EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe University of Tennessee men's basketball team released a collective bargaining term sheet on Tuesday, a result of negotiations with the school's athletic administration, that includes a salary cap and spending floor, eligibility and transfer rules and cap circumvention enforcement.The document, which is not a signed CBA yet, is the first of its kind in college athletics and is meant to show what an agreement between athletes and a university can look like.The basketball team elected Tyler Lundblade, Campbell Duncan and DeWayne Brown II to be player representatives and work with the college sports players association Athletes.org and negotiate with the athletic department. Several rounds of discussions took place in August and September with the deal agreed to on Oct. 1."We know what we want and how we want to move forward," said Brown, a freshman for the 11th-ranked Volunteers. "Working through the collective bargaining process has been great and I hope it's just a stepping stone for more college athletes to replicate our process with their own schools."The term sheet replaces revenue share and university-affiliate NIL contracts with a universal services agreement with payments to begin at the date of enrollment or first practice.The proposed spending floor contains two options: spend 89% of the average annual salary cap over the agreed four-year window or negotiate a percentage of the athletic department budget to be established during the official collective bargaining negotiation. The deal would also include freshman pay scale similar to the rookie wage scale in professional sports and a minimum compensation that covers cost of attendance.Under cap circumvention enforcement terms, the university, athletes, coaches and associated entities would all be subject to penalties. No specific dollar figure for the cap was included in the term sheet.The term sheet also includes language regarding eligibility, transfer portal windows and tampering penalties. The portal would open later -- not until at least one week after the national championship. And declaring for a professional league would result in the end of an athlete's college eligibility.Also included in the agreement: a so-called "dead" period that doesn't require athletic activities, creating more time to spend with family and to pursue academics and other opportunities; mental health resources; post-eligibility medical insurance that covers athletics-related injuries for at least two years after an athlete's playing career; a grievance and arbitration process; agent certification and compensation; and a fine schedule to be established through collective bargaining.The term sheet states that the CBA would cover an initial four-year window with renewal negotiations permitted up to two years before expiration.Some athletic directors, including Tennessee's Danny White, have suggested that collective bargaining as an alternative to seeking federal legislation in order to create clearer regulations in college athletics."We're paying them to play sports," White said. "We're doing that because we lost several court cases that said we're violating antitrust law by not doing so. We need to accept our legal reality. By not accepting it, we've created this system that's the most inefficient way I can think of for building rosters and organizing this thing."The Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act in September, but midterm elections have altered the political landscape and thrown the future of the legislation in doubt.In July, Stanford football players formed a campus chapter of the College Football Players Association, making the Cardinal the first team to partner with the organization, which aims to eventually unionize college athletes.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
