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The statement came from the National Football League's senior
vice president for health and safety, Jeff Miller, when he was
asked during a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives'
Energy and Commerce Committee whether a link has been
established between football and disorders such as CTE.
"The answer to that question is certainly yes," Miller said in
testimony recorded in a video clip posted by the television
sports channel ESPN on its website.
Miller's comment marked the first time a senior league official
has publicly conceded the sport's connection to CTE, which
medical research has closely linked with the repeated head
injuries, often leading to aggression and dementia.
An NFL spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on Miller's testimony.
A high incidence of degenerative brain disease in former
professional American football players has led thousands of NFL
alumni to press for and win a settlement that could cost the
league $1 billion.
The subject gained additional attention from the 2015 film
"Concussion," which starred Will Smith as a doctor who fought
NFL efforts to conceal his research on brain damage suffered by
players.
Several dozen of the game's top players, including Hall of
Famers Frank Gifford and Junior Seau, were diagnosed with CTE
when doctors analyzed their brains after death. Currently, CTE
can only be reliably determined after death.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Steve Gorman,
Bernard Orr)
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