Tania Ganguli, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Bob McNair: Concussion settlement about protecting brand

Being an owner of considerable clout as the chairman of the NFL's finance committee, the Houston Texans' Bob McNair doesn't mind offering his opinion. He is quoted twice in GQ Magazine's extensive portrait of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The piece addresses Goodell's handling of a season defined by scandal, from Ray Rice's domestic abuse case, to Adrian Peterson's indictment on child abuse charges, to the ongoing specter of concussions and their impact on players and the NFL's future. His most pointed quote was about the 2013 settlement of a class-action concussion lawsuit, in which McNair questions the validity of the plaintiffs' claims. Gabriel Sherman writes:

By the summer of 2013, Goodell was determined to put Bountygate and the broader concussion issue behind him. He held a series of meetings with team owners in New York and persuaded them to settle the class-action lawsuit brought by more than 5,000 players who were seeking financial payouts for concussion-related conditions such as Alzheimer's, dementia, and depression. Goodell argued that while the league could fight in court and likely prevail, the litigation would be a festering wound on the league's image.

"It was about protecting the brand," recalled Bob McNair, who attended the sessions. "Do we want the brand attacked on this for the next ten years? Or do we want to go ahead and take the high road? In effect, we don't think most of these concussions referenced even occurred in the NFL, but we're not going to complain about it."

The concussions didn't even occur in the NFL? The denialism is hard to fathom -- and it suggests so much about the mind-set of the owners and their commissioner as they steer the league into the future. The concussion settlement was a patch-up job, and now that the judge has deemed the payout cap to be unfair, the owners have no idea what their ultimate liability will be going forward. The class-action suit was the largest concussion case against the league, but not the only one. Relatives of Junior Seau, who committed suicide in 2012, are pressing ahead with a wrongful-death suit that has nothing to do with the broad settlement.

Here's the link. The entire profile is tremendously done, and worth a read.

^ Back to Top ^