Bengals owner: Linking concussions and dementia is “speculation”

Bengals owner Mike Brown says linking concussions and dementia is “speculation.” (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

More than 4,000 former NFL players are suing the league, claiming that the NFL withheld information about the long-term effects of playing football. They say that repeated hits and concussions can lead to dementia and other brain injuries.

But Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown isn't convinced. He says he isn't sure there is a link between concussions and dementia because there isn't enough research to draw that conclusion that football causes brain damage when players get older.

“No one really knows what concussions mean, especially as you grow older,” Brown said Tuesday to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It’s not only not proven, it’s merely speculation that this is something that creates some form of dementia late in life. Our statistics — the ones I’ve seen anyway — don’t show that.

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“I’m not convinced that anybody really knows what concussions bring, what they mean later in life if anything.”