WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 15: U.S. President Barack Obama and his daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama walk across the South Lawn before boarding Marine One and departing the White House June 15, 2012 in Washington, DC. The first family will travel to Chicago for the weekend before Obama travels to Mexico Sunday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"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," Obama tells The New Republic.
"In some cases, that may make it a little bit less exciting, but it will be a whole lot better for the players, and those of us who are fans maybe won't have to examine our consciences quite as much."
In an interview in the magazine's Feb. 11 issue, Obama said he worries more about college players than he does about those in the NFL.
"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," Obama 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."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello responded Sunday, "We have no higher priority than player health and safety at all levels of the game."
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