Odell Beckham Jr. celebrates $20M Nike verdict: 'Justice was served'

Odell Beckham Jr. announced on his Instagram page on Thursday night that he had won his lawsuit against Nike. The legal battle between the superstar wideout and the mega shoe corporation has officially come to an end. A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury ruled that neither Nike nor OBJ breached their contracts. Beckham, Jr. was awarded no damages as a result of the decision.

The superstar wideout expressed relief and thanks in a celebratory post on his Instagram page on Thursday night.

“JUST DO……RIGHT @nike,” the former LSU star wrote. “I wanna take this moment to thank God first and foremost thank you Heavenly Father. I wanna thank my team for every hour they have spent preparing on this case. I wanna thank the jury for simply doing what’s right in a world full of wrong… my message to whoever needs this is, STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN! JUSTICE WAS SERVED!!! ✊🏾🫱🏾‍🫲🏼🫶🏾.”

Nike issued an official statement as well after the verdict.

“With this verdict, all of Mr. Beckham’s claims have been decided against him without any monetary award. The decision confirmed that Nike complied with its commitments. Nike is grateful to the jury and the Court for their careful attention to this case.”

The jury took a few hours of deliberation to reach the verdict on Thursday, according to an in-depth report from Demi Lawrence of The Portland Business Journal. Beckham originally sued Nike in 2022 alleging that the footwear giant withheld royalties owed to him under the terms of a sponsorship deal.

Beckham was seeking $862,000 in damages–the total of royalties withheld. Nike was asking for damages between $7 million and $15 million, according to her report. The jury ruled that Nike did not breach its contract with Beckham by keeping the royalties. Another key part of the ruling was, “It also ruled that Beckham’s glove customizations did not breach his contract, that Nike waived its right to enforce the contract for certain glove designs, and that Beckham did not violate his contract by disclosing terms of the deal.”

Why did Beckham sue Nike in the first place?

The superstar wideout is known for wearing flashy, customized gloves and shoes. He has been under various contracts with Nike since his rookie season in 2014. In 2017, Adidas offered Beckham a deal worth at least $47 million, according to reports. Nike had first right of refusal, and the superstar ended up re-signing a five-year contract with Nike.

In the closing arguments on Thursday morning, Beckham’s lawyer, Chad Colton of Markowitz Herbold, made the argument that Nike had no issue with his customizations until it came time for him to renew his new contract. He explained to the jury that Nike “manufactured glove penalties to use as leverage” in order to get the LSU star to re-sign and that Nike told Beckham it would pay him the money they had withheld for the alleged violations if he renewed his deal.

Colton also said that Nike didn’t let Beckham know they thought his customized gloves were in violation of his contract or that they were going to penalize him by keeping royalties, therefore waiving their right to enforce the contract.