As current college athletes enjoy the NIL era, past players are continuing to look for what they believe are overdue paydays. That includes former Ohio State star Terrelle Pryor, who has filed a lawsuit against his alma mater, the NCAA, Big Ten and Learfield for NIL violations.
News of Pryor’s lawsuit was first reported by Sam C. Ehrlich, a sport law professor at Boise State. Ehrlich noted that the former 2008 Big Ten Freshman of the Year’s lawsuit is similar to ones that have been filed by other ex-college athletes in that it accuses the defendants of violating antitrust laws and unjustly enriching themselves by restricting student-athletes from profiting off their name, image and likeness.
We have yet another lawsuit by a pre-2016 college athlete for Nil violations.
This time: Terrelle Pryor has sued the NCAA, Ohio State, the Big Ten, and Learfield.
As with the others, it’s based on antitrust and unjust enrichment.
Complaint: https://t.co/1SGdvbyx1w pic.twitter.com/XzUlSOvY3s
— Sam C. Ehrlich (@samcehrlich) October 4, 2024
Pryor’s lawsuit states that he is filing the complaint on behalf of “all former student athletes who competed on an Ohio State athletic team at any time prior to the changes to the name, image, and likeness rules of the NCAA.” It also requests a temporary and permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from using the NIL of former athletes without their permission or compensation and calls for those athletes to receive damages, including a “share of game telecast group licensing revenue.”
While the NCAA has already agreed to a yet-to-be finalized $2.8 billion settlement regarding such matters, it only applied to athletes whose college careers began in 2016 or later. Pryor played at Ohio State from 2008-2010.
In many ways, Pryor’s lawsuit is similar to the one recently filed by a group of former Michigan players, including Braylon Edwards and Denard Robinson. The former Wolverines, however, filed their lawsuit against the NCAA and Big Ten Network, making it clear that they weren’t suing their alma mater.
Pryor, meanwhile, isn’t just suing Ohio State, but also its marketing agency in Learfield, as well as the Big Ten and NCAA. Former Buckeyes linebacker Chris Spielman previously sued the school over using his NIL without permission, with the two sides settling for $140,000 in 2018.
It’s also worth noting that Pryor’s college career wasn’t without controversy and ultimately came to an end as a result of the memorabilia-for-tattoos scandal that also led to the firing of head coach Jim Tressel — a situation that seemingly would have been easy to avoid under the current NCAA rules.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.