QuickTake:

Dakoda Fields later transferred to the University of Oklahoma. The lawsuit, alleging breach of contract, seeks $10,000 and offers a glimpse into how UO deals with a student who exits a team while receiving payments directly from the university.

The University of Oregon has filed a lawsuit seeking $10,000 from a former football player who reportedly left the team before season’s end and later transferred to the University of Oklahoma.

Dakoda Fields, a cornerback, joined the Ducks out of high school in 2024, then left the team in November, according to published reports.

Under a sweeping agreement involving former NCAA athletes known as the House settlement approved in court last year, universities now directly pay players. 

Such deals have not been made public in Oregon. But the lawsuit, perhaps, provides insight into how UO handled a player’s in-season departure.

Fields in January announced his transfer to the University of Oklahoma.

The lawsuit — filed Friday, May 15, in Lane County Circuit Court — states that UO and Fields reached an agreement in February for him to make a discounted $29,882.30 payment by April 20 “in exchange for a release of liability from the university related to an underlying dispute,” which is not described in court documents.

Fields is alleged to have missed the payment deadline. The lawsuit states that under the February agreement, the amount owed increased to $39,882.30 after April 20. It’s not specified in the lawsuit, but because UO is not claiming damages of more than $10,000, it is possible that Fields paid the discounted amount, just after the April 20 deadline.

The lawsuit states Fields “breached the Contract by failing or refusing to pay the remaining balance of $10,000.” In addition, the lawsuit seeks interest at 9% per year on the principal amount of $10,000, as well as UO’s attorney fees.

The university is being represented by Todd Johnston, an attorney with the Eugene-based Hershner Hunter law firm.

A UO spokesperson declined to comment Monday about the lawsuit. An agent linked to Fields did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael H. LeRoy, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Labor and Employment Relations, has written scholarly articles about contracts in place between athletes and universities in the Big Ten athletic conference, where Illinois and UO compete.

“One possibility is that this is a lawsuit to recover a pro-rated share of the contract that was paid forward to the player, given that he left the team during the season,” LeRoy said in an email. 

Tod Bergstrom, an assistant teaching professor at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, has studied so-called name, image, and likeness payments to college athletes.

Bergstrom declined to comment on the specific details of the lawsuit filed against Fields. But he predicted more conflicts between universities and players over contracts.

“I expect lawsuits like this will become more common in the future, particularly where young — often inexperienced — student-athletes enter into contracts without fully comprehending the consequences of violating these contracts,” Bergstrom said. “Further, schools that operate in this pay-for-play environment have expectations about contracts being fulfilled — and they have the benefit of very able legal representation.”