Nick Soltman was recently featured in The New York Times article “Darian Mensah vs. Duke: How experts saw a first-of-its-kind college sports case” which explores the unprecedented legal dispute between Duke University and star quarterback Darian Mensah over the enforceability of a multi-year name, image, and likeness (NIL) agreement.
The case focused on whether Duke could prevent Mensah from transferring to another school while the university pursued arbitration under his NIL contract, garnering national attention for testing the limits of NIL contract enforcement in college sports.
In the article, Nick explains that while disputes of this nature are not unusual in the entertainment industry, they are very rarely pursued to the point of litigation and typically reserved for extreme circumstances.
“They know it’s bad business for studios to sue talent,” Nick asserts. He draws a comparison to top Hollywood entertainment contracts, adding, “You can’t replace a Robert Downey Jr. or whoever,” and that Mensah is “the college football equivalent of that.”
Since Mensah is a student athlete and not an employee of Duke, the university’s legal position is very limited. Noncompete agreements don’t apply here. “If he’s an employee, there’s no question,” Nick surmises. “He can’t go and work for a rival school that’s a competitor to Duke in college football.”
