EXPLAINER: What's at stake in concussion case against NCAA?

The NCAA has been defending itself in court against a lawsuit brought by a former college football player's widow, who accuses the governing body of being responsible for the concussions that led to her husband's death.

Matthew Gee died at age 49 in 2018 from permanent brain damage caused by countless blows to the head he took while playing linebacker for Southern California from 1987-91, according to the wrongful death suit filed by Alana Gee.

The NCAA settled a class-action concussion lawsuit in 2016, paying $70 million to monitor former college athletes' medical conditions, $5 million toward medical research and payments of up to $5,000 toward individual players claiming injuries.

Hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits have been brought by college football players against the NCAA in the past decade, but Gee’s is only the second to go to trial with allegations that hits to the head led to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease .