Vols Basketball Players Help Draft a Bargaining Model

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Members of Tennessee’s men’s basketball team have put their names behind the most detailed picture so far of how a labor agreement in college sports might work, and they did it with the blessing of their own athletic department.

The term sheet, released Tuesday by the athlete advocacy group Athletes.org, came out of talks between the organization, three elected player representatives and Tennessee leadership. The group first reached out to the players in June, and the team signed off on the terms Oct. 1.

Nothing in it is binding. Under current law such a deal would not hold up as a union contract. The aim is to show that schools and players can sit across a table and agree on rules for pay, the transfer portal, academics and enforcement.

The biggest shift would be in how players get paid. Instead of each school setting its own approach, there would be one agreement covering total player compensation. Name, image and likeness deals would stop serving as recruiting bait and would eventually give way to a salary system with spending caps and floors, closer to what pro leagues use.

Right now schools can share up to $21.5 million a year with athletes, and many big programs go past that through outside NIL arrangements. Tennessee is among 11 schools spending more than $20 million on a men’s basketball roster this season.

Athletic director Danny White, who has led the department since 2021, said in a statement that listening to players through the group showed that honest dialogue is nothing to fear, and that bargaining has worked across professional sports. Athletes.org was founded in 2023.

The release lands while Congress weighs the Protect College Sports Act, which passed the Senate 77-22 in October and still needs a House vote. That bill largely sidesteps the questions of bargaining and athlete employment. Past efforts to unionize teams at Northwestern, Dartmouth and Southern California did not succeed.

On the court, the 11th-ranked Vols beat Radford on Monday night in Knoxville.

Filed under: Memphis TN Sports News