mckee and chris nowinski's pr machine.he brain to go to the national institute of health - the nih. >> getting it in the hands of good science is the goal there. so yes, i think that was probably what was driving the suggestion, that let's have nih get involved. >> narrator: the final diagnosis in seau's case was national news. >> abc news and espn have learned exclusively seau's brain showed visible signs of cte, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. >> narrator: in the months following seau's death, the nfl went on the offensive. the commissioner helped to promote a youth football safety initiative, the heads up program. the league donated $30 million to the nih to study sports injuries including joint disease, chronic pain and cte. >> we recently committed $30 million to the national institutes of health... >> good pr is one part of the nfl strategy, but the other piece of it is that the nfl wants to come off as being very forward-looking. the nfl wants to keep pushing these questions into the future, keep the discoveries g