Two Minute Warning: How Concussions, Crime, and Controversy Could Kill the NFL

by Mike Freeman

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 more than a decade, 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.

Genres: Football, Business

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2015

About the author

Mike Freeman is an NFL Insider for CBSSports.com. Before that, he was an NFL writer, investigative reporter, and columnist for the New York Times; a columnist for the Florida Times-Union; and a sports reporter, features writer, and investigative writer for the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Dallas Morning News.

Reviews

[Anup Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book interested me because I stopped following the NFL more than three years ago; pushed over the edge with the Ray Rice situation and further convicted because of many other issues that convinced me the league led by Roger Goodell was at best highly unethical and at worst an outfit of organized crime.

Mr. Freeman, who is a talented and passionate writer and researcher, lays out his reasons for believing the NFL is in trouble for the long run despite its immense popularity at the time this was written (2015) as well as today. He goes mostly into mainstream league image issues as well as those to do with health of the players. He does well to document their lack of response to the disgusting amount of domestic abuse by their athletes and their refusal, until it received media attention, to protect their players from brain damage.

I do think he missed or ignored a huge factor in their potential demise and that would be PED use. Though the media has hardly given it mention, anybody who knows anything about sports and fitness can tell you it is nearly impossible to play in the NFL without steroids. However bad the problem was in MLB, it is infinitely worse in the NFL and the health repercussions are every bit as frightening as those from CTE. Combine the two and it is downright cruel what we are allowing to happen in the name of entertainment.

Overall a good and informative read, but he didn't nail it down in my opinion. He missed the elephant in the room, like seemingly every other NFL writer.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Freeman lives a good life off NFL. So for him it's f the game, the institution, the corporations, the big profits, those are what's important. And this is his argument against the game.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Michael Freeman did a good job of writing his book and is in fact a very good writer. What dismayed me about this book is that I believe he actually let the NFL off a bit too easily. He does go into a great deal of detail but he never gives that knockout blow the story seems to be looking for. He touches on domestic violence but again tells us the story that we've already read about. He talks about the Frontline documentary but ignores the major findings of it nor does touch on the suicides of Hall of Famers Junior Seau and Mel Webster. He doesn't do a good job of hitting on the NFL's culture and by and large seems to portray Roger Goodell as more unlucky than anything else.

[Michael Bittner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was really looking forward to this book because I like Mike Freeman, but I was disappointed. About 40 percent of the book is direct quotes from various Internet articles. Also, there were at least three glaring typos, which along with its general content, gives the reader the feeling this book was rushed to the finish line.

[Emma Wall · Rating 1.5 out of 5]

I put this book on my TBR 6 years ago and finally read it. I do believe part of the reason I didn’t enjoy it was it felt outdated in the sense that it focused on the 2014-2015 season and the problems the league faced and now in 2026 literally nothing has changed. I also felt like the formatting lead us to get no where and just run around in circles around the main point of the book.

[Marisa Albanese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough and engrossing!

Touches on many timely issues, focusing on imminent threats to the NFL's dominance. Especially liked the chapter on Snyder. Highly recommend!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting read

[Randy Inman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, hard hitting narrative on the sport of football, which I love! Easy read! Go Pack Go!!!