In a special two-hour investigation, League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis, FRONTLINE and prize-winning journalists Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru of ESPN reveal the hidden story of the NFL and brain injuries drawn from their forthcoming book, League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth (Crown Archetype, October 2013). 

Premiering Oct. 8 at 9 p.m. on FRONTLINE (check local PBS listings), League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis investigates how, for years, the league worked to refute scientific evidence that the violent collisions at the heart of the game are linked to an alarming incidence of early-onset dementia, brain damage and other devastating consequences. 

The investigation draws on more than 200 interviews with scientists, doctors and former players, including some of the NFL's all-time greats, as well as previously unpublished medical records, NFL memorandums and e-mails. 

But professional, adult athletes aren't the only ones at risk. As FRONTLINE reports, scientists are finding evidence of CTE in high school athletes, too.

"One of the biggest problems we had is that as long as the NFL dismissed this and said it's not a big deal, ... that meant parents were signing up their kids to go play football believing that there was no risk of problem," one researcher tells FRONTLINE. "And you know that wasn't fair to those kids or those parents, but especially those kids." 

The league recently settled a lawsuit by 4,200 former players who claimed football led to brain damage--avoiding both any admission of guilt, and the scrutiny of a public trial. But questions about the link between football and brain damage (and what the NFL knew, when) aren't going away any time soon--and may threaten the very future of the game.

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