Damon Wilson: UGA seeking NIL damages 'retribution campaign' for transfer
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Former Georgia football defensive end Damon Wilson is asking an Athens-Clarke County Superior Court judge to deny Georgia athletics’ attempt to go to arbitration on what it contends is Wilson breaking an NIL contract when he entered the transfer portal.
Georgia sued Wilson, seeking $390,000 in liquidated damages after he agreed to an NIL deal with Classic City Collective and transferred weeks later. He played this season at Missouri where he was second-team All-SEC.
Wilson says Georgia athletics can’t compel arbitration because the three-page term sheet with the Classic City Collective he signed on Dec. 21, 2024 “is not an enforceable contract.” Wilson gave notice of his intent to transfer on Jan. 6, 2025 after his sophomore season and withdrew from school a week later.
In the 127-page responsive pleading filed Dec. 24, Wilson’s attorneys called Georgia attempts to get Wilson to pay $390,000 “and its interference with his ability to transfer,” a “retribution campaign.”
Wilson, who closed out his season Saturday in Missouri’s Gator Bowl loss to Virginia, countersued last week in Boone County, Mo. The lawsuit claims Georgia “falsely (told) at least three” unnamed Power Four teams that “Wilson would be subject to a $1.2 million buyout,” and alleges that Georgia violated a confidentiality provision in the term sheet.”
In the Athens filing, the pass rusher’s attorneys say the Georgia Arbitration Code does not apply to the agreement because neither party initialed at the time of execution and that the “liquidated damages” is “an unenforceable penalty and unconscionable.”
His attorneys also state Wilson signed the term sheet “due to duress and/or undue influence given the power disparity, unequal bargaining power, circumstances, pressure by UGA employees, absence of counsel, mischaracterization,” of the term sheet and timing when it was signed.
It said a Georgia athletics employee directed Wilson during preparations for the College Football Playoff to “go upstairs,” where he was presented with the NIL term sheet. Wilson received a $30,000 first monthly payment four days later for a $500,000 deal that was to run through January 31, 2026.
His attorneys also say a mandatory arbitration clause was never negotiated or agreed to.
The Classic City Collective ceased operations earlier this year. It assigned its rights under the agreement to Georgia athletics on July 1.
Georgia athletics did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday, but said about the case previously: “When the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters binding agreements with student-athletes, we honor our commitments and expect student-athletes to do the same.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Damon Wilson seeks denial for arbitration in NIL dispute with Georgia
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