At 1 AM on November 30, 2012, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, Jovan Belcher, returned from a Trey Songz concert and argued with his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins. He then went to Kansas City’s entertainment district with an unknown woman. He lost the woman in the crowd, and then drove to her apartment at 2:50, where he was briefly questioned by police about his behavior, but was then allowed to continue whatever he was doing. Belcher returned home around 6:45, argued with Perkins again, and shot her fatally in front of his mother. He then drove five miles to the Chiefs practice facility, where he spoke with the general manager, head coach, and linebacker coach for approximately an hour and a half. When he heard the sounds of sirens approaching, he turned his gun on himself.

This is the eighth incident in a stream of disturbing suicides by NFL players, either active or retired, in the past three years. His body was exhumed in December of 2013, where doctors found proteins in his brain that strongly suggested he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE syndrome. CTE syndrome is a disease which basically breaks down the brain. Common symptoms include depression, hyper-aggression, and disorientation. CTE syndrome can be developed from repeated head trauma, such as multiple concussions. Over 50 NFL players have been diagnosed with this disease. However, doctors have not yet discovered how to diagnose CTE syndrome on a live patient. Let that sink in: All of those players were dead when they were diagnosed.

How could this happen? How could all these players sustain all these concussions with no one suspecting any problems? Thousands of players have joined in a mass lawsuit against the NFL, alleging they knew these risks, yet did not inform the players of the potential harm of multiple concussions. The lawsuit was settled in August of 2013, in which all 18,000 former players in the lawsuit would receive in total $765 million. Retired players could receive medical treatment for neurological conditions, and the league would donate $10 million to brain disease research. So, for their pain and suffering, each player receives just $42,500, the promise of the doctor, and the word of the NFL that it won’t happen to anyone else. It is not just the NFL anymore. Kids our age have this problem. Three high school players died last week from head-injuries. It is not even just football anymore. Reports of CTE are appearing in soccer, rugby, wrestling, hockey, and even baseball.

The world, America especially, is so divided on this issue. Of course we all want everyone to be safe. However, we do not want to have to give up our athletic entertainment, which mostly involves Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara smashing someone into the boards or watching the other team’s quarterback get buried under three linemen. Yes, we stood by for years, as we did not know how bad this problem was. We may have suspected it when we saw a helmet-to-helmet collision. But we were content to sit idle. Now, we know there is a problem. So many lives have been lost. And now, the measure of their lives, now consumed by mental illness, is $42,500?

The sports industry has profited off of us and the players, making them hit each other for our entertainment, while not caring if they killed themselves a decade later, so long as they made their money from ticket sales. They also played us, convincing us this was safe, and covering up all evidence that proved otherwise. Sports, not just football, must either be made safer or obsolete. Boxing was so blatantly dangerous that it went out of style–maybe others should follow suit. Otherwise, sports standards and regulations must be amended to fit the needs of the players. New safety rules and equipment must be added to prevent concussions. More effective concussion protocols must be implemented. We, as sports fans, have to accept that even though the games are for us, we do not come first. The players come first.