NFL Pledging $100 Million To Player Safety, Concussion Concerns

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The NFL is pledging $100 million to player safety as concerns about concussions continue to plague the league.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote a letter announcing the funding and outlining a new program called "Play Safe, Play Smart."

Goodell wrote, "The NFL has been a leader on health and safety in many ways, and we've made some real strides in recent years. But when it comes to addressing head injuries in our game, I'm not satisfied, and neither are the owners of the NFL's 32 clubs. We can and will do better."

The goal of the initiative is "to drive progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of head injuries, enhance medical protocols and further improve the way the game is taught and played."

The program has four pillars: protecting players, advanced technology, medical research and sharing progress.

$60 million of the total funding will go toward exploring technological solutions to player safety and more than $40 million will be allotted to medical research.

"The goal is to pursue scientific research to examine the long-term effects of concussion, the incidence and prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and what can be done to improve long-term player health,"said Goodell.