Tyler Lundblade Tells Stephen A. Smith How the Vols Negotiated a College Sports CBA Model

Tennessee guard Tyler Lundblade spent part of his summer on Zoom calls debating how college athletes should be paid and how much time they should get off. When he joined The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith wanted to know what a Tennessee player could count on if those conversations ever became the rules.

"I think the biggest thing for us is it's a level playing field," Lundblade said.

Lundblade was one of three Tennessee men's basketball players elected to represent the team in discussions with Athletes.org and university officials. The result was a model collective bargaining agreement covering everything from minimum pay to offseason protections. Front Office Sports reported that Tennessee is believed to be the first college team to develop such a model. The term sheet remains unratified.

BREAKING NEWS: THIS IS BIGGER THAN BASKETBALL!
Tennessee men's basketball players, @Vol_Hoops, are making HISTORY alongside @AthletesOrg with a proposed collective bargaining framework that could change college sports FOREVER!
With all the CHAOS in college athletics, player... pic.twitter.com/TyCM04rRi7

- Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 10, 2026

Here are four exchanges from the interview, with Smith's questions condensed for clarity.

How did the Vols get involved?

Lundblade credited Tennessee athletic director Danny White with helping start the effort started. Athletes.org met with the team early in the summer, walked the players through what a CBA could look like and then stepped out so the roster could discuss it privately. The team elected Lundblade, Campbell Duncan, and DeWayne Brown II as its representatives.

The meetings continued once or twice a week over the summer, Lundblade said. The players worked through a different topic in each session, from transfer windows and eligibility to academic and health care protections.

efficient night for Terrence Hill Jr. pic.twitter.com/W3xG4J1Lfw

- Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) November 10, 2026

Would every player make the same amount?

Lundblade told Smith that the proposal would set different pay minimums for freshmen, second-year players, and veterans. It would also give players who stay at the same school for two or three years access to an additional pool of money.

That provision gets at one of the biggest questions in roster building. How do you give players a reason to stay when they have the option to leave? Tennessee's model would make staying financially worthwhile while keeping a path to transfer.

What was the hardest issue to work through?

For Lundblade, the hardest part was figuring out what an offseason should look like. The players wanted "more structured time off in the offseason," he said. They also wanted enough time together to prepare for a run at a national championship. He understood why the university would have concerns about sending players away for months and counting on everyone to return healthy and in shape.

What does Lundblade hope happens next?

Smith asked whether other programs could follow Tennessee's lead. Lundblade said he hoped the term sheet would give other teams a reason to try. Tennessee's football players elected representatives to work on a separate proposal, Lundblade said, and Front Office Sports reported that the program paused its work during the season.

For Lundblade, the most important part of the process was who got to speak for the players. His teammates chose their own representatives, and those representatives spent months working through the terms. As he told Smith, "We negotiated this thing. We went back and forth over the course of months."

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/tennessee as Tyler Lundblade Tells Stephen A. Smith How the Vols Negotiated a College Sports CBA Model.