What Nico Iamaleava's negotiations ACTUALLY mean

AtoZ Sports

Lucas Panzica discusses Nico Iamaleava's NIL contract negotiations and what that means for the Tennessee Volunteers.

Transcript

00:00Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaliava is in the news reportedly in contract negotiations ahead

00:05of the 2025 season. It may leave his status at Tennessee in doubt and Vols fans are having a

00:11huge reaction to this, but there are logical reasons behind why this is happening and we're

00:16going to break it all down. Hey, Lucas Panzeca here from 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports.

00:23Okay, so this dropped on Thursday afternoon. Pete Nakos of On3 Sports reporting that Nico

00:29Iamaliava is currently in contract negotiations with Spire Sports, the collective that he deals

00:34with that's tied to the University of Tennessee ahead of the upcoming season. And Nakos added,

00:40it's unclear whether or not these negotiations will impact Nico's decision to hit the transfer

00:46portal when it opens up April 16th after spring practice. Tennessee, of course, concludes spring

00:51practice this Saturday with the Orange and White game at Neyland Stadium. Now, Austin Price of

00:56AllQuest added to this report that Nico and Tennessee have been in negotiations since December.

01:02Obviously, since then, Nico has been on the practice field in spring ball. He's been in front of the

01:07media. He's doing all of the things you would expect him to do as Tennessee's starting quarterback.

01:12Now, let's break this down. There are multiple reasons for why this is happening right now.

01:17Number one, you may think to yourself, Nico Iamaliava makes a ton of money.

01:21Why is he looking to negotiate for more? And he does make a lot of money. Nico makes over two

01:26million dollars. As we know, it was one of the first deals of its kind in this new NIL era

01:32in college athletics. But the market has changed. The price for a starting quarterback has changed in

01:39college football. You look over at Miami, who got Carson Beck transferring from Georgia to play for

01:44Miami for almost four million dollars for one season. It's close to double what Nico was initially

01:50making at Tennessee. Now, Nico Iamaliava was one of 12 quarterbacks to help lead his team to the

01:57college football playoff last year. So for Nico and his team, the price has likely changed over that

02:03two million dollar mark. That's just the current state of collegiate athletics looking more and more

02:08like pro sports every day. So that's number one. And by the way, Tennessee knows that too, that the

02:14price in the market has changed for a starting quarterback in college football. Again, it's likely why

02:20they've been negotiating since December. And number two, a pretty important event in college

02:25football happened on Monday. It was the final approval hearing for the house settlement. Now,

02:30to make a long story short, essentially a judge in California, Claudia Wilkin, was set to rule on a

02:37settlement proposal from the NCAA, which would have the NCAA paying out nearly three billion dollars

02:44to current and former student athletes to make up for damages and what athletes could have made

02:49in the pre NIL era. And in exchange, the NCAA is proposing revenue sharing in college athletics,

02:56which means every university would get just over 20 million dollars to disperse amongst its student

03:02athletes across sports. However, it wants to. This would also mean a change to the NIL landscape.

03:08NIL deals in this system will still be possible, but at a fair market value, they will be policed

03:15much more than they previously would. Now, Claudia Wilkin on Monday did not stamp her final approval

03:22at this hearing. She wants a couple of provisions looked over by both lawyers, lawyers on both sides,

03:28I should say. But in the coming weeks, that approval could be finalized in that settlement,

03:34which would mean revenue sharing in college sports and NIL deals being a lot more relegated or regulated.

03:40So if you're Nico Iamaliava and his team, you're thinking you've got to strike while the iron is hot.

03:46You've got a big get a big deal now before the market value starts to dictate exactly what you can

03:53or can't get. If you're pursuing a new NIL deal, it's still the wild, wild west right now in NIL.

04:00So Nico Iamaliava and his team are trying to take full advantage of that, and it's hard to blame them for it.

04:06Look, Nico and Josh Heupel have an excellent relationship.

04:09He is coming on as the leader of this team. So I understand why Tennessee fans may get antsy

04:14when they look at this report, but there's no reason for panic right now

04:18with Nico and his team and the University of Tennessee. It's just business.

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