The summer Olympics are underway in Paris, France. Perhaps you’re glued to watching Simone Biles soar to new heights in gymnastics or Maryland-native Katie Ledecky crush the competition in swimming. Next week, Sha’Carri Richardson and others will compete in Track & Field. In some of the Olympic sports, athletes have the opportunity to compete in several events and could win multiple medals. In recent news, we learned that the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee pays a cash award to an American athlete who medals in an event. Unfortunately to the dismay of many, the payout is rather small –$37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for a silver medal, and $15,000 for bronze – which seems rather insignificant for being a top three athlete in the world.

Apparently, other professional athletes agree, including former Ravens’ football player Shannon Sharpe. In a recent podcast with former Bengals’ wide receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, Sharpe pledged to pay $25,000 to any Team USA Track & Field athlete who wins a medal. Johnson quickly followed matching Sharpe’s pledge, leading to a $50,000 payout per athlete, per medal. If you watch the track events, you know that athletes like Sha’Carri Richardson compete in more than one event and could walk away with several medals. The two former footballers also pledged to pay $50,000 to an American athlete who breaks a world record at the Paris Olympics. The question is – do they legally have to follow through?

In the world of contract law, you need an offer (e.g., “I promise to pay you $50,000 if you win an Olympic medal) plus acceptance (“I accept your proposal”) to be a contract. However, there are occasions when a promise alone can be enforced if you undertake an action based upon that promise. For example, Maryland law provides that an engagement ring must be returned if the recipient of the ring ends the engagement. The theory behind the law is that the engagement ring was a conditional gift given to the recipient on the promise that the recipient would marry the proposer.

On the other hand, federal courts did not side with John Leonard, a 21-year-old business student, when he sued Pepsi in the 1990s after its promise of a Harrier jet in exchange for obtaining 7 million “Pepsi Points.” The court claimed the advertisement aired during the Super Bowl was not a proper offer, no reasonable person could have believed Pepsi’s offer of a $37M military aircraft was serious, and there was no written agreement between the parties.

At other times, if the promise to pay is conditioned upon an individual performing an action, and the action is performed, then the promise to pay is enforceable. Sharpe and Johnson have pledged a lot of money to the Team USA athletes who win a medal in Track & Field events or who break an Olympic record. It is safe to believe that these athletes would perform at their highest and best level regardless of whether they receive a potential pay-out from two podcasters, making it hard-pressed to believe the athletes conditioned their efforts upon two former professional football players’ promise to pay. But if the athlete relied upon the pledge, in the world of contract law, he or she could enforce the promises from Sharpe and Johnson to receive the full payment after they win a medal or break a world record. Go Team USA!

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