Former 5 star QB recruit Jaden Rashada is suing Florida HC Billy Napier and Florida Booster over failed NIL deal

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StudentSectionMenace

StudentSectionMenace

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https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...er-among-others-over-botched-13-85m-nil-deal/

Assuming its all true, this story confirms all the concerns people have about unregulated NIL. I have no clue how this will turn out legally, but I do think there is a chance this will lead to some sort of change in NIL. I would have to think that players, coaches, and boosters will want protection from this situation from happening again. Another shocking part was the money involved in the story. Players are getting paid way more than I originally thought (I figured star players were getting 1-3 million, not 10-15 million). PJ wasn't kidding when he said it's hard to compete with limited NIL resources.
 

Does this all end up falling under "employment at will"?

Lots of companies make promises of great future wealth to their employees and then renege on them. They wait until the day before they have to pay and then dismiss the person. Some of them are NFL franchises.

Florida specifically cooks the laws so that employees have very little power against their employers.

From the article: "The collective never had the money and yet they were making all of these promises to the kid," Hardin told CBS Sports. "You dangle life-changing, generation-changing money in front of a 19-year-old kid, who grew up without it, you can't expect that young person to not be affected by it. The bargaining power is totally unequal here."

The unequal bargaining power is a feature not a bug in Florida. He will end up losing.
 


I want to have sympathy for the kid ( disclosure-I haven't read the article yet), but they are adults, largely asked for the opportunity to get paid, and have assumed the risks. It's their job to get honest non self-interested advice, and operate on the always true adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't. That goes whether you are 18 or 80.
 

I haven't followed this closely but the interesting thing to me is that I don't believe there is a breach of contract claim. What this tells me is that the details of the contract are NOT favorable to Jaden Rashada. His claims are essentially that he was fraudulently induced to sign a bad contract. Welcome to the business world. Get your promises in writing.
 


here is a brief outline: player says he was promised certain things by the school (Florica) and its boosters, but they failed to deliver on their promises. So I suppose it comes down to whether the alleged oral agreement is considered as a valid contract.

Jaden Rashada, a former ESPN 300 quarterback recruit, sued the University of Florida and coach Billy Napier on Tuesday. Rashada is claiming he was defrauded of millions of dollars in name, image and likeness money.

The lawsuit, among other things, alleges that Napier promised the player's father a $1 million "partial payment" upon signing. Rashada never got the money, and the boosters never fulfilled the deal, the lawsuit states.

Rashada committed to the Miami Hurricanes in June 2022. The lawsuit states that Rashada had a $9.5 million NIL promise with the Canes. But Rashada decommitted that November and promptly flipped to the Florida Gators and Coach Napier. He signed his national letter of intent during the December signing period. However, he didn't enroll at Florida, and his arrival in Gainesville was contingent on a four-year, $13.85 million name, image and likeness deal. Rashada asked for a release from his letter of intent when the deal fell through.

The Gator Collective, an independent fundraising organization that distributed money to UF athletes at the time, was responsible for the deal. However, the financial backing did not materialize and the Gator Collective terminated the contract.
 

We all know this is going to end up with players getting paid, a union, and a CBA. Let’s just rip the bandaid.
 


The name sounded familiar so I dig some internet digging and I don't know how many remember the entire episode. Florida had a commitment from a QB named Marcus Stokes, but then withdrew the scholarship offer after Stokes was discovered to have dropped n-bombs in one of the platforms these crazy kids use these days. After Stokes' offer was pulled, Rashada changed his commitment from Miami (where he reportedly had a big NIL deal) to Florida (where he would supposedly get an even bigger NIL deal). It must have never materialized because less than a month after committing to Florida, he de-committed and then committed to Arizona State where he saw action in three games during the 2023 season. After the season, he enters the portal and has committed to Georgia. I don't know if NIL has anything to do with all of this (it probably does at some level), but anymore moves and his face is going to be on a milk carton.
 




Bob_Loblaw said:
I haven't followed this closely but the interesting thing to me is that I don't believe there is a breach of contract claim. What this tells me is that the details of the contract are NOT favorable to Jaden Rashada. His claims are essentially that he was fraudulently induced to sign a bad contract. Welcome to the business world. Get your promises in writing.
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He seems to have gone out of his way to point out that the collective didn’t even have the money they offered. In my mind, that supports your point.
 

50PoundHead said:
The name sounded familiar so I dig some internet digging and I don't know how many remember the entire episode. Florida had a commitment from a QB named Marcus Stokes, but then withdrew the scholarship offer after Stokes was discovered to have dropped n-bombs in one of the platforms these crazy kids use these days. After Stokes' offer was pulled, Rashada changed his commitment from Miami (where he reportedly had a big NIL deal) to Florida (where he would supposedly get an even bigger NIL deal). It must have never materialized because less than a month after committing to Florida, he de-committed and then committed to Arizona State where he saw action in three games during the 2023 season. After the season, he enters the portal and has committed to Georgia. I don't know if NIL has anything to do with all of this (it probably does at some level), but anymore moves and his face is going to be on a milk carton.
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They reported on ESPN that FLA had to also pay Miami back $150K which he received there and that Kirby Smart gave his blessing for him to sue The Gators.
 

fmlizard said:
Does this all end up falling under "employment at will"?

