AP: Settlement Reached in Concussion Lawsuit

The NCAA has agreed to settle a class-action head injury lawsuit.

The Associated Press has learned that the organization will create a $70 million fund to diagnose thousands of current and former college athletes to determine if they suffered brain trauma playing football and other contact sports.

The settlement applies to multiple sports, including football, hockey, soccer, basketball, wrestling, field hockey and lacrosse. It covers both men and women.

A filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago says college sports' governing body also has agreed to implement a single return-to-play policy spelling out how all teams must treat players who received head blows. The NCAA has been accused of giving too much discretion to individual schools about when athletes can go back into games.

This deal stops short of setting aside money to pay players who suffered brain trauma. Instead, athletes can sue individually for damages and the NCAA-funded tests to gauge the extent of neurological injuries could establish grounds for doing that.