Confusion over the funding of a major Boston University study about brain trauma emerged Tuesday after ESPN reported the NFL had cut funding for the study, a report the National Institutes of Health and the NFL disputed.

Boston University’s $16 million study is being funded by the NIH, which received a $30 million grant from the NFL in 2012. However ESPN’s “Outside the Lines’’ reported that the NFL retained “veto power’’ over the projects that money would fund, and used it in this case because the study is being led by Robert Stern, a BU professor of neurology.

“ESPN story is not accurate. NFL did not pull any funding. NIH makes its own decisions,’’ NFL spokesman Brian McCar­thy wrote on Twitter.

The NIH also issued a statement, which was shared on Twitter by another NFL spokesman, Greg Aiello.

“Through the Sports and Health Research Program (SHRP) — a partnership among the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Football League (NFL), and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) — multiple studies have been and will continue to be funded to examine traumatic brain injury in athletes,’’ the NIH wrote.

“The NFL funding commitment to SHRP remains intact. NFL was willing to contribute to the Boston University CTE study headed by Dr. Stern. NIH made the decision to fund this study in its entirety and to issue a Request for Applications (RFA) early next year to support an additional study on CTE using funds from SHRP, which will double the support for research in this area.’’

Boston University has been a leader in researching chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain damage that can result from concussions and other head injuries. The new study, which is being conducted in conjuction with other institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, seeks to develop methods for diagnosing CTE, according to a report on BU’s website.

“Diagnosis during life — that’s it,’’ Stern told BU Today. “We will be able to truly study issues of incidence and prevalence, examine risk factors, and develop methods to treat and prevent the disease.’’

Stern has been critical of the NFL’s handling of CTE and concussions with its players, including an initial settlement offer to players made in 2013 that was subsequently increased to $1 billion.

The ESPN report comes the same week the movie “Concussion’’ debuts in theaters. The film details the efforts of Dr. Bennet Omalu to raise awareness of concussion issues in NFL players.

Follow Matt Pepin on Twitter at @mattpep15.