Courtesy of Sony Pictures, current and former NFL players can see the controversial Concussion film for free with their NFLPA card.
Not that most of these current and former athletes have a financial need to get their tickets comp’d, but it provides a tad bit more incentive for them to go see the film. It will certainly be interesting to see and listen to the reactions as players check out the film, which stars Will Smith and chronicles Dr. Bennet Omalu‘s desperate attempts to make the NFL aware of its serious concussion problem, which has resulted in several players contracting the CTE disease. CTE has been linked to the death and suicides of several NFL players, and it’s Omalu’s belief that the NFL has taken minimal action against the problem, but they have refrained from attacking the issue at its root.
Here’s what the film’s producers, Ridley and Giannina Scott, had to say about this initiative.
This is a movie for the players, so we wanted to give them a chance to see it before its nationwide release and free admission during its run in theaters … The movie is so inspiring – Will Smith gives one of the best performances of his career as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a man who shined a light on the truth. The odds were stacked against him, but he had the truth on his side, and now, his discovery is all anyone’s talking about. We think the players will enjoy watching this movie about Dr. Omalu’s incredible courage – courage that changed the game.
One NFL star, Darrelle Revis, has already seen the film, and his one word assessment was that the film was “educational.”
Concussion is in theaters on Friday (December 25), but us regular folk will have to break out the plastic to see the Golden Globe-nominated flick.
