A lawsuit has been filed in Wake County over the North Carolina State Board of Education’s decision to bar student-athletes at public high schools from participating in name, image, and likeness activities.

Rolanda Brandon, the mother of Grimsley High School quarterback and Tennessee commit Faizon Brandon, has filed a lawsuit against the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction.

The lawsuit alleges the board overstepped its authority by “unlawfully restricting his right to freely use his NIL, which he and he alone owns, thereby jeopardizing his ability to capitalize on life-changing opportunities currently available to him and provide himself and his family with financial security.”

Through the head football coach at Grimsley, the Brandon family declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit asserts that Senate Bil 452 directed the board to create guidelines for student-athletes to “use” their name, image, and likeness, not to prevent student-athletes from doing so.

“The State Board of Education was asked to create rules allowing public high school athletes to use their NIL — it was not empowered to ban it,” said attorney Mike Ingersoll, who is representing the Brandon family in the lawsuit. “We look forward to correcting the State Board’s error and to help our client benefit from the incredible value and opportunities his hard work and commitment have created for his name, image, and likeness.”

The lawsuit states the board did not have the legal authority to ban NIL activities at public schools.

“As a direct result of the Board’s overreach and improper prohibition of NIL activities, public school students across North Carolina … are altogether foreclosed from utilizing their own NIL to better themselves and their families, or else they risk having their eligibility and seasons stripped from them for engaging in the same market and activities as their private school counterparts,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says Brandon could be missing out on millions of dollars. He is rated a five-star quarterback and the No. 1 overall player from the Class of 2026, according to 247Sports.com.

According to the lawsuit, a trading card company has offered Brandon “a substantial amount of money” in exchanged for autographed memorabilia before he graduates high school. He’s also been approached by other businesses about NIL deals.

Brandon’s family is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction from the court, meaning they want the ban on NIL to be thrown out. The family is not seeking any money in the lawsuit.

In May 2023, the N.C. High School Athletic Association passed guidelines that would have allowed student-athletes to begin monetizing their name, image, and likeness in July 2023. However, when SB 452 was passed, sweeping changes to the authority of the NCHSAA to govern high school sports meant it could not implement the NIL policy.

The State Board of Education was tasked with creating a policy instead. In June, the board voted to ban NIL activities for all public high school athletes in North Carolina. However, at the same time, high school athletes at private schools playing in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association were allowed to profit off their name, image, and likeness.

The lawsuit alleges that North Carolina is the only state in the country where rules about NIL are different for public and private schools.

“There is no rational justification for a complete ban. Rather, while policies differ in some respects, the supermajority of states that permit NIL activities typically do so pursuant to a common set of guidelines,” the lawsuit states.

The NCHSAA gave a presentation to the State Board of Education about NIL earlier this month, noting some of the guidelines that exist across the country. The policy originally adopted by the NCHSAA in 2023 would have restricted the types of NIL deals student-athletes could be involved in, setup education and reporting requirements, and prevented schools from creating NIL collectives or using NIL to recruit athletes.

In a written statement, NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said the association wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit.

“The NCHSAA does not have a comment on the lawsuit regarding Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) as it is not involved in the lawsuit. Additionally, the NCHSAA has neither rule nor policy regarding NIL, as that authority lies with the State Board of Education,” Tucker wrote.

Source: highschoolot.com