Overview
In a complaint filed Wednesday, a group of former NHL hockey players filed a class action alleging that the NHL failed to warn, and concealed, the risk of concussions and other injuries:
Ice hockey is the most difficult team sport in the world. The puck changes possession on average 450 times per game. Players move at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. For this, ice hockey demands levels of agility, dexterity, strength, and mental prowess like no other team sport. While fans have continually flocked to marvel at the world’s best athletes competing in the sport of ice hockey, the NHL has looked at ice hockey players as a means to an end. For the NHL, it has been about exploiting the supreme athleticism of its players in order to generate revenue. And early on, the NHL saw extreme violence as a way to bring more fans to the game. As opposed to other elite-level ice hockey organizations, like the European ice hockey leagues and the Olympics, the NHL fostered and promoted an extremely physical game of ice hockey. Through enclosed rink designs and lax rules for fighting, the NHL vectored a culture of extreme violence and packaged the spoils to adoring fans . . . . Plaintiffs bring this class action lawsuit on behalf of all current and former NHL players because the NHL’s exploitation of its players has been and is inequitable. . . .Specifically, despite the fact that the NHL’s violent game design induces head trauma, including concussions, the NHL has failed and continues to fail to warn its players of the risks to their lives and the devastating and long-term negative health effects. In fact, the NHL affirmatively concealed specific anecdotal evidence from players and scientific evidence about the health risks and consequences associated with playing in the NHL, including head injuries.The case is before Judge Scheindlin.
