# Are There Any FACTUAL Studies Showing Average Lifespan of NFL Players? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 17, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351 "2010-02-17T16:42:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/21 "2011-02-17T16:58:32Z")
Nice **resurrection**. Really, who would have thought we’d have this one resurrected by someone who actually can contribute properly? Very well done, Old, and welcome to the boards. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/22 "2011-02-17T17:49:35Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/average-lifespan-football-player-52](http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/average-lifespan-football-player-52) TRhis will get some attention. It says the average lineman lives til 52. Yeah, my understanding was that the 50 something number referred only to linemen, not the entirel football player popultion. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/23 "2011-02-17T17:57:34Z")
The major confounding factor in such studies is what to do about the contemporaries who are still alive. Unless you are talking about those born say 100 years ago (which means no or virtually no extant members), that can skew your data pretty strongly. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/24 "2011-02-17T18:11:39Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > THAT actually makes sense- people throwing around the age of 58 may not be wrong, but they may be misinterpreting data. > > That is, the typical football player may live a lot longer than 58 years, but the ones who HAVE died thus far may have died at a median age of 58. That was my first thought. Also, that even just a few guys dying unnaturally young would help drag the numbers down unfairly (Sean Taylor, Steve McNair, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/25 "2011-02-17T18:28:02Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Mosi Tatupu just died at 54. Today, Joe Greene stayed alive, at age 64. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/26 "2011-02-17T21:00:16Z")
I only skimmed the thread so I apologize if this has already been noted, but these studies fail in that they tend to compare the average life span of NFL players to the average male. To be more scientifically accurate they should compare the life span of men with similar body composition who did and didn’t play football. Most of these NFL players would have been 6’6" and 300 lbs regardless of if they played football or not, in fact many of those WRs and LB might have been even heavier had they not been financially pressured to stay fast. So does the average 350 lb man die older than the average 350 lb former NFL player? That’s the only relevant study IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![candyapplechris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@candyapplechris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/candyapplechris)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/27 "2011-03-16T17:18:13Z")
Let’s also take into account the drug usage, steroids, and thug lifestyle that contributes to shorter life. Most of them waste their millions on cars and houses and a flash lifestyle and are broke by age 26. The fact they live to 58 is great, considering the average lifespan of a typical male in the hood. ---
**Author:** ![AfterFurtherReview](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@AfterFurtherReview](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AfterFurtherReview)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/28 "2011-03-23T08:42:48Z")
I found this story from the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times from 2006: [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/29/Sports/A\_huge\_problem.shtml](http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/29/Sports/A_huge_problem.shtml) Here’s the relevant part of the story in regards to this discussion: > [@](#): > > A 1994 study of 7,000 former players by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found linemen had a 52 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than the general population. While U.S. life expectancy is 77.6 years, recent studies suggest the average for NFL players is 55, 52 for linemen. > > In March the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that said 97 percent of NFL players during the 2003-04 season were overweight, including 56 percent with a body mass index (BMI) doctors consider obese. The NFL claimed the study, done by University of North Carolina endocrinologist Joyce Harp, was flawed because the BMI uses height and weight for its calculations, not muscle mass and percentage of body fat. > > Among the long-term health problems associated with being overweight are diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and joint damage. Of immediate concern is sleep apnea, increasingly common among the league’s biggest players, which can cause breathing to stop during sleep. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/29 "2011-03-23T11:33:27Z")
As this thread has done a Lazarus, I re-checked the Super Bowl I winners (see post #9). All the survivors are still alive, raising the average age at death to 67 even if they all died today (compared with 55 for those who have already died). ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/30 "2011-04-11T16:44:23Z")
[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/freedom-from-55-year-life-expectancy/article1976014/](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/freedom-from-55-year-life-expectancy/article1976014/) This article was published this last Friday (April 8th). 1. The originator of the original number has said that he didn’t perform any studies, he just heard the number from a friend who works in the insurance industry and based his opinion piece on that. 2. In 1997, the NFL and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health researched this very question and found that players are not dying younger than the US life expectancy for males (72). IOW, sounds like a full-on BS statistic to me… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/31 "2011-04-11T16:48:59Z")
**Brickbacon’s** link is unfortunately broken (it wasn’t last week, though) but it was a link to a 1987 article asking about the the same claim, and it was debunked. Interesting note: 1987 is the last time the NFL faced a work stoppage. Is it a coincidence that this number is floating around again, what with a current NFL work stoppage? Probably not… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351/32 "2011-04-11T16:50:22Z")
oops… DP [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-factual-studies-showing-average-lifespan-of-nfl-players/529351.md?page=1)