WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said the violence of football and the long-lasting effects of concussions on players worries him.
In an interview with The New Republic, Obama said he's a "big football fan," but if he had a son, he'd have to "think long and hard before I let him play football."
"I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence," he said.
He said it might make the game a little less exciting at times, but it would be better for the players and would ease the consciences of fans.
"I tend to be more worried about college players than NFL players in the sense that the NFL players have a union, they're grown men, they can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies," he said.
"You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about," Obama added.
