Odell Beckham Jr. is getting set to make his long-awaited free agency decision, as he expects to be fully ready to return to football soon after suffering a torn ACL in the Rams’ Super Bowl win.
While Beckham is trying to narrow down his list of potential contenders to join on the field, he’s also making a big move off of it by filing a lawsuit against Nike for failing to honor its contract with him after matching an offer from Adidas in 2017. Beckham released a statement on Monday night confirming he was suing Nike, saying he was holding the company accountable for honoring its commitments.
— Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) November 15, 2022
According to TMZ, the suit stems from Beckham’s belief that Nike has been suppressing sneaker sales and finding ways to dock him pay for altering equipment he wears for games, with the star believing Nike has kept $20 million from him.
OBJ says the relationship with Nike began to sour around March 2022 when he was due a payment of around $2.6 million. But, he claims, without any warning, the company withheld more than $2 million of the payment. He later learned Nike withheld the money because the company said he committed footwear and glove violations when he altered his equipment towards the end of last season. Beckham insists he didn’t commit the violations — he said he was forced to personally customize his cleats because Nike failed to give him cleats that matched the colors of his new team. As for his gloves, Beckham Jr. says he always customizes the equipment to fit his “high fashion brand” and Nike never had a problem with it in the past.
Considering Beckham has long been one of Nike’s most prominent faces, with his crossover appeal from sportswear to streetwear, it’s a significant lawsuit as Nike seems set to lose one of its biggest football clients with allegations that they’ve manipulated his deal.