ESPN and ABC college football broadcaster Ed Cunningham is walking away from his TV career due to concerns over brain trauma injuries within the sport of football. On Wednesday, the New York Times chronicled the reasoning for Cunningham’s decision to retire, citing being in the booth and watching player injuries first-hand.
ESPN football broadcaster Ed Cunningham is retiring: ‘I just don’t think the game is safe for the brain.’
The announcement came Wednesday.
Via ESPN Media Zone
“In its current state, there are some real dangers: broken limbs, wear and tear,” Cunningham. “But the real crux of this is that I just don’t think the game is safe for the brain. To me, it’s unacceptable.”
But he grew weary of watching players be removed from the field on carts with little ceremony. (“We come back from the break and that guy with the broken leg is gone, and it’s just third-and-8,” he said.) He increasingly heard about former players, including former teammates and peers, experiencing the long-term effects of their injuries, especially brain trauma.
Cunningham played college football at the University of Washington as an offensive lineman, where he was a captain of the Huskies’ 1991 national title-winning team. he was then drafted in the third round of the NFL, where he spent five seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks. Cunningham also mentioned his Cardinals teammate, Dave Duerson, who committed suicide in 2011, and was found to be suffering from C.T.E. in the NYT interview.
“I know a lot of people who say: ‘I just can’t cheer for the big hits anymore. I used to go nuts, and now I’m like, I hope he gets up,’” Cunningham said with tears welling up in his eyes, via the newspaper. “It’s changing for all of us. I don’t currently think the game is safe for the brain. And, oh, by the way, I’ve had teammates who have killed themselves. Dave Duerson put a shotgun to his chest so we could study his brain.”
We’ve obviously seen NFL players walk away from football over brain injury concerns, such as San Fransisco’s Chris Borland, Baltimore’s John Urschel, and Buffalo’s A.J. Tarpley, but Cunningham is the first broadcaster to do so. We’ll see if this becomes a trend sometime in the near future. Cunningham was typically on the noon ABC broadcasts alongside Mike Patrick with Dr. Jerry Punch on the sidelines.
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