HARRISON JR. SUIT HINGES ON ‘BINDING’ SHEET LIKE RECENT ORGERON CASE
Fanatics last Saturday sued Arizona Cardinals rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. and his limited liability company, the Official Harrison Collection, for breach of contract, anticipatory repudiation and tortious interference. Fanatics contends the former Ohio State star unlawfully reneged on a “binding term sheet.”
The enforceability of the term sheet could become the key factor in the case.
As Fanatics tells it, Harrison Jr. and the company entered into an agreement, which the multibillion-dollar company insists is a “fully binding and enforceable contract,” in May 2023. The wide receiver was represented in the deal by his father, retired NFL star Marvin Harrison Sr. Fanatics claims Harrison Jr. has been paid after signing the deal but has “refused to fulfill any of his [contractual] obligations.”
Those obligations and many other details are redacted in the publicly available version of the complaint, which was filed in a New York trial court. However, unredacted portions say Harrison Jr. allegedly warned Fanatics that he’s received “competing offers” from rival trading card companies and demanded Fanatics “meet or exceed” those offers. The complaint also maintains Harrison Jr. violated a confidentiality provision by sharing, in misleading ways, contractual information to ESPN. Fanatics demands a jury trial and estimates prospective damages to be in the millions of dollars.
Signing commercial contracts while in college would have been problematic for Harrison Jr. prior to 2021—the year the NCAA adopted an interim NIL policy, allowing athletes to use their right of publicity without violating their collegiate eligibility. Harrison Jr., who turns 22 in August, was old enough to sign an enforceable contract in 2023; in both New York and Ohio (and in most states), the age requirement for signing legally binding contracts is 18. Harrison Jr. also, presumably, received skilled advice given that his dad is a former college and NFL star who signed many business contracts along the way.
Fanatics’ complaint tells one side of the story. In the weeks ahead Harrison Jr. will answer the complaint, presumably deny the allegations and offer rebuttals. The fact that Harrison Jr. and Fanatics didn’t resolve the dispute amicably—and in private—suggests the Cardinals rookie won’t go down without a fight.
Harrison Jr. might argue that no enforceable contract was formed. Although the complaint says the NFL rookie signed a “binding term sheet” and that Fanatics made payments to him over several months, Harrison Jr. might insist he interpreted the term sheet as a preliminary or aspirational agreement—and that he was still negotiating with Fanatics.
