A federal appeals court has upheld an estimated $1 billion plan by the NFL to settle thousands of concussion lawsuits filed by former players.

The decision released Monday comes almost a year after a district judge approved the revised settlement and weeks after an NFL official speaking to Congress acknowledged for the first time a link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain decay found in dozens of former players after their deaths.

Critics appealing the settlement had argued that any deal should include future payments for CTE. 

"This settlement will provide significant and immediate relief to retired players living with the lasting scars of a NFL career, including those suffering from some of the symptoms associated with CTE," Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote, noting the NFL's recent admission to Congress of a "certain" link between football and CTE. "We must hesitate before rejecting that bargain based on an unsupported hope that sending the parties back to the negotiating table would lead to a better deal."