Lots of companies make promises of great future wealth to their employees and then renege on them. They wait until the day before they have to pay and then dismiss the person. Some of them are NFL franchises.

Florida specifically cooks the laws so that employees have very little power against their employers.

From the article: "The collective never had the money and yet they were making all of these promises to the kid," Hardin told CBS Sports. "You dangle life-changing, generation-changing money in front of a 19-year-old kid, who grew up without it, you can't expect that young person to not be affected by it. The bargaining power is totally unequal here."

The unequal bargaining power is a feature not a bug in Florida. He will end up losing.
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Who is the employer?
 




Bob_Loblaw said:
I haven't followed this closely but the interesting thing to me is that I don't believe there is a breach of contract claim. What this tells me is that the details of the contract are NOT favorable to Jaden Rashada. His claims are essentially that he was fraudulently induced to sign a bad contract. Welcome to the business world. Get your promises in writing.
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Is this within statute of frauds for the duration being longer than 1 year for completion?
 

Hugh Hathcock wanted that money back to pay for more plastic surgery.
 




StudentSectionMenace said:
https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...er-among-others-over-botched-13-85m-nil-deal/

I would have to think that players, coaches, and boosters will want protection from this situation from happening again. Another shocking part was the money involved in the story. Players are getting paid way more than I originally thought (I figured star players were getting 1-3 million, not 10-15 million). PJ wasn't kidding when he said it's hard to compete with limited NIL resources.
Click to expand...

This episode supports my view that the numbers are probably exaggerated by some multiplier from 1x to 10x.

His agents were (then) 19 or maybe 20 yr old Zagar and 20 or 21 yr old Thomsen (based on internet stories) both former IMG athletes. Zagar a student and Thomsen is apparently a commercial real estate agent. Enough said. No winners just losers here. Napier is a dead man walking at UF. Rashada should get nothing.

“Experience is a dear school, fools….”



By Dec. 19, 2022, Rashada still had no NIL contract to sign, and the amounts in discussion were far less than the $13.85 million promised, according to the filing and sources familiar with the negotiations.

On signing day, wary of the lack of a written contract for the NIL money, Rashada's agents told him not to sign his letter of intent yet. This prompted Napier to call Rashada and his father, the lawsuit states, and it was during this call that he promised the $1 million payment. Rashada signed with Florida that night.

"Once Jaden committed to UF, rather than make Jaden 'rich' as promised, these people -- with Hathcock leading the charge -- changed their tune and went back on their word. The amount of UF-affiliated NIL money available for Jaden decreased drastically," the lawsuit states. It doesn't specify how much, but sources told ESPN it was less than half.
 
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fmlizard said:
Does this all end up falling under "employment at will"?

Lots of companies make promises of great future wealth to their employees and then renege on them. They wait until the day before they have to pay and then dismiss the person. Some of them are NFL franchises.

Florida specifically cooks the laws so that employees have very little power against their employers.

From the article: "The collective never had the money and yet they were making all of these promises to the kid," Hardin told CBS Sports. "You dangle life-changing, generation-changing money in front of a 19-year-old kid, who grew up without it, you can't expect that young person to not be affected by it. The bargaining power is totally unequal here."

The unequal bargaining power is a feature not a bug in Florida. He will end up losing.
Click to expand...
It takes a really bizarre way of looking at the world where we consider there to be an unbalance in bargaining power AGAINST the 18 year old kid who is being offered millions to play football. LOL. It seems like he has an immense amount of bargaining power but he just was not able to capitalize on that power because of poor decisions.

As far as the NIL contracts, I don't know if I would really call them employment contracts. If they are anything, they would be more independent contractors.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
It takes a really bizarre way of looking at the world where we consider there to be an unbalance in bargaining power AGAINST the 18 year old kid who is being offered millions to play football. LOL. It seems like he has an immense amount of bargaining power but he just was not able to capitalize on that power because of poor decisions.

As far as the NIL contracts, I don't know if I would really call them employment contracts. If they are anything, they would be more independent contractors.
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I think it is pretty clear that many of these kids are being taken advantage of by the people around them that are supposed to be advising them on what to do. NIL agents asking for 20%, parents meddling, collectives/boosters making false promises.

The system needs regulations and guardrails but putting them in place is going to be far easier said than done and I am sure this is just the first of many future "NIL" based lawsuits to come when players don't end up getting what they thought they would by transferring all over the country.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
This episode supports my view that the numbers are probably exaggerated by some single digit multiplier from 1x to 10x.

