Could Will Smith’s concussion movie effect real change?

The NFL’s concussion problem — or more accurately, it’s chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) problem — has received a considerable amount of press. There was the famous League of Denial documentary and there have been plenty of intriguing long-form works of journalism exposing light on the fact former players are getting sick and dying at extremely high rates as a result of the damage done to their brains on the football field.

But PBS documentaries don’t rake in huge numbers, and based on the number of shares it has, it’s safe to assume the feature on Chris Borland — who retired suddenly due to concerns regarding head trauma — that we linked above has been read by no more than about 1 million people.

It’s 2015. People don’t read. They don’t watch documentaries. But our appetite for blockbuster films hasn’t died, which is why a new Hollywood movie could do the trick when it comes to raising the public consciousness regarding the dangers associated with the game of football.

Will Smith is such a star and is such a superb actor that, as Dr. Bennet Omalu, he might actually be the perfect force for reshaping the public’s opinion on how safe football is.

There’s yet to be a major shift in the percentage of parents who would sign their kids up to play football, but if 20 million people watch Concussion, that could effect change.

Watch out, NFL. When it comes to power, you might meet your match in Hollywood.

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com (covering Super Bowls XLIV, XLV and XLVI), a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Bloguin, but his day gig has him covering all things NFC East for Bleacher Report.

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