Americans Are Concerned About Safety in the NFL

By Alvin Gunnion and Lew Blank 

The recent collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has once again raised questions about the safety of tackle football in the minds of many Americans. Hamlin experienced a sudden cardiac arrest after a hit during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2. He received CPR and defibrillator treatment on the field before being transferred to a local hospital. 

In the minutes after Hamlin was removed from the field, NFL executives allegedly communicated that the game would resume in 5 minutes. Players and coaches of both teams disagreed, and mutually decided to walk off the field, effectively ending the game. 

In a recent survey conducted by Data for Progress, 85 percent of American adults indicate that they support the decision made by the coaches and players to end the game. This level of support remains consistent across party lines, with 87 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of Independents, and 86 percent of Republicans supporting the decision to end the game. 

 
 

In the wake of Hamlin’s collapse and other high-profile injuries in the NFL, such as the concussions to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa earlier this season, we wanted to test how NFL viewers feel broadly about tackle football. As sportswriter Neil Paine observed in a recent FiveThirtyEight chat, Americans “recognize the dangers [of football] but find ways to compartmentalize them.” Editor Maya Sweedler also noted this cognitive dissonance, sharing that she has “felt this tension between the violence inherent to the sport and the beauty of its strategy.”

We find that while 48 percent of self-identified NFL viewers feel positive overall about football, a significant portion — 41 percent — say they feel “conflicted”: While football is a beautiful and exciting sport to watch, they feel tension about the lasting harm it causes. An additional 6 percent say they feel negative about football. 

Conflicted feelings about football are especially high for female NFL viewers (51 percent) and NFL viewers under the age of 45 (48 percent).

 
 

Not only are a significant portion of NFL viewers conflicted about the ramifications of the sport, but some Americans are questioning whether tackle football should be played in the first place. Our polling finds that 1 in 6 Americans believe that tackle football should no longer be played, including 21 percent of Democrats, 17 percent of Independents, and 10 percent of Republicans. We again find gender differences, with 21 percent of women and 10 percent of men believing that tackle football should no longer be played. 

 
 

These results show shifting attitudes toward the NFL and tackle football writ large. That 47 percent of NFL viewers feel conflicted or negatively about a quintessential American sport that is ingrained in our national identity shows how serious the safety concerns have become. Moving forward, the NFL faces a considerable challenge addressing their viewers’ conflicted feelings about the sport — especially with their female and young adult fanbases.


Alvin Gunnion (@alvingunnion) is a communications intern at Data for Progress.

Lew Blank(@LewBlank) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.

Timothy BresnahanNFL, Healthcare