His agents were (then) 19 or maybe 20 yr old Zagar and 20 or 21 yr old Thomsen (based on internet stories) both former IMG athletes. Zagar a student and Thomsen is apparently a commercial real estate agent. Enough said. No winners just losers here. Napier is a dead man walking at UF. Rashada should get nothing.

“Experience is a dear school, fools….”



By Dec. 19, 2022, Rashada still had no NIL contract to sign, and the amounts in discussion were far less than the $13.85 million promised, according to the filing and sources familiar with the negotiations.

On signing day, wary of the lack of a written contract for the NIL money, Rashada's agents told him not to sign his letter of intent yet. This prompted Napier to call Rashada and his father, the lawsuit states, and it was during this call that he promised the $1 million payment. Rashada signed with Florida that night.

"Once Jaden committed to UF, rather than make Jaden 'rich' as promised, these people -- with Hathcock leading the charge -- changed their tune and went back on their word. The amount of UF-affiliated NIL money available for Jaden decreased drastically," the lawsuit states. It doesn't specify how much, but sources told ESPN it was less than half.
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Good luck proving what was said in the phone call unless he recorded it. Hope he loses.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I think it is pretty clear that many of these kids are being taken advantage of by the people around them that are supposed to be advising them on what to do. NIL agents asking for 20%, parents meddling, collectives/boosters making false promises.

The system needs regulations and guardrails but putting them in place is going to be far easier said than done and I am sure this is just the first of many future "NIL" based lawsuits to come when players don't end up getting what they thought they would by transferring all over the country.
Click to expand...
How in the world are the players being taken advantage of? They are getting massive amount of money thrown. Some of them are signing bad deals because they aren't doing the slightest amount of due diligence. How is this any different from money being thrown at 18/19 year olds throughout the country for a variety of things (influencers, other sports, professional contracts, etc.)?

On one hand you're saying it sucks for them because they can't be expected to read a contract then you're saying it sucks for them because they have to pay the professionals who can read the contract?

The system needs clarity for the schools. For the students, now, there are tons of guardrails. They just need an enforceable contract and to pay either a lawyer to help draft/negotiate the contract and pay the agent to seek out other opportunities. This is called being an adult or a professional. If you're going to Florida because Billy Napier is making promises about $, it's simple, get them in writing.

It's a dog-eat-dog world and one Jaden Rashada leaned into when he was selling himself as a hired gun. Hell, he is still leaning into it when he ditched ASU to go to Georgia. How anyone can argue that he's been taken advantage of or that he wasn't in a position of bargaining power is one of the wildest arguments I've ever heard. Being in a good bargaining position does not guarantee that you won't find a way to blow the advantage - Rashada did just that. That said, he is in such good bargaining position, he'll continue to get more bites at that apple.
 

Yeah baby! So much for student athlete!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think you're right but that's just going to be really tough to build around Title IX.
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I agree but will Title IX even be around anymore with changing of women's sports? It's crazy how political women's sports has become now.
 


Wait wait wait....I've been told repeatedly on this board that coaches have nothing to do with NIL money??? What a joke.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
How in the world are the players being taken advantage of? They are getting massive amount of money thrown. Some of them are signing bad deals because they aren't doing the slightest amount of due diligence. How is this any different from money being thrown at 18/19 year olds throughout the country for a variety of things (influencers, other sports, professional contracts, etc.)?

On one hand you're saying it sucks for them because they can't be expected to read a contract then you're saying it sucks for them because they have to pay the professionals who can read the contract?

The system needs clarity for the schools. For the students, now, there are tons of guardrails. They just need an enforceable contract and to pay either a lawyer to help draft/negotiate the contract and pay the agent to seek out other opportunities. This is called being an adult or a professional. If you're going to Florida because Billy Napier is making promises about $, it's simple, get them in writing.

It's a dog-eat-dog world and one Jaden Rashada leaned into when he was selling himself as a hired gun. Hell, he is still leaning into it when he ditched ASU to go to Georgia. How anyone can argue that he's been taken advantage of or that he wasn't in a position of bargaining power is one of the wildest arguments I've ever heard. Being in a good bargaining position does not guarantee that you won't find a way to blow the advantage - Rashada did just that. That said, he is in such good bargaining position, he'll continue to get more bites at that apple.
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Judge Wapner always said "Do you have the receipt? No? Case dismissed!" Plaintiff shuffles out to talk with Doug Llewelyn looking all down-trodden.

Doug: "How do you feel about the judge's decision?"

Plaintiff: "Pretty lousy."

Doug: "Did you learn anything valuable in the experience?"

Plaintiff: "Yeah. Next time I'm going to keep the f*ckin' receipt!"

Cue theme music and here's the next case!
 
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4four4 said:
I agree but will Title IX even be around anymore with changing of women's sports? It's crazy how political women's sports has become now.
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Ya think the special interest groups who push Title IX seem like the type of people who would ever say "problem solved, we can move on now"?
 

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