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The latter half of 2022 has shaken up the entire footwear industry. Just in the last few months, we witnessed the downfall of adidas x Yeezy, Kyrie x Nike, and now we’re seeing Odell Beckham Jr. suing his endorsers at Nike for $20 million over what he claims is an unfair contract and accusations of missed payments according to documents obtained by TMZ.
Once OBJ’s deal expired with Nike back in 2017, he had second thoughts about resigning with The Swoosh, instead, taking an offer from adidas that was shortly matched by Nike through its contractual right. This deal is estimated to be valued at around $47 million (according to Brendan Dunne), making hime one of the highest paid football players on Nike’s roster, though their relationship soon began to sour.
After continuing this deal with Nike, Beckham and his team noticed that the structure of the deal gave him the short end of the stick as wouldn’t be getting the maximum value that he assumed he would through extensions of the deal. What truly ruined their relationship was withheld payments that date back to March of this year when OBJ was expecting to receive $2.6 million dollars from The Swoosh, however, he claims the company didn’t even reach the million dollar mark and left him short by over $2 million. Their reasoning for withholding payments - OBJ committed “footwear and glove violations” when he customized his cleats, though the LA Rams superstar says Nike never sent him cleats to match his new uniforms and was forced to make these changes to comply with the NFL’s uniform guidelines.
In a statement to TMZ about the lawsuit, Beckham stated “"Today, I'm taking a stand not just for me, but to set a precedent for all athletes who have dedicated their life to the sport they love – especially those who don't have the means to stand up for themselves. We are held responsible for fulfilling our obligations under our contracts, but we also have to hold powerful companies like Nike accountable for honoring their commitments too."
We’ll have to see how this all plays out in the near future as this is an ongoing court case. Keep it locked to our Twitter and the Sole Retriever mobile app to stay updated on the latest regarding this case and more in the sneaker and streetwear world.
