Dive Brief:

• Tampa, FL,-based Validus Senior Living will break ground Thursday on the first of 33 assisted living centers it plans to build to care for former NFL players.

• The five-year, $1.1 billion building effort will place the new assisted living and memory care communities in major cities with large populations of retired NFL players. The project is a joint venture with a St. Petersburg, FL, developer and a Baltimore-based investment bank. The NFL Alumni Association has endorsed the venture and will help it with marketing.

• Thursday’s groundbreaking will start a 124-unit assisted living facility near Orlando. It will feature a pool, dog park and putting green.

Dive Insight:

Almost 30% of NFL players will suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in their lifetimes, according to a 2014 report by the NFL and the NFL Players’ Association.

The research was conducted to determine the amount of a court-ordered settlement in a class-action lawsuit that claimed the NFL was concealing data that proved a link between concussions and brain damage.

The settlement was to compensate former players and did not cover current NFL stars.