FAQ: Can Your School Sue You for Transferring? What Every College Athlete Needs to Know About Revenue-Sharing Contracts for the 2026-27 academic year
Schools are no longer staying quiet when athletes enter the transfer portal. In 2026, Duke University sued its starting quarterback for breach of an NIL contract. Similarly, the University of Georgia sought $390,000 in liquidated damages from a transferring defensive end, and the University of Cincinnati filed a $1 million federal lawsuit against its quarterback after he left for Texas Tech. University of Washington also threatened similar action before its quarterback reversed his decision to transfer.
If you are a college athlete with a revenue-sharing or NIL contract and you are thinking about transferring at some point during the upcoming academic year, following are several questions we get asked frequently related to transferring and NIL.
What Is a Revenue-Sharing Contract; and Why Does It Change Things?
Starting July 1, 2025, Division I schools gained the ability to share revenue directly with student-athletes under the House v. NCAA settlement. These are formal contracts between you and your school, not third-party NIL deals, in which you license your name, image, and likeness in exchange for a share of the school's athletics revenue.
Unlike informal booster deals from years past, these agreements can run one, two, or even three years, and many now try to include liquidated damages clauses, buyout provisions, and portal penalty clauses that can require you to repay compensation or pay additional damages if you transfer before the contract expires.
Can a school actually sue me for entering the transfer portal?
Yes. The recent cases make this clear. Schools are filing lawsuits, not just threatening them. Duke filed in Durham County Superior Court seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Darian Mensah from even enrolling elsewhere until arbitration could occur. Georgia filed for $390,000 in liquidated damages against Damon Wilson II after he transferred to Missouri. Cincinnati filed a $1 million federal lawsuit against Brendan Sorsby after he left for Texas Tech.
What clauses in my contract create the most legal risk?
There are several specific provisions you should look for before entering the portal:
Liquidated damages / buyout clauses area set a pre-determined dollar amount you owe the school if you transfer before the contract ends. Courts may enforce these if the amount is a reasonable estimate of the school's losses.
Portal penalty clauses are triggered specifically when you enter the transfer portal. They can require you to repay all or part of compensation already received.
Exclusivity provisions provide language that restricts you from entering into NIL arrangements with competitor institutions during the contract term.
Claw-back clauses require you to return payments already made if you transfer or are dismissed.
Arbitration requirements in many contracts require you to go through mandatory arbitration before any court proceedings. This affects your timeline and your strategy.
What do the Duke and Washington cases actually tell us?
They tell us this legal landscape is unsettled, which creates both risk and opportunity for athletes.
Duke v. Mensah settled quickly, because neither side wanted to set binding legal precedent. A court ruling could have either locked athletes into multi-year deals or invalidated school contracts entirely. The case left the core questions unanswered: Are these contracts employment agreements in disguise? Can a school legally block a student from enrolling elsewhere?
The Washington situation showed how conference-level contract standards matter. The Big Ten has standardized contracts with meaningful buyout provisions, making it financially harder to leave than in conferences like the ACC, which have no such uniformity. Your conference affiliation may affect how enforceable your contract actually is.
The bottom line is that no court has definitively ruled that revenue-sharing contracts are fully enforceable against transferring athletes, but schools are betting that the threat of litigation is enough.
Can the school block me from playing at my new school while the lawsuit is pending?
Potentially, yes. Temporarily. Duke obtained a temporary restraining order preventing Mensah from signing with another school while the case proceeded. Even though a judge denied a full injunction, Mensah was not free to enroll elsewhere until the case settled. That limbo cost him recruiting time and created significant uncertainty about his playing future.
If a school seeks a TRO against you, you could be stuck between schools (i.e., ineligible to play at either one) while litigation drags on. Getting legal advice before you enter the portal can help you avoid that situation entirely.
What defenses might I have if my school sues me?
Several legal arguments have emerged in these cases, though none has been fully tested in court:
Penalty vs. damages: If a buyout clause is disproportionately large or is designed to punish you rather than compensate the school, a court may invalidate it as an unenforceable penalty.
Unequal bargaining power: Courts look at whether you had meaningful ability to negotiate the contract or legal counsel when you signed it.
Student enrollment rights: You may argue that no contract can block your fundamental right to enroll at another institution as a student.
Employment classification: If the contract functionally controls your athletic performance, not just your NIL, it may be an illegal disguised employment agreement under current NCAA rules.
These defenses are real, but they require individualized legal analysis. No two contracts are the same.
I have a pending eligibility waiver; is there a deadline I need to know about?
Yes. July 31, 2026. The NCAA has voted to adopt a new age-based five-year eligibility model (5-in-5). Under the transition rules, if you have any pending waiver request tied to the old eligibility rules — including medical hardship waivers and season restoration requests — all documentation must be submitted to the NCAA national office by July 31, 2026. After that date, the old waiver system closes permanently. If you have a waiver in progress, do not wait.
For more on how eligibility and transfer rules intersect with your legal rights, visit ourEligibility & Compliance page.
What should I do before I enter the transfer portal?
Think of this as your pre-portal checklist:
Pull your contract. Read every page, not just the compensation section. Look for the words “liquidated damages,” “buyout,” “portal penalty,” “claw-back,” and “exclusivity.”
Check the contract term end date. If it runs past your intended transfer date, you may already be in breach the moment you enter the portal.
Identify any arbitration requirements. Know whether your contract requires arbitration and what the timeline is.
Review your eligibility status. If you have a pending waiver, the July 31 deadline is real and non-negotiable.
Get independent legal counsel before you act. Your school's compliance office represents the school, not you.
The law in this area is genuinely unsettled. Courts have not established a clear, consistent framework for evaluating whether revenue-sharing contracts are enforceable when you want to transfer. That uncertainty cuts both ways, as it gives athletes real arguments, but it also means the outcome of any dispute depends heavily on your specific contract language, your conference, and the facts of your situation.
You should not have to navigate this alone, and you should not have to rely on your athletic department for guidance on a matter where their interests and yours may conflict. If you have a revenue-sharing or NIL contract and you are weighing a transfer, Christine Brown & Partners can review your agreement confidentially, explain your rights and your risks, and help you make a decision with full information.
