NCAA stays silent on future funding for CARE concussion research consortium
The CARE Consortium, a joint concussion research initiative between the NCAA and the Department of Defense launched in 2014, is approaching the end of its current five-year funding phase, with that support set to expire at the end of October 2026. A grant proposal is before the Pentagon to continue the work for another five years, but the NCAA has declined to say whether it will contribute financially beyond its $10 million share of the most recent grant. According to a source cited by Sportico, the NCAA is not currently part of the active funding discussions, which are focused entirely on the military side. The situation is further complicated by broader federal budget shifts under the Trump administration, which has redirected Defense Department research spending toward military capabilities and away from fields like traumatic brain injury research.
The source expressed optimism that the military money would come through but cautioned that it neither had been secured nor guaranteed.
Why it matters
For service providers: Sports medicine and player safety professionals depend on federally supported research like CARE to develop evidence-based concussion management standards.
For coaches: Coaches across dozens of sports rely on CARE-informed concussion protocols, and a funding lapse could stall future updates to those guidelines.
For athletes: College athletes who participate in CARE or could benefit from concussion research findings face uncertainty about whether this long-running study will continue.
Read the full story at Sportico
Sources
- Sportico · Daniel: NCAA Won’t Commit to Future Concussion Research Funding