What happened 

Between 2017 and 2021, the NFL applied the "Heaton Norms", a decades-old neuropsychological scoring system, to evaluate dementia claims from retired players.

Because the algorithm assumed Black players started with lower cognitive health, Black retirees had to show a much steeper decline in mental ability than their white counterparts to qualify for a payout. 

This resulted in Black players being denied awards for the same raw test scores that would have triggered payments for white players. 

While approximately 70 percent of NFL players are Black, many were systematically excluded from a fund meant to support those with life-altering brain damage.

Why it happened 

The root cause was reliance on outdated 1990s "race-based norms" in neuropsychological testing, which presumed Black individuals started with inferior cognitive baselines due to flawed demographic adjustments. 

NFL insistence on these norms lacked transparency, enabling systematic appeals of Black players' claims without clinical judgment, while limited accountability in the settlement process amplified the issue.