Jada Walker

ENG 201 AC01

28 June 2023

Testing for C.T.E in Collegiate Football Athletes

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy has become one of the most common diseases within

football players over the past decade. These athletes endure an unimaginable number of blows to

the head, this increases the odds of the disease. Testing for CTE in a living person is becoming

more possible as the days go by. Studies have been done to find out the relationship between how

long these athletes played and C.T.E risks and how severe it is. Studies have been done to

correlate the relationship between how many years these athletes played football to how severe

the disease is. C.T.E is a severe condition. Youth sport organizations to colleges to national

leagues have faced lawsuits due to the disease. Athletes that play football should be getting tested

for this disease as soon as they reach the collegiate level of playing.

Repetitive hits to the head will likely lead to something bad. According to Ken Belson and

Benjamin Mueller’s “Collective Force of head hits, not just the Number of them, Increases Odds

of C.T.E”, The authors stated, “Researchers have for years poised that more hits to the head a

player receives – even subconscious ones, which are usually not tracked – the more likely he is

to develop cognitive and neurological problems later in life”. With, years and years of head

trauma increases more problems within the brain. By the time athletes get to college they may

have about 3-4 years of rough playing experience.

Testing for CTE in athletes that are still living is an ongoing experiment. Belson states that

“The study at U.C.L.A included 14 retired NFL players, the players were given positron emission

tomography scans that revealed tau protein deposits in their brains, a signature of C.T.E”
(“Progress Seen in Detecting Brain Disease in the Living 1”). This is a way colleges and

universities can test for the disease in their football players. Belson also mentions “These tests

cost around $10,000 per patient” (“Progress Seen in Detecting Brain Disease in the Living 1”).

The price would be the one obstacle these colleges will face to get these tests.

In the article “Duration of American Football Play and Chronic Traumatic

Encephalopathy” the authors discuss how the relationship between how much time these athletes

played to how severe their C.T.E was. This study was composed of 266 NFL players who were

passed away. In the article Mez, et al state that, “the odds of C.T.E double every 2.6 years of

football played”. This is a great deal because most athletes entering college have already been

playing for about 3-4 years. The researchers found that “sensitivity and specificity were

maximized at 11 years played”. By the time athletes that make it to the NFL, XFL, or CFL they

have around 8 years under their belt. Not counting the time, they spend in these leagues. The

average time a player is in one of these leagues is 3.5 years. This means they would have been

playing around 11+ years and have an extremely high chance they have lost all sensitivity in the

brain.

The lawsuits have been settled for enormous sums. There are few reasons the plaintiff’s

won. The main reason is because “some researchers have described C.T.E as a progressive

degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma…”

(Reiter and Tanglen 1). This helped them because the negligence on the organization’s behalf.

The National Football League reached a settlement of $1 billion, due to a concussion related

diagnosis, (which ultimately ended up being C.T.E). Although the plaintiffs still received

reparations for what their loved ones went through, it still could have been avoided by testing

these athletes as they are receiving major head trauma over and over.
 To conclude, the articles I cited show how severe C.T.E disease is. C.T.E is one of the

leading causes in death within football players. All athletes first priority should be their mental

and physical health, without these tests players might have to end their career earlier than they

may have expected. Testing these players will help find the disease early on, which may save

their life in the future. When football players enter college, they are the most at-risk athletes

which is why they should start getting tested as soon as they arrive. This will help the sport

become safer and increase the longevity on a player’s career.

 Works Cited

Belson, Ken. “Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of

C.T.E.” The New York Times. 20 June 2023,

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/sports/football/cte-study-concussions-brain-tackle.html

Belson, Ken. “Progress Is Seen in Detecting C.T.E in Living Patients.” The New York Times. 6

Apr. 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/sports/progress-is-seen-in-detecting-cte-in-

living-patients.html?searchResultPosition=23

Mez, Jesse, et al. “Duration of American Football Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.”

Wiley Online Library. Annals of Neurology. 07 Oct 2019, https://onlinelibrary-wiley-

com.ezproxy.ccac.edu/doi/full/10.1002/ana.25611

Reiter, Thomas and Tanglen, Lucas. “Concussions and Coverage: Insurance for Claims Alleged

Long-Term Brain Injuries, Including CTE.” The Entertainment and Sports Lawyer. Fall 2017,

https://resolver-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.ccac.edu/openurl?sid=EBSCO

%3aedshol&genre=article&issn=07321880&ISBN=&volume=34&issue=1&date=20170101&sp

age=3&pages=3-

22&title=Entertainment+and+Sports+Lawyer&atitle=Concussions+and+Coverage

%3a+Insurance+for+Claims+Alleging+Long-Term+Brain+Injuries

%2c+including+CTE&aulast=Reiter%2c+Thomas+M.&id=DOI%3a&site=ftf-live