UCLA Entertainment Law Review

Despite the now commonplace concern surrounding concussions,

the widely-recognized long-term cognitive damage caused by on-field

head injuries, the preventative steps that youth and professional sports

leagues have taken to mitigate these effects, and the plain words of

caution spoken by professional athletes themselves, the NCAA has been

lethargic, at best, in reacting to the alarm that athletes, doctors, and

lawmakers have been sounding about the danger of head injuries from

playing contact sports. Congress, state legislatures, sports leagues,

and NCAA-member conferences have rallied to the cause, applying

themselves to the task of establishing concussion management

protocols and funding studies to evaluate how concussions are caused

and what can be done to prevent them.

Yet, the NCAA has failed to apply its resources with similar energy,

or take independent action to protect its student-athletes from being

plagued by cognitive decline in their post-collegiate professional lives.

This Article explains the science of a concussion, and presents the

reasons why it is imperative that concussions be prevented This

Article evaluates the efforts of other sports leagues -fom the NFL to

youth leagues to the Ivy League - to implement concussion

management plans and devote funds to studying the cognitive effects of

multiple head injuries. This Article argues that the NCAA, which

purports to prepare student-athletes for success off the field, has

enjoyed great autonomy since its inception - shielded from government

regulation and from student-athlete demands. This Article argues that

the NCAA's independence has allowed it to fail its student-athletes by

not providing proper education, guidelines, and prevention techniques.

Furthermore, this Article suggests that the NCAA create an education

plan to prepare student-athletes for timely returns-to-play, and urges

the NCAA to direct its funds towards research and collaborative

opportunities with existing concussion research efforts. Ultimately,

this Article concludes that the NCAA has failed to provide proper

regulation in this area of collegiate athletics, and urges the federal

courts to mandate change.