Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, Big Ten and SEC over NIL compensation. Williams claims the three entities have been they’ve been using his name, image and likeness without fairly paying him.
Court documents obtained by the California Post reveal that Jameson Williams filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County on Monday. In it, Williams not only wants to be paid for past use of his name, image and likeness by the NCAA, Big Ten and SEC, he also wants the groups to be prohibited from using them “for financial or any similar gain or reason without his consent and compensation.”
“To date, Williams has received no fair compensation from Defendants for the full commercial value of his name, image, and likeness,” the lawsuit claims. “Defendants continuously financially benefit from Jameson Williams’ name, image and likeness rights, while also doing so without providing him with just compensation.”
Jameson Williams played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, then transferred to the University of Alabama. After one season with the Crimson Tide, in which voters named him a First-Team All-American, Williams entered the NFL Draft. The Lions selected him in the first round with the 12th overall pick, even though he tore his ACL in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship.
What is Jameson Williams seeking in his lawsuit?
His lawsuit asks the court to make the NCAA, Big Ten and SEC pay him for “the social media earnings that [he] would have received but for Defendants’ unlawful conduct,” including money from “the game telecast group licensing revenue.”
He also claims in the suit that the groups continue to use his NIL in social media posts and highlight packages on television, but he has “received less — zero — than he otherwise would have received for the use of his name, image, and likeness in a competitive marketplace.”
During his four years in the NFL, Jameson Williams has played in 50 games, caught 148 passes for 2,513 yards, and scored 19 touchdowns, including two rushing. According to Spotrac, he has earned over $31 million during those four years and will make more than $112 million in total if he fulfills his entire contract with the Lions.