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The transfer portal and NIL (name, image, and likeness) payments have recently significantly changed the landscape of college sports. The combination of the two has resulted in free agency for student athletes and hotly contested litigation in connection therewith.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association created the transfer portal in 2018. Prior to its creation, student athletes had to obtain permission from their existing schools to transfer to other schools and had to sit out a year from competition upon…
Continue Reading College Athletics Are A-Changing

Ohio is currently at the center of one of the most significant shifts in name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) rights for high school student-athletes.

After years of focusing on NIL in college athletics, the most consequential developments are now occurring much earlier in the athletic pipeline, with direct implications for students, schools, and policymakers.

Until recently, Ohio stood as one of the last holdouts in the country, prohibiting high school student-athletes from earning compensation tied to their name, image,

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Continue Reading Leveling the Playing Field: How Ohio’s NIL Battle Signals the Future of High School Sports

Significant changes are coming to the NCAA’s transfer portal for the Division I FBS and FCS subdivisions. While the new transfer rules are expected to be finalized during the month of October, the NCAA Administrative Committee has eliminated the spring football transfer portal window. The current Division I FBS Oversight Committee proposal sets the single transfer portal window from January 2–16 each year.

With shortened transfer portal windows, a shift in key recruiting dates, and changes to when…
Continue Reading NCAA to Move to Single Transfer Portal for DI Football

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in favor of the NCAA in Nyzier Fourqurean’s eligibility lawsuit. The NCAA’s appeal came after a preliminary injunction was granted to Fourqurean by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Fourqurean, a member of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s football team, brought antitrust claims in challenge of the NCAA’s Five-Year Rule, which limits college athletes to four seasons of eligibility in five years. Fourqurean has competed…
Continue Reading 7th Circuit Reverses District Court Injunction in Fourqurean NCAA Eligibility Case

In a move that could reshape the college sports landscape, the University of Wisconsin and its name, image and likeness collective, VC Connect, LLC, sued the University of Miami on Friday, alleging that Miami tampered with former Badgers football player Xavier Lucas and interfered with NIL contracts signed by Lucas.

This is believed to be the first lawsuit by an NCAA university seeking to enforce rights under an NIL contract with one of its athletes, and the outcome could…
Continue Reading Wisconsin’s NIL Lawsuit Against Miami Could Shake Up College Recruiting

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) membership has voted on an amendment to the Association’s bylaws that will allow high school athletes in Wisconsin to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). The bylaw amendment aligns Wisconsin with a growing number of states that have embraced NIL rights at the high school level.
A Second Chance on NIL for the WIAA
This is not the first time the WIAA has considered relaxing its NIL restrictions. A similar amendment…
Continue Reading WIAA Votes to Permit High School Athletes to Earn NIL Compensation

In a long-awaited decision, Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has approved the proposed settlement in House v. NCAA (In re College Athlete NIL Litigation). The suit, originally filed in 2020, challenged the NCAA’s prohibition on college athletes’ ability to earn compensation for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) and revenue derived from the broadcasts of athletic contests. In May 2024, the NCAA’s membership voted to settle the suit with…
Continue Reading As the House Settlement is Finalized, College Athletes must Quickly Prepare for the Revenue Sharing Era

Posted on May 31, 2025 in College Student Representation
College athletes may have gained the right to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), but that does not mean they are protected from being misled, exploited, or coerced. In Milwaukee and across the country, universities are still navigating how to implement NIL policies, and some are doing it better — or worse — than others. As a student athlete, it is easy to feel like you have finally…
Continue Reading Universities and NCAA Still Take Advantage of Student Athletes

Hazan Sports Management Group (HSM), led by NBPA-certified agent Daniel Hazan, has filed a breach of contract suit against its former client Malik Beasley in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Beasley, the Detroit Pistons star and finalist for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, signed an NBPA Standard Player Agent Contract (“SPAC”) with HSM in 2023 to serve as his on-court player agent. The parties also signed an exclusive marketing representation…
Continue Reading Pistons Star Malik Beasley Sued by Former Agent

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In a decision issued on April 8, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals’ ruling in favor of high school wrestler Hayden Halter, upholding the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (WIAA) interpretation and application of its suspension rules.
Background
In February 2019, Hayden Halter, a sophomore wrestler at Waterford Union High School, was ejected from a varsity wrestling meet due to two unsportsmanlike conduct violations. According to WIAA’s rules at the time, such an ejection required the…
Continue Reading Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules in Favor of the WIAA in Halter Case

For the second year in a row, Frieser Legal has been named to Hackney Publications’ list of Top 100 Law Firms with Sports Practices. The list is published “with the goal of providing the sports industry with a guidebook to the top 100 law firms with an exemplary sports law practice.” Hackney Publications is the […]The post Frieser Legal Named to Top 100 Law Firms with Sports Practices for 2025 appeared first on Frieser Legal.
Continue Reading Frieser Legal Named to Top 100 Law Firms with Sports Practices for 2025

Nyzier Fourqurean, the starting cornerback for the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s football team, was granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA for a possible fifth year of athletic eligibility. Although the NCAA has appealed the decision, this student-athlete victory—though potentially temporary—marks a significant challenge to the NCAA’s long-standing eligibility rules and highlights growing tensions between the NCAA’s […]The post Wisconsin Football Player Granted an Injunction in Eligibility Suit Against the NCAA appeared first on Frieser Legal.
Continue Reading Wisconsin Football Player Granted an Injunction in Eligibility Suit Against the NCAA

On February 1, 2025, the American Arbitration Association published Due Process Guidelines for the Arbitration of Disputes over Sports Participation and Name, Image, and Likeness. Frieser Legal Principal Attorney Joshua Frieser served on the Sports Advisory Committee that supported the AAA in preparing these guidelines.

The Due Process Guidelines can be viewed here: AAA Due Process Guideliness for NIL Disputes

The post AAA Publishes Due Process Guidelines for NIL Disputes appeared first on Frieser Legal.
Continue Reading AAA Publishes Due Process Guidelines for NIL Disputes

As the House case nears a potential settlement, Division I universities and their associated NIL collectives have established strategic plans for the dawn of the “revenue sharing era” of college sports. As the ground is shifting in the NIL world once again—perhaps more substantially than at any point before—college athletes and their agents should be prepared to effectively navigate the legal and contractual challenges that will undoubtedly arise in this new era.
Background
After the NCAA permitted collegiate…
Continue Reading Effectively Navigating MOUs, Revenue Sharing, and Collective Contracts

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In this episode of the Bottom Up Podcast, produced by the State Bar of Wisconsin, co-hosts Emil Ovbiagele and Sam Huddleston Baker talk with Mike Sneathern, chief legal officer for the Milwaukee Bucks. Mike has worked 20-plus years for the 2021 NBA champs.

The conversation explores Mike’s journey from his native California to Wisconsin, his experiences in the Marquette University Sports Law Program, and the unique challenges faced by sports lawyers today, including the impact of sports betting and…
Continue Reading Bottom Up Episode 23: A Path to Sports Law with Milwaukee Bucks Chief Legal Officer Mike Sneathern

On September 25, 2024, UNLV starting quarterback Matthew Sluka announced that he would be departing from the program due to broken promises regarding compensation that was promised to him in an NIL agreement with the university’s collective. Despite leading the Rebels to a 3-0 start, Sluka will sit out for the remainder of the season as a redshirt and will enter the transfer portal in December. The NCAA’s Bylaw 12 allows football student-athletes to compete in up to four…
Continue Reading UNLV Quarterback Matthew Sluka’s Failed NIL Agreement and the Ensuing Legal Ramifications