after standing up, possibly showing a concussion symptom known as ataxia that may have left him at further risk for re-injury.

The NFL subsequently updated its concussion protocol to bar players demonstrating ataxia from re-entering that game, after Tagovailoa’s return drew near-universal criticism.

That policy update appears to be popular among fans: Just 4% of respondents to the Morning Consult poll said players should be able to return to a game they left due to a head injury, while 84% said players in question should sit two weeks or more after exiting due to a head injury.

Key Background

The NFL’s players’ union criticized the handling of Tagovailoa’s health, firing the independent doctor who cleared the quarterback to play after his first injury. Nearly every NFL player whose brain was examined after their death has suffered from the degenerative brain condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). After decades of avoiding addressing the long-term impact of repeated head injuries, the NFL has made an effort in recent years to minimize concussions, implementing a standardized concussion protocol in 2011 and changing gameplay rules to lessen the number of hard hits to the head. Many detractors say the NFL’s violence is not worth the glory and riches for players, including then-President Barack Obama, who famously said in 2014 he wouldn’t let his son play football if he had one, due to the long-term health effects associated with the sport.

Contra

Fans may largely stick by the NFL even as head injury concerns loom, but ratings for Amazon’s first Thursday Night Football broadcast after the Tagovailoa injury fell off, bringing in 9.7 million average viewers, by far the lowest viewership of the year for Amazon. However, the ratings dip was likely attributable to a sloppy on-field product, and the game still far outperformed concurrent broadcasts on network television.

Surprising Fact

Tagovailoa’s replacement at quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, exited the Dolphins’ Week 5 game with a head injury. Tagovailoa cleared the league’s concussion protocol Saturday and will start for Miami against the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday, according to ESPN. Miami started the season 3-0 thanks to a hot start from Tagovailoa, but lost their next three games without their starting quarterback in action.

Further Reading

A Clear Majority of NFL Fans Say Head Injuries Have No Effect on Their Interest in the Sport (Morning Consult)

They Love Football. They Try Not to Think About C.T.E. (New York Times)

Football Concussions—The NFL’s Worst Fear—May Be More Likely On Fake Grass Fields, Study Suggests (Forbes)