Tennessee is the epicenter of the next earthquake that could shake up college football again.
Fellow Fansided site Bama Hammer wrote this week that Greg Sankey should kick the Tennessee Volunteers out of the SEC, but that opinion piece could soon turn into facts. Now, even local Tennessee newspaper Knoxville News Sentinel has reported that there's a looming possible cause for the Volunteers, and maybe even Vanderbilt, to get booted from the SEC because of a new state law and pending agreement among Power Four conference members.
New Tennessee law could force Volunteers out of conference
The House settlement that's been pending for months would include a salary cap on direct school-to-player payment and roster limits. However, if athletes or university's collectives sue over the new rules, which is expected, then Tennessee's new state law opts in-state universities out of those rules and shifts liability toward the NCAA and conferences, according to Knoxville News Sentinel.
That means, when the House settlement passes, Tennessee could not have a salary cap and roster limits without penalty while the rest of the SEC and college sports does. That's a clear unfair advantage. It would have Tennessee spending like the New York Yankees, while the rest of the SEC was left playing Moneyball like the Oakland Athletics.
Vanderbilt and other private universities can opt out of the protections of the state law to cooperate with the NCAA, so this puts Tennessee in the biggest bind since its the only four-year public university in a Power Four conference.
In response to this new law, according to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, Power Four conferences are looking to form the College Sports Commission, a new entity to enforce rules and prevent universities from using their own state laws to violate new enforcement rules.
Part of this is a loyalty document that Power Four conference members would be required to sign and presumably create an actual enforcement of power to possibly end the largely unregulated market that exists in college sports today.
The contract would require schools to follow new rules no matter state laws in place and universities that sign would also not be allowed to sue the NCAA or conferences. Not signing the agreement includes a potential consequence of expulsion from a power conference and not being able to play against other power conference programs involved with the agreement.
According to Dellenger, this contract is still just a draft but has already been sent to university presidents, general counsels and athletic directors.
As usual in college sports today, there are a million constantly changing pieces that can create a headache, but if Tennessee does not agree to these new rules or retaliates with the backing of its own government, then the Volunteers could be kicked out of the SEC and unable to play against any Power Four opponents.
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