10% "Talent Fee" added to ticket prices in 2025

[Big Orange Rob]

Most everything in the UT athletic program is trending up. Things haven't looked this bright across the board in years. All these things take money that has to come from somewhere. Either pay up a little more or slide back into mediocrity. I think DW has done a great job of pulling in revenue from multiple sources. Like it or not, this is the new world of college athletics.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

This talent fee thing is going to push ever more fans into staying at home with their giant TVs, DIY meals, beers that don't cost $12/cup, no hotel, travel costs, no traffic traps, and so forth. Greed is what brought forth NIL in the first place, now history is repeating? Better watch out, and I'm telling you why, Backlash Bobby is coming to town. He's making a list, checking it 4-5 times, gonna find out who's greedy or sensible, gonna figuring out his money is safer in his pocket or bank.

MSN

 

[JohnWardForever]

I mean I’m glad it’ll benefit the players but tickets are already unaffordable. Nosebleeds for the Florida game are going for 350$-400$ a piece. That’s insane

They are pricing the (Even Upper) middle class out the Neyland Experience. That will be the most hurtful casualty of NIL.

 

[Fanforlife21]

True but what happens if it becomes hot garbage again. At some point it inevitably will.

Yes that's true, and hopefully when that happens attendance would fall and prices would drop. Will that happen? Hopefully we aren't in the position to find out for a long long time.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

NIL is different. This is for the players Pay. They can still sign for NIL dollars and according to Supreme Court without a collective bargaining agreement, no one can touch their NIL opportunities.

Even with a collective bargaining agreement, NIL deals can still exist.

All those Subway commercials Steph Curry makes have zero to do with his salary from Golden State.

College players could sign legit and lucrative NIL deals AND collect a negotiated salary from the school.

 

[DrRosenRosen]

Calling it a talent fee appears to be good marketing. I don't see how half the fans get excited about a 10%+ increase in ticket price without coming up with a brilliant name like that.

 

[TboneinHuntsvilleAL]

I did... all they said is they would adjust my recline... what they don't seem to understand is it's the seats in front of us that recline causing the problem. They need to fix or remove them all honestly by Florida game

do you have any insight into what they are looking into doing to fix it?

Sadly, I haven't received a response from a real person. As I stated in my post, they are listening. I assume just like anything, if we complain enough, changes will come.

 

[rocketskates]

Cost of doing business in the current CFB landscape. It's a double-edged sword. We have to pay more and pony up NIL money, but, the transfer portal rules and NIL definitely helped Heupel turn the program around as quickly as he did (also, it got rid of Saban )

 

[temptn]

Maybe every time a player scores we can pass around one of these.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Maybe every time a player scores we can pass around one of these.

View attachment 678065

Welcome to the real reason they upgraded the WiFi at Neyland.

"You can support the team via the mobile app on your phone....... Pay this price, then pay more!"

 

[Delmar]

Drop Barnes and Heupel salaries to 2 million (that is a nice salary) and you have another one-third.

Good luck with that strategy.

 

[EastTNVol6240]

Literally, if it bothers you that much, then don't buy any tickets. A large percentage of VOL fans that are upset with the talent fee were perfectly fine with NIL, as long as someone else ponied up the money. Now that they have to put some money in the pot, now it isn't fair. What most don't get is that the money that was coming in from donors that has been used in the improvements to the athletic facilities is now going to pay the players. Is it fair that a small amount of donors supply ALL of the money to keep our team competitive? The athletic department still has to run within at least a break-even model.
Whether the players have been paid in the past or not is irrelevant. In the past, any "extra benefits" were on a player-by-player basis. Now, pretty much every player is going to get something above just a free education with benefits. Not the same by any stretch of the imagination.

I agree with most of your post. But if you think the department is even close to running at “break even” then you have truly been duped.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Will the 10% tax or fee for the players be excluded from what is defined as revenue when players share that revenue?

The attorneys for the student-athletes, schools, conferences, and the NCAA will hash out what the minimum will be for the players. But will there be an attempt to determine a cap or will the rich schools get a massive competitive advantage?

Will all scholarship players share their portion of the revenue equally or will the high star recruits get bigger slices? If equal shares, then the NIL collectives will be major players.

 

[Pride85]

I agree with most of your post. But if you think the department is even close to running at “break even” then you have truly been duped.

You still don't understand economics. The athletic department is a business. Because there are those that believe that coaches and players deserve to get paid in multiples of what some cities make, the manpower part of the business skyrockets. This causes the end user to have to pay more, sometimes disproportionally more. Same this happens when places like California want to pay fast-food workers $20 an hour. Yes, those workers make more money, but the price of a Happy Meal goes to $25. It is called Wage Push Inflation. It used to be taught in Economics classes.

 

[YankeeVol]

Calling it a talent fee appears to be good marketing. I don't see how half the fans get excited about a 10%+ increase in ticket price without coming up with a brilliant name like that.

I'd say the overwhelming majority are not "ok" with it.

 

[EastTNVol6240]

You still don't understand economics. The athletic department is a business. Because there are those that believe that coaches and players deserve to get paid in multiples of what some cities make, the manpower part of the business skyrockets. This causes the end user to have to pay more, sometimes disproportionally more. Same this happens when places like California want to pay fast-food workers $20 an hour. Yes, those workers make more money, but the price of a Happy Meal goes to $25. It is called Wage Push Inflation. It used to be taught in Economics classes.

