Injury reports date from the 1940s, when the NFL commissioner, Bert Bell, was dealing with the aftermath of the 1946 championship game between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. As chronicled in Michael MacCambridge's book "America's Game," there were concerns at the time that two New York players, Merle Hapes and Frank Filchock, had been approached by gamblers and that the game could be part of a fix. Bell ended up suspending both players and reached the conclusion that professional football could not survive unless it was base on absolute honesty. Starting in the 1947 season, Bell required all teams to publish a list of all injured players.
Aiello said the injury reports had been tweaked over time, but their main objective has been to serve the public interest and eliminate inside information that could be exploited, like a player being paid for information regarding an injury to a teammate.
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"The principal purpose of it is very important and is the premise on which Bert Bell first instituted them - protecting the integrity of our league," Aiello said.
Whether the system is successful in that regard is debatable, as teams often report injuries but are not forthcoming about the severity of them because they might be protecting a competitive advantage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/sp...6.html?mcubz=1