TUESDAY, 9:15am: Kluwe and Halunen held their presser this morning to announce the settlement, which the Vikings have now confirmed in a press release of their own. Per Tomasson (Twitter links), the Vikings have agreed to make “substantial monetary contributions” to five LGBT groups, as an effort toward educating against homophobia.
FRIDAY, 4:47pm: A source tells Tomasson (Twitter link) that nothing is in writing yet regarding the settlement, but that there’s no reason to believe it won’t get done.
4:41pm: The Vikings and punter Chris Kluwe have agreed to a settlement, according to Kluwe’s attorney Clayton Halunen. Halunen told both Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Ben Goessling of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that an agreement has been reached, though Vikings lawyer Kevin Warren said to Tomasson that nothing has been finalized yet (Twitter link). It’s possible Halunen’s announcement is premature, but I’d guess the team just wants to wait until everything is official before making a statement of its own.
According to Halunen, a press conference will be held next week to announce the settlement between the two sides. Had the parties not agreed upon a compromise, Kluwe had been expected to file a lawsuit against his former team. The punter and attorney were upset that the full 150-page investigative report into Kluwe’s allegations had not been made public, with the Vikings opting instead to release a 29-page summary.
Kluwe, 32, alleged in a January article on Deadspin.com that his release by the Vikings came as a result of his outspoken support of gay marriage. According to Kluwe, special teams coordinator Mike Priefer “openly and privately made homophobic comments and slurs intended to intimidate” the punter while he remained on the roster.
While it’s not clear yet what terms were agreed upon by the two sides, Kluwe has indicated in the past that any money handed out by the Vikings as a result of the settlement will be donated to LGBT groups.