Bernie Kosar removed from commentator post

WASHINGTON — In 2009, Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the N.F.L., was skewered by lawmakers on Capitol Hill for denying the severity of concussions and failing to do more to help retired players with brain injuries. Five years later, the issue moved to the White House, with President Obama on convening some of the country’s top sports executives and researchers to find ways to combat the nation’s growing concussion crisis. The president’s conference, intended to heighten awareness around the issue, highlighted how quickly the problem has turned into a mainstream cause and how uncomfortable the N.F.L.’s role is as the conversation escalates. Officials for the N.F.L. and in other levels of the sport are increasingly confronting how to make their games safer while still retaining the speed, power and violence that make them so appealing. In doing so, they risk alarming the athletes, their families and fans who now see some of their favorite players having advanced dementia and committing suicide after facing severe mental health problems. Goodell acknowledged as much in March when he said that the N.F.L. would donate $45 million to USA Football, among other things, to expand certification programs for coaches who would be taught safer ways to tackle.