Deion Sanders’ fines on players sparks backlash from high-profile attorney

Deion Sanders’ fines on players sparks backlash from high-profile attorney originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Deion Sanders’ latest attempt to reset the culture at Colorado has sparked pushback far beyond the Buffaloes’ locker room.

The team held their first meeting of the 2026 season last week, and the gathering came amid sweeping roster turnover and mounting pressure on Sanders following a 3-9 campaign in 2025. It was the worst season of his college coaching career and put a few things into perspective. 

Colorado lost more than 40 players this offseason, including five-star offensive tackle Jordan Seaton, to the transfer portal or to eligibility expiration.

While Sanders and his staff have tried to boost the roster, many of the incoming players are from lower divisions, even as 18 departing players landed at other Power Four programs — seven in the SEC.

With the changes coming, Sanders unveiled a detailed fine system designed to enforce punctuality, accountability and conduct. The fines range from $400 for being late to meetings to as much as $5,000 for public or social media misconduct. There are also escalating penalties for no-shows at practices, workouts and treatments.

The policy quickly drew scrutiny online, where questions were raised about both its legality and transparency.

A post on X questioned whether Sanders, who is Colorado’s highest-paid state employee, should fine nonemployee student-athletes?  And asked where the money would ultimately go, noting players are not unionized and are not classified as employees.

It’s rare to see fines in these contracts, but I attempt to redline them out whenever I find them.

— Darren Heitner (@heitner) January 25, 2026

That post was directed at high-profile sports attorney Darren Heitner, who agreed with those concerns. 

“It’s rare to see fines in these contracts, but I attempt to redline them out whenever I find them,” Heitner wrote in response.

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Heitner represents many big-name athletes and is one of a few well-versed in the NIL space. The debate surrounding Sanders’ approach is expected to grow, particularly in the rapidly evolving NIL landscape. 

Unlike professional leagues such as the NFL, college athletes lack collective bargaining protections, and there are no standardized rules governing fines imposed by coaching staffs. That raises unanswered questions about whether the funds would be directed to athletic department accounts, NIL collectives or other purposes.

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Another question not asked is the if Sanders was promoting a ban on free speech due to a fine on social media posts. For critics, the issue leads to a bigger picture. Athletes generating revenue without the benefits or protections afforded to employees. This will be huge in the coming months across the college landscape. Sanders is using strong measures to instill discipline during a rebuild, but does it go too far? 

Either way, the policy has placed Colorado’s leadership under a spotlight and added another layer of controversy in Boulder as Sanders attempts to steer the program back toward relevance in 2026.

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