After the Will Smith film Concussion, that looked at the issue of head trauma in the NFL, broadcaster Bob Costas took it upon himself to become an advocate for concussion research. Essentially, he wanted players and viewers to be better educated about the topic and sometimes directly challenged the NFL. He even made some public statements about it all that caught the eye of the league.
"The issue [in sports] that is most substantial—the existential issue—is the nature of football itself," Costas told the crowd at a Maryland journalism symposium. "The reality is that this game destroys people's brains—not everyone's but a substantial number. It's not a small number, it's a considerable number. It destroys their brains."
Costas is now appearing in a piece from ESPN's Outside The Lines where he explained that in the aftermath of his comments, he was taken off NBC's Super Bowl LII coverage.
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"I recall the phrase, 'It's a six-hour, daylong celebration of football, and you're not the right person to celebrate football,'" Costas explained in the clip posted by ESPN. "To which my response was not, 'Oh please, please, change your mind.' My response was, 'Yeah, I guess you're right.'"
What do you think of Costas' alleged blacklisting?
