“I can see your point, but as an athletic director, I can tell you the image release is something we have to have in place,” Mr. Phelps explained.
“We aren’t looking to infringe on your ability to run your programs. And we are willing to give you an image release concerning David’s college football and baseball images. However, we are not willing to grant releases or licenses with respect to his other images. That would include, in particular, his movie and modeling images.
“As I’ve said, we are willing to separate out his college football and baseball images and to grant the university a release for those. However, we will still have to have methods in place that will allow David to protect those images too and to protect his overall image. He would want some control over how his image is used off the field,” Mr. Morris explained.
“I’d need to see the wording on that, but it sounds reasonable,” Mr. Phelps said.
“It seems apparent that it’s in all of our interests to accomplish those goals. However, there are a couple of things we would like. The first is both the video and audio recordings that were played today,” Mr. Ellison said.
“And any others that pertain to this series of events,” Mr. Phelps added.
“We would be glad to provide you with copies of everything,” Mr. Morris said.
“No, I don’t think you understand. We want the originals, and for you to delete any copies you might have,” Mr. Phelps clarified.
“As an officer of the court, I have a fiduciary duty to my client to maintain the chain of custody over the originals. You heard Special Agent Bryn; there is an ongoing FBI investigation. Until I am notified that the investigation is no longer ongoing, I can’t turn them over, and I most certainly cannot destroy them. We are more than willing to give you copies, though,” Ms. Addison said.
“In that case, we will need for you to sign a nondisclosure agreement,” Mr. Ellison said.
“That sounds reasonable,” Mr. Morris said.
“Hang on,” Dad said to slow Mr. Morris’s roll. “Did you follow what the NFL did to Tom Brady? They forced him and the NFL Players Association to keep everything to do with the Deflategate investigation confidential.
“But the NFL used that confidentiality to completely control what information was made available to the press. There was a lot of information ‘leaked’ that made Brady look bad. It wasn’t until there was a court order to make all that information public that a lot of the truth came out in that case.
“I’m sure the NCAA wouldn’t stoop to that, but I do think this confidentiality agreement needs to be a two-way street. If we start seeing ‘leaks,’ and David is made to look like the bad guy, you can’t tie his hands and not let him defend himself.”
“He makes a good point,” Mr. Morris said.
Oh, dear Lord, this guy was worthless when he got outside his specialty.
“The FBI agent was clear. If this gets disclosed to the press, we are all facing serious consequences,” Mr. Phelps said.
“I agree, but that applies to David, too. This has to go both ways,” Dad shot back.
The unspoken threat was that if they messed with me, I would release the tapes and let the chips fall where they may. In the end, the NCAA begrudgingly came around to our way of thinking. They really didn’t have a choice. An FBI agent had come out and said that Stewart had extorted me.
I realized something else. Another positive side effect of the FBI agent sitting in the room was that it distracted the NCAA from delving deeper into the legality of the recordings I’d made. I’d been a little worried because the first recording involving Mr. Chadwick arguably wasn’t legal. I never intended to use those recordings in a court of law, but to use them in the court of public opinion.
So I wasn’t as worried as I might have been. I might face some legal saber-rattling, but once the genie was out of the bottle, the focus would change to the scandal rather than how the recordings were obtained.
There was some more discussion and a lot of drafting. But by the time I walked out the door of the conference room, I’d received written confirmation that we were all eligible. We’d also agreed in principle on the two waivers I requested. I had a letter to that effect that I could send to Michigan and the Big Ten. I would need to get written agreements from both the school and the conference concerning the protection of my image.
◊◊◊
When we finally arrived at the lobby, Special Agent Bryn was waiting for us.
“Did it all get worked out?” he asked Ms. Addison.
“David and his friends are eligible to play college ball, and we reached an agreement in principle for the waivers he needs to continue the pursuit of his acting career. Here’s the part that will make you happy: everyone signed nondisclosures.”
“That does make me happy,” he admitted.
“Something you should know,” I said. “We had a slight hiccup because the NCAA didn’t want the nondisclosure agreement to be two-way.”
“Meaning?”
