The purpose of this Funding Opportunity (as described below) is to solicit proposals from investigators who have the current capability to carry out studies aimed at supplementing the NFL-NFLPA Pain Management Committee's (PMC) knowledge about pain management and athletic performance in elite football players. This Funding Opportunity is intended to facilitate, at a minimum, the following three lines of potential inquiry:
- the effects of cannabinoids on pain in elite football players (post-surgical and/or in daily pain management);
- the effects of non-pharmacologic treatments on pain in elite football players (postsurgical and/or in daily pain management); and
- the effects of cannabis or cannabinoids on athletic performance (e.g., psychomotor, reaction time, cardiorespiratory function) in elite football players.
The NFL has developed this Funding Opportunity for the purposes of inviting research proposals and providing funding for innovative translational and clinical research being conducted by leading investigative teams related to the investigation of alternatives to opiates for pain management, as well as the impact of cannabis or cannabinoids on athletic performance in elite football players.
The goal of this Funding Opportunity is to provide funding support for up to five (5) pilot research proposals from leading investigative teams in the fields of pain management and the effects of cannabinoids on athletic performance in elite football players.
The NFL's intent through this Funding Opportunity is to demonstrate the potential for translational breakthroughs by leveraging innovative research, emerging science, current data sets and archival material related to use of alternatives to opiates in the management of pain, as well as the impact of cannabis or cannabinoids on athletic performance in elite football players. This Funding Opportunity is designed to support multidisciplinary investigative teams with strong track records of collaboration and accomplishment in the field. New collaborations of strong research teams will be strongly considered as well.
Awards Details: The anticipated total amount to be funded for this Funding Opportunity is up to $1,000,000. The NFL expects to fund up to five (5) $200,000 pilot studies within this total amount. The number of winning investigative teams, and the total amount to be funded, will be determined initially based on the quality of the proposals submitted and by recommendations from the NFL's PMC initially and by the Research & Innovation Committee subsequently (as further described below, the R&I Committee).
Institutional Limit: Limit one (1) Pre-Proposal per investigative team, and (2) no more than two (2) proposals per institution.
Interested applicants should upload the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: Last name_NFL-NFLPA_2021 no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Executive Summary (no more than three pages, pdf) and should contain the following sections:
- Project title with affiliations of the research team members
- Specific aims of the research project
- Experimental design (limit to 1 (one) paragraph)
- Qualifications of the research team members
- Research progress made to date (if any)
- Defined pre-clinical and/or clinical endpoints
- Innovation and Deliverables
- Anticipated timeline with milestones
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: Times New Roman (12 pt.)
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
he Office of Foundation Relations is available to consult on proposal narrative elements and answer other foundation-related questions. University Park applicants, should please contact Sophie Penney, Directory of Foundation Relations (swp2@psu.edu or 814-867-0547). Penn State College of Medicine applicants should please contact Jess Kiely, Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, (jkiely1@pennstatehealth.psu.edu or 717-531-5827) for additional support.