Lost Seasons: Arrests, Suspensions, Career Chaos, and Mortality among National Football League (NFL) Players

The National Football League represents one of the pinnacles of athletic prowess in the United States, but playing for the organization has its consequences. Lost Seasons provides nine empirical studies on factors affecting players’ health, careers, and general well-being, all correlated and rigorously examined by epidemiologist and football fan Jeffrey S. Markowitz, DrPH.

High-profile arrests for domestic violence and driving under the influence dog the NFL-serious problems that tarnish the organization’s reputation and ruin careers. Markowitz examines the nature of such arrests-leading to surprising conclusions.

From there, Markowitz delves into the consequences of suspensions, fines, and potentially career-ending injuries, and how such factors impact players on and off the field. Finally, he examines postcareer mortality rates in every individual who played in the NFL between 1960 and 1986. Markowitz provides insightful and startling evidence on how birthplace, playing-time body mass index (BMI), race, and the number of seasons played affects athlete mortality once careers end. These results provide hard evidence that disparities exist in the risk of mortality among key groups of NFL players.

Thoughtful and comprehensive, Lost Seasons provides a wealth of never-before compiled biomedical data on the consequences of playing America’s most popular professional sport.