Spyre Sports group has released a statement regarding the NCAA’s investigation into Tennessee for NIL related violations.
Attorney Tom Mars, who represents Spyre Sports Group, tweeted out the following on Tuesday night.
On behalf of Spyre Sports Group: @SpyreSports@TheVolClub @JChadHatmaker https://t.co/Sw4pNQHWmA pic.twitter.com/OnE1Z6XXNl
— Tom Mars (@TomMarsLaw) January 31, 2024
The statement is as follows:
“In early 2022, independent of the University of Tennessee or anyone associated with its athletics program, Spyre Sports. entered into a mutually beneficial contractual relationship with Nico Iamaleava that involved a limited assignment of his NIL right, no matter which school he chose to attend.
Such ‘representation agreements’ have become increasingly common. The parties agreed that their conctractual rights and obligations would be governed by California law, which freely allows prospective college athletes to enter into such agreements.
The commercial reasonableness of the agreement between Spyre and Nico was evidenced by a recitation that Spyre anticipated Nico would eventually be drafted by an NFL team. The agreement also specifically acknowledged the restrictions prohibiting the use of any school’s team’s ‘logo or insignia.’
The agreement required Spyre to protect the value of Nico’s NIL rights and specifically stated that ‘nothing in [the] agreement constitutes any form of inducement to ATHLETE to enroll at any school and/or join any athletic team.’
In short, the agreement was fully consistent with then existing NCAA NIL ‘guidelines’ and had nothing to do with recruiting Nico to the University of Tennessee or any other school.
Spyre Sports and the Vol Club currently represent more than 100 college athletes and are proud to have helped them maximize the value of their legally protected name, image, and likeness.”
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Mars is a known attorney that has handled many cases against the NCAA, including the one involving Cade Mays’ eligibility in 2020.
Spyre’s statement comes hours after UT chancellor Donde Plowman made her eye-opening statement on the matter, in which she went scorched Earth against the NCAA.
As Mars echoes in his statement, it seems Tennessee is not guilty of any wrong doing, and this entire investigation may not result in anything of significance.
The NCAA handed the Volunteer football program a five-year probation with recruiting restrictions varying between mild and moderate while hammering the guilty participants, most notably Pruitt, with multi-year show-causes.
Tennessee hasn’t received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA regarding the current NIL investigation and would fight back against any severe punishment. The NCAA has been highly ineffective in retaining power in cases that make it to court.
