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The NCAA House Settlement that has been in the works now for multiple years, and only just recently seemed to get over the line is now more or less irrelevant thanks to the Tennessee state legislature. And other states are almost sure to follow.
Late Thursday, the state of Tennessee announced that it passed a bill that seemingly prohibits all of the House settlement’s limits on NIL compensation unless they’re part of a federal law, valid court order, or determined to be exempt from antitrust law.
Tennessee now has the most athlete friendly NIL law.
It appears to prohibit all of the House settlement’s limits on NIL comp (salary cap, collective restrictions, etc.) unless they’re part of a federal law, valid court order, or determined to be exempt from antitrust law. pic.twitter.com/7o0QTQBGMi
— Mit Winter (@WinterSportsLaw) May 16, 2025
The new state law would give the Tennessee Volunteers, as well as any other programs in the state of Tennessee, a massive leg up over programs in other states should those states choose to enforce the House settlement agreement. Of course, there’s no reason to believe those states would immediately propose and pass a law that follows the guidelines laid out in Tennessee.
In passing the law, the Tennessee state legislature more or less showed that the House settlement has no actual power. As noted sports attorney Mit Winter pointed out on X, even if Judge Claudia Wilken approves the House settlement, that order wouldn’t create any new rules. Those are in the hands of the NCAA. So even if the settlement is approved, it likely will not qualify as a valid court order under Tennessee law.
Which is all to say, we’re back at square one. Every single state with a major college football program is likely to follow Tennessee’s lead, because none of them wants those programs to fall behind.
Is this what state legislatures should be spending their time on? That’s not for me to say! But it’s where we’re at, like or not, and college athletics are once again facing a tenuous at best future.