Pretty solid article. It's gonna be a mess.
Speculation obviously, but this is how I perceived the article.
Gannon wanted out, probably figured Prodigy would just allow it to happen without much of a fight. Talked to an attorney in case it came to that. Some of the points were valid, some seemed like a stretch. He probably figured he had enough ammo to force Prodigy's hand into letting him walk away and they decided to fight back.
Social media comments and memes seem weak to be submitting in court, but in reality I think we all would agree that Gannon leaving would probably result in some amount of lost revenue…that's why manufacturers sign sponsorship deals in the first place…to increase sales.
It's gonna boil down to what is actually spelled out in the contract. As we've learned over the years a lot of sponsorships were handshake deals. I think that has probably went away by now, but I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of contracts are bare bone agreements that don't specifically cover a lot of various scenarios like we've seen in the last year or two…which is probably why he assumed he wouldn't get much push back.
It's a bad look for both parties. Prodigy looks bad for going after a 17 year old (who knows how his mom's co-signing will impact the contract validity). Seems reasonable to think the Paige situation lined up almost identical a few years ago, but she didn't want to pursue it in court so she finished the year out pretty much in protest. It doesn't look good for Gannon either…tons of talent and many years to be at the top of the game. Do you want to align yourself with somebody who is going to court with his current sponsor? Claims might be bogus, but in 2-3 years if he's not happy are you gonna end up in the same boat?
Not surprising this finally happened after sponsorship changes have been the Wild West the last couple years.