The Guardian: Injury pay cuts and limited leverage: five brutal truths about NFL
UC study cited regarding NFL contracts and how players actions, on and off the field
An obvious injury on the football field, such as we saw with Buffalo Bills' safety Damar Hamlin, can sideline a player for a game, weeks, or indefinitely. How this affects their health is of primary concern, but financial setbacks come into play as well, according to an in-depth article on NFL contacts in "The Guardian."
The article outlines how NFL contacts are tailored to the individual player and risk assessment; and it’s not only what they do on the field that can have financial caveats. Riding a motorcycle, for example, might be forbidden in the contact and any injuries from an accident might be cause for breach of contract.
Behaviors can impact player finances as well, says UC political scientist David Niven, an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs cited in the article.
What Niven found is that after the national anthem kneeling protests against racial inequality, “a far greater percentage of protesters [than non-protesters] received a salary cut, that protesters’ overall salaries grew at a notably slower rate, and that protesters were vastly more likely to be sent to another team.”
Featured image at top courtesy of Unsplash.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
UC dance team takes gold at world championship
April 24, 2026
The University of Cincinnati dance team won gold in the Premier Hip Hop competition representing the United States at the ICU Championships at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Florida. The victory marks the team’s 11th world championship.
Protecting the brain with chemistry
April 24, 2026
UC chemistry student Carter St. Clair will pursue his interest in computational chemistry through a new fellowship at the Air Force Research Laboratory. His topic: new applications in AI in human health.
UC, GE Aerospace celebrate Next Engineers grads
April 24, 2026
The University of Cincinnati played host in April to the graduation of this year’s class of the GE Aerospace Foundation’s Next Engineers, a global college- and career-readiness program that provides scholarship incentives for young people to become engineers.