I don’t think anyone debated anything you just said. Feel free to argue with yourself. I think you just attempted to call me an idiot. I’ll help you out without making you read between lines. You’re an idiot if you think the department is running at even or a deficit.

 

[Sea Ray]

In looking at the big picture, the story we always heard was that institutions were making tons of money off the backs of these athletes and therefore they deserved a piece of the pie. Well now we're seeing that they're not getting a piece of the millions the school is getting. They're surcharging the fans to pay the players. I don't think that's what folks had in mind when they pushed for paying the athletes

As a UT fan, I'd probably be willing to do it right now, seeing as athletics here has never been better and I'd want to keep it that way but I must say I do have a problem with the concept

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I don’t think anyone debated anything you just said. Feel free to argue with yourself. I think you just attempted to call me an idiot. I’ll help you out without making you read between lines. You’re an idiot if you think the department is running at even or a deficit.

In reality, the athletic department operates with a huge surplus. But technically, they’ve already figured out how it will be spent or allocated, so on paper it will be around break even every year.

There is no standard with the accounting. Each school with a surplus will find somewhere to stash it. Reporting huge surpluses is a bad look when squeezing every last dollar that they can out of their customers.

 

[Voltopia]

I'd say the overwhelming majority are not "ok" with it.

I am so far beyond okay with it - both these "fees" and the tired "this is how it is, so get used to it" rhetoric from people. No. This is how it is for you, and you can get used to it. I think I'm just about done being shaken down. A lifetime of memories, almost all good. A lot of great stories to share. But it's too much. It's been too much for a while now.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

There are still several major “unknowns”. Will football players be employees or ICs? If employees, who will be the employer? The schools? Srates might restrict how much employees can make be paid as salary z The NCAA? Will they even survive after it’s all settled? The conferences? IMO there’s a strong possibility of the conferences being the “employer”.

Will football players continue to be students? Coaches and administrators aren’t students.

Will the schools, with not-for-profit missions of educating, have to separate themselves from the “business”? Could they end up just collecting rent or royalties for the use of their facilities?

Will college football eventually be exposed as the minor leagues for the NFL and the other professional leagues (CFL, the spring league).

 

[Ritzwatch]

My son called earlier this week.

"Dad, you spoiled me."

How so?

"These football games in Chapel Hill are not like what you took me to growing up. Small crowds. Low volume. No excitement. Nice stadium, and a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but nothing like a Tennessee game."

Me: Well, get used to it. Soon all I will be able to afford are the Kent States/UTCs. (At least I can still do that!) The top games, well, we will always have the memories.

I guess I'd rather watch TN beat good teams from the couch than watch TN lose to bad teams at Neyland. I will, however, soon be that old codger who wishes my kids could take their children to a game the way I got to take my kids; the way my dad took me.

With progress and success comes a measure of sacrifice, I guess. GBO!

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

My son called earlier this week.

"Dad, you spoiled me."

How so?

"These football games in Chapel Hill are not like what you took me to growing up. Small crowds. Low volume. No excitement. Nice stadium, and a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but nothing like a Tennessee game."

Me: Well, get used to it. Soon all I will be able to afford are the Kent States/UTCs. (At least I can still do that!) The top games, well, we will always have the memories.

I guess I'd rather watch TN beat good teams from the couch than watch TN lose to bad teams at Neyland. I will, however, soon be that old codger who wishes my kids could take their children to a game the way I got to take my kids; the way my dad took me.

With progress and success comes a measure of sacrifice, I guess. GBO!

It likely cycles back to reality. Look at NASCAR in Bristol.

 

[kcvols1]

Then don't go to the games. There will be plenty to take your place. What used to be amateur athletics is gone. Question, did you go to college? If so, how much did you get paid to go there?

I went to school, but I also wasn’t working 80-hour weeks at my extra-curricular activities.

Of course, my extra-curricular activities didn’t generate millions of dollars for the school I attended.

Maybe those two things are related?

 

[JohnWardForever]

What happened to the Players signing deals with companies that would pay the NIL? That should be the way this thing works; and was supposed to work, the University or NCAA not being able to interfere with a player's earning potential. NOW, we are looking at "Back Paying" players to 2016?? WTH? I'm thinking the University should be able to arrange deals for Athletes, and let the Burger Joints, Apparel Companies, Car Dealers, Skillet Manufacturers, whatever; pay. Each University should have an NIL department, since it's obvious we are there. What difference would it make? Tell a recruit, "We have a sponsor(s) lined up to take care of you at approximately 100K per season." Whatever..

 

[McDad]

What happened to the Players signing deals with companies that would pay the NIL? That should be the way this thing works; and was supposed to work, the University or NCAA not being able to interfere with a player's earning potential. NOW, we are looking at "Back Paying" players to 2016?? WTH? I'm thinking the University should be able to arrange deals for Athletes, and let the Burger Joints, Apparel Companies, Car Dealers, Skillet Manufacturers, whatever; pay. Each University should have an NIL department, since it's obvious we are there. What difference would it make? Tell a recruit, "We have a sponsor(s) lined up to take care of you at approximately 100K per season." Whatever..

Not all athletes get an NIL.

Rev share is for everyone...at least that is my understanding.