NFL Players Sue Union, Claim Collusion With League To Hide Concussion Risks

Two former professional football players are suing the players’ union. claiming the union knew for years about the serious consequences of repeated head injuries but failed to take actions against the league to protect union members. The failure to act indicates the union was in collusion with the NFL, the players claim in a lawsuit filed in St. Louis. The two plaintiffs, former players for the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, seek to represent all former players in charges of fraud, negligence and civil conspiracy against the National Football League Players Association. According to the suit, three union representatives were on a retirement board that for years has awarded disability payments to former players with repetitive traumatic brain injury, and through that work and from other sources they knew about the risks. , “Despite their knowledge and acceptance of the link between concussive and sub-concussive hits and cognitive decline,” the filing says, “defendants continued to actively and purposefully conceal and misrepresent the severe neurological risks.”