NFL Doesn't Obsess Over PEDs; Why Should UFC? | SiriusXM | Luke Thomas

NFL Doesn’t Obsess Over PEDs; Why Should UFC?

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UFC President Dana White told the media at last week’s UFC 235 presser that USADA is needed because this isn’t a sport where athletes put a ball through a hoop or over a fence. He is not the first to make this point, but in light of Super Bowl 53, it’s time to revisit this argument. The NFL – the most successful domestic sports league in the United States by a wide margin – named New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman the MVP. This season, however, Edelman was suspended four games for a PED violation. An opinion columnist in USA Today noted the NFL doesn’t seem to care about stamping about steroids or PED use, generally.


She’s right, but also wrong.The NFLPA also doesn’t care as they helped the NFL craft their anti-doping program. Nor do the broadcast networks nor the advertisers nor the fans. No one in the stakeholder position is concerned. Interestingly, however, the sport has an injury load equal to or surpassing that of mixed martial arts. At a bare minimum, the two are comparable. How can it be, then, that two sports with high and serious injury loads that affect brain health and quality of life have wildly divergent attitudes towards what to do about it? The answer is that MMA suffers from a media-driven moral panic and has overcorrected to fix the problem.

20 Comments

  2. How did Julian Edelman lose 4 games this year for peds if they are lax about it then how did he get caught???

  4. Hear that sound? It's Luke's audience leaving the building. Keep doing videos about PEDs and you will keep 'on widdlin down your audience. Self awareness is something a key to success. Talk about alienating your audience. Maybe some agree, but you don't have clones yet Luke. Again, don't look at fairness. Like PED users co-existing with non cheating athletes on the same field of play.

  5. People care about NFL players who roid rage say, on women? Oh, not that. And…people seem to be talking about concussion effect. And…youth football has changed. People do care about damage. Don't care about PEDs? People don't care BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT MONEY. People watching don't care? Oh they care but when a roid rager hits a women. But we don't tie those together.

  7. You answered your own question. The NFL could never adopt better testing because the league would go bankrupt. The UFC has balls to let their stars sit out. They could afford to do. The NFL cannot. The culture of the NFL is PEDs so how could that ever change? Hint: it won't. Not until players start dying young and developing dementia earlier and earlier and then and only then will PEDs become a crossroad for the NFL. For now, countin the money!

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