Children's Health takes credibility hit with name on Prosper football stadium

Children’s Health System of Texas, the top pediatric health care provider in Dallas and the eighth-largest in the nation, has agreed to pay $2.5 million to put its name on a high school football stadium in Prosper. Children football in Shanghai
That’s right, it's high school football — although the new stadium rivals some college facilities, costing $53 million, seating 12,000 and featuring a giant video board.
Children’s business rationale is obvious. Prosper is Texas’ fastest-growing school district, and the city’s median household income ($134,000) is more than double the state and national median. Just 6% of Prosper residents have no health insurance, far fewer than in the rest of the region, and that must be part of the calculation, too.
But here’s the rub: Children’s Health isn’t just in business. It’s in the business of health care, and kids’ health care at that.
By putting its stellar brand on Children’s Health Stadium at Prosper, it’s formally endorsing a sport whose long-term dangers are becoming increasingly evident. Children’s seal of approval may signal that it’s safe for kids to play tackle football. Experts say it’s not.
The sponsorship deal raises another question: With health costs climbing and many Texans unable to afford care, how does a top nonprofit hospital justify spending resources this way?Children’s Health didn’t provide an answer. Senior executives, including CEO Christopher Durovich, declined to grant an interview (on the record or off). After a couple of days, the company emailed a statement that downplayed the naming rights and didn't answer questions about its endorsement of high school football. The statement didn’t even mention football.
Management’s deflection is revealing because it shows the difficulty in defending its decision. The risks of tackle football are especially high for children, and some former pro players and other experts suggest that kids play flag football until they’re 14.
Now Children's Health has put its good name and reputation — and money — behind the sport.
That's a problem, even in a state devoted to football, said Arthur Caplan, a leading expert on bioethics at the NYU School of Medicine in New York City.
"High school football is an injury machine for young brains and bodies," Caplan wrote in an email. "Associating a prominent children's hospital with the stadium obscures the damage done by the game by providing a medical imprimatur for a high-risk sport that leaves too many kids with permanent damage.