The clear conflict in North Carolina's treatment of public and private high school athletes regarding their ability to capitalize on Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) rights has gone from a simmer to a boiling point very quickly with the filing of an action in North Carolina state court. As highlighted in our most recent blog post, the North Carolina State Board of Education recently implemented a strict prohibition on NIL activities for athletes attending any public school within the state – a stark contrast to the freedoms that private school athletes have to benefit from their personal NIL rights granted by the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA).
This juxtaposition in policy prompted Rolanda Brandon, the mother of five-star recruit and 2026 Tennessee commit, Faizon Brandon, to file a lawsuit on behalf of her son in Wake County Superior Court, North Carolina, against the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction challenging the ability of the state's education agency to regulate name, image and likeness rights and to deny NIL opportunities for her son and other public school athletes in the state. Specifically, the suit claims that the defendants exceeded their statutory authority and Ms. Brandon seeks both a preliminary and permanent injunction to allow her son and other public high school athletes to participate in NIL opportunities (See the full complaint here).
The suit argues that the State Board of Education exceeded the limited authority granted to it, as outlined in Senate Bill 452, to regulate public high school athletes' use of NIL. As alleged, the Board's authority to "regulate" in this case does not include the authority to issue an outright ban on NIL activities. According to the complaint, Faizon Brandon was offered a "life-changing" opportunity to license his NIL rights to a national trading card company in exchange for a "substantial sum of money." However, the proposed agreement offered to Faizon cannot move forward and faces total rescission in light of the State Board of Education's current prohibition on NIL arrangements for public school athletes.
The return date for a hearing on this application has yet to be released and we will follow this controversial issue regarding high school NIL rights to its conclusion.
Originally published August 26, 2024.
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