Two Minute Warning: How Concussions, Crime, and Controversy Could Kill the NFL (And What the League Can Do to Survive)

A look into the growing threats to the popularity of the NFL and what the league can do to avoid collapse

The National Football League, despite its massive success and unprecedented earning power, is at its most pivotal moment since the AFL–NFL merger four decades ago. With public awareness of the issues plaguing the NFL—from domestic violence, drug use, and health of the players to oversaturation—there is a possibility that football as we know it could vanish in the very near future. In Two Minute Warning, author Mike Freeman, who has covered the league for almost three decades, looks at all the factors that could cause the league, as we know it, to collapse in on itself. Freeman has interviewed top NFL athletes, coaches, and executives as well as economists and scientists to paint this complete portrait of the league today—and lay out the steps it can take to move into the future. 

Michael Freeman is a football columnist for Bleacher Report. He has previously been a writer for the Boston Globe, CBSSports.com, the Dallas Morning News, the Florida Times-Union, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He is the author of seven books, including Clemente: The True Legacy of an Undying Hero and Undefeated: Inside the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ Perfect Season. He lives in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.