The Today Show: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to reluctant football parents: We're making the game safer

On a day the NFL announced a $100 million initiative toward improving player safety, commissioner Roger Goodell had a message for parents who are skeptical of letting their children play football due to the concussion risk.

"I understand the skepticism of the NFL,'' Goodell told Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview on TODAY Wednesday. "But let me just go to the American Academy of Pediatrics. They have looked at this issue of young kids coming into football, and they have said, 'It's about proper coaching, improve the techniques. Do the things necessary to limit contacts.' Those are changes that we have been making."
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Goodell believes changes being implemented at the lowest levels of football are making the game safer.
"I went by a youth football practice the other day and was watching it,'' he said. "I see how they're teaching the game differently. That's great for football, but that's also great for all other sports."
In an open letter in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, Goodell announced the league's "Play Smart Play Safe" initiative in which $100 million is being put toward medical research and developing new technology to make the game safer for its players.

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