The new law the state of Tennessee recently passed has a lot of people talking, both in a good and bad way. This month, Senate Bill 536 passed, with things being designed to help out student-athletes in the ever-changing NIL landscape.
This law has arrived with things for the NCAA House Settlement being totally up in the air. It would also provide the Tennessee Vols with some protection against potential lawsuits. Essentially, players for the Vols, and the other universities in the state, would be able to take home money from NIL collectives until they're told otherwise 'by federal law, antitrust law, or a valid court order.'
That's not all, though. The language in the new law appears to give the Vols the ability to potentially pay its players as much as they want and work on its own terms. As you might have been able to guess, this has led to a lot of haters calling for the NCAA to take action. On top of that, some are even calling for Greg Sankey to kick the Vols and Vanderbilt out of the SEC. Yikes.
Tennessee's new NIL law has people across the country up in arms
Keep in mind that Tennessee isn't the only state that has a similar law in place. Right now, the Vols appear to be putting themselves in a position to pay athletes even if things fall through with the NCAA House Settlement.
In a statement provided by On3's Andy Staples, Tennessee AD Danny White told him, "It gives us (Tennessee) protection from the legal and structural uncertainties of colleges sports." In related news, Ross Dellenger reported on Monday night that the power conferences are now working on a new contract that would 'bind schools to new enforcement rules.'
If that gets finalized, then Tennessee and Vanderbilt would of course be pressued to sign and not adhere to its own state laws. Dellenger noted that universities that don't sign the contract could risk getting booted from their conference. In this case, it'd of course mean Tennessee and Vandy potentially getting kicked out of the SEC.
Talk about a complete and total mess, right? Soon enough, more details will arrive on what the plan is moving forward, but it's safe to say Tennessee has ruffled a lot of feathers with Senate Bill 536. White obviously would never risk the Vols getting kicked out of the SEC, but he's also not going to just roll over either. This is something to watch moving forward.