Seth Udinski, FISM News

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The NFL reached an agreement with former players who were suing the league that will end “race norming” as part of determining whether players can be party to the $1 billion concussion settlement.

The practice of race-norming sets different base-line cognitive levels as norms based on a player’s race. The lawsuit claims that the NFL has denied claims of dementia to former players based on this criteria that averages $500,000 per claim, and awarded claims to white players 2 to 3 times the rate as it did to black players.

The agreement says in part:

No Race Norms or Race Demographic Estimates — whether Black or White — shall be used in the Settlement Program going forward, and no party or Claimant shall have the right to appeal a Settlement Claim determination on the ground that Race Norms or Race Demographic Estimates were not applied, nor shall the failure to use Black Race Norms or Black Race Demographic Estimates be used as a basis to deny, reduce, or in any way justify the reduction or denial of a Settlement Claim.

Former lawsuits brought by black players against the league will be reevaluated based on the new criteria. To date, the concussion fund has paid out $821 million for 5 different types of dementia-related diseases.

Under the tenure of commissioner Roger Goodell, the league has made player safety a priority, particularly focusing on reducing concussions. In his tenure the NFL has introduced safer helmet designs and issued a league-wide crackdown on illegal hits to the head.