The NFL is standing behind one of their top health officials following his public admission that there is a link between playing American football and a degenerative brain disease.
Jeff Miller, the league's senior vice-president of health and safety policy, made the comments at a round-table discussion on concussions chaired by the US House of Representatives' Committee on Energy & Commerce on Monday.
He agreed that research conducted by Dr Ann McKee proved there was a correlation between Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and NFL players, and that assertion provided a significant moment because the league has long been reluctant to make a link between the two.
In a statement, an NFL spokesperson said: "The comments made by Jeff Miller yesterday accurately reflect the view of the NFL."
CTE, a disease linked with repeated head trauma, is associated with dementia and suicidal tendencies, and post mortems have found the disease in the brains of deceased NFL players such as Hall of Famers Mike Webster and Junior Seau.
"The comments made by Jeff Miller yesterday accurately reflect the view of the NFL."
On Monday at the committee hearing Miller was asked by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky whether there was a link between the sport and degenerative brain disorders such as CTE.
"Well, certainly Dr McKee's research shows that a number of retired NFL players were diagnosed with CTE so the answer to that question is certainly 'yes'," he replied. "But there are also a number of questions that come with that."
Schakowsky then pushed Miller on his thoughts, particularly as they came so soon after Dr Mitchell Berger, a member of the NFL's head, neck and spine committee, had refused to draw parallels between American football and CTE during the build-up to last month's Super Bowl.
Miller added: "You asked the question whether I thought there was a link and I think certainly based on Dr McKee's research that there's a link because she's found CTE in a number of retired football players.
"I think that the broader point, and the one that your question gets to, is what that necessarily means and where do we go from here with that information?
"So when we talk about a link or you talk about the incidents or the prevalence, I think that some of the medical experts around the table - and just for the record I'm not a medical physician or a scientist so I feel limited in answering much more than that, other than the direct answer to your question.
"I would defer to a number of people around the table as to what the science means around the question that you're asking. I'd be happy to answer a specific question."
