The National Football League purchased advertisement space on the New York Times' website Friday, which could be seen on the same page as the paper's investigative report about what it called the NFL's "flawed concussion research."
Nick Niedzwiadek of the Wall Street Journal reported the New York Times wouldn't comment on whether the league purchased the ads directly from the outlet or through a third-party seller. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy explained the decision to run the ads, which focused on improved player safety.
"We wanted readers to have all the information about all the work that we've done to improve the safety of the game," McCarthy said, per Niedzwiadek.