A collegiate athlete with a signed revenue-share contract, a nonrenewal of athletic aid mid-season, and a school now demanding the return of payments already made. We defended the payments, documented the defense, and closed the door on the clawback.
Carson had signed a revenue-share contract with his university as a scholarship athlete. The school issued a formal notice of nonrenewal of athletic aid in the middle of the season, citing performance and fit. Ten days later, a follow-up letter arrived from the athletic department demanding repayment of revenue-share payments the university had made under the contract, on a theory that the payments had been conditioned on his continued participation.
The contract language did not say that. The payments had been made on a fixed installment schedule tied to months of the season, not to game-day participation or performance. The nonrenewal itself had been issued under a separate provision of his aid agreement, not the revenue-share contract. The clawback demand conflated the two.
He needed a response letter that would not escalate, and he needed it before the university involved outside counsel.
We read the revenue-share contract, the aid agreement, and the nonrenewal notice side by side. We drafted a formal response letter to the athletic department articulating three points: the revenue-share payments were earned under a fixed schedule with no participation condition, the nonrenewal was issued under a separate agreement and did not create a clawback right under the revenue-share contract, and any attempt to enforce the demand would trigger preserved claims for breach of the revenue-share contract's good-faith-and-fair-dealing covenant.
We coordinated with a local business manager and CPA to ensure the payments already received were properly documented as income in the year received, so any subsequent dispute would not reopen tax characterization questions. The school's outside counsel responded within fourteen days. The clawback demand was withdrawn. Carson kept the payments, entered the transfer portal with clean books, and signed with a new program.
"They sent a letter that sounded like law. Brandon sent a letter that was law."
— Carson
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