Tennessee Boss Says Only One Way to Solve Revenue Sharing, NIL Issues

The House vs. NCAA settlement is still waiting approval, but one prominent athletic director isn’t sure it’s going to solve the problem.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken hasn’t ruled on the final proposed settlement. That could come next week. If approved, it will usher in a new world of college athletics, that includes revenue-sharing with student athletes.

It’s a geography Tennessee athletic director Danny White has been navigating for nearly a year. As part of a power conference, he and the Vols are required to opt into the settlement and pay as much as $20.5 million in direct money to student-athletes in 2025-26 — if House is approved.

It’s a lot to keep up with, White admits — but he believes there is a real solution that few seem prepared to discuss.

Danny White Says This is Only Way to Solve Revenue Sharing Issues

In a one-on-one conversation with Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, White talked about the issues of dealing with all of this on a day-to-day basis.

“My job is to lead the University of Tennessee, but we also have a national issue in college sports that's a real problem,” White said. “I talk about like the Tennessee hat versus the college sports hat and I've been probably wearing the Tennessee hat a lot more recently, thinking about just what's our opportunity to be competitively excellent in this new world. But it’s a real issue and we could go on and on about what we need.”

Tennessee has already implemented new initiatives to increase revenue, even though it is in the SEC and it receives television payouts that are among the biggest in college sports. The House settlement may usher in a new age of college sports, but White isn’t sure it’s going to solve every issue.

In fact, he believes there is only one way to truly solve the issues that came up in the House settlement and level the playing field for everyone.

“I’ll say it. We’ve got a camera on this, but I don’t really care at this point,” he said. “Collective bargaining is the only issue, the only solution, it’s the only way we’re going to get there.”

The House settlement does not include collective bargaining.

The House v. NCAA settlement is a combination of three different cases brought by current and former student-athletes. It will allow for $2.75 billion in damages will be paid to thousands of college athletes over 10 years as part of restitution for their inability to access things like Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) opportunities.

The new settlement won’t prohibit student-athletes from leveraging NIL, but they will need to report any deals valued at $600 or more.

The settlement also caps scholarships and, in some cases, expands them for certain sports through roster limits.