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

[first time caller]

Just as long as they don't go pay per view.

 

[TAF]

 

[Vol524]

Quality cost money. I will gladly pay 10% if it goes to the players. They are who we all come to see. Not to mention there is a big difference in what we have versus what we used to be. GO VOLS!!!!!!

 

[Creeker]

New meaning to "pay these prices and pay NO MORE!"

Maybe they should sell branding rights to Neyland bathrooms

There’s a win-win partnership to be had with this idea. Welcome to the Neyland Stadium bathrooms, brought to you by Buc’ees! Get the naming rights deal and we get the nicest bathrooms in all the SEC.

 

[dalton_vol]

I get it, but we've personally had to cut down from 4 or 5 games per year to 1 big game. Maybe 2 if we want to see us clobber Vanderbilt or something.
Ticket prices are insane.

Yeah, ticket prices are nuts.

 

[dobre_shunka]

The people getting them direct from the University, and thus the ones paying this fee, aren’t paying anywhere near that much.

By direct from the university, do you mean UT employees?

Pretty sure one of the changes Danny White instituted a couple years ago when the season tickets process was revamped was to drop the discount UT employees/staff received. He wanted to make sure everyone paid the same amount for equivalent seats regardless if you're a UT employee, had seats prior to 1985 or whatever.

 

[kiddiedoc]

There’s a win-win partnership to be had with this idea. Welcome to the Neyland Stadium bathrooms, brought to you by Buc’ees! Get the naming rights deal and we get the nicest bathrooms in all the SEC.

That's another thing that would be nice if we are going to pay over $6k for 4 tickets on the East side: fix the bathrooms and concessions. The same pee rust has been next to the troughs since I was a student.

 

[McDad]

That's another thing that would be nice if we are going to pay over $6k for 4 tickets on the East side: fix the bathrooms and concessions. The same pee rust has been next to the troughs since I was a student.

That's not rust. It's pee-tina. Like on expensive, antique furniture.

 

[DC_Vol]

That's another thing that would be nice if we are going to pay over $6k for 4 tickets on the East side: fix the bathrooms and concessions. The same pee rust has been next to the troughs since I was a student.

Smells the same too!!!

 

[kiddiedoc]

That's not rust. It's pee-tina. Like on expensive, antique furniture.

Well heck, suddenly I feel guilty for not appreciating my luxuriant facilities.

 

[SGMVols]

It is kind of funny to me watching all these very right-wing members of our fanbase turn into “Tax The Rich” socialists when UT raises ticket prices.

You can’t have $15 tickets and a winning program at the same time. That’s just the way it works.

 

[McDad]

Well heck, suddenly I feel guilty for not appreciating my luxuriant facilities.

now that you know it's special, urine a good place to appreciate it

 

[Tman44]

We made Sportscenter!

 

[Volbrando]

I assume all other major teams will follow this as well

 

[McDad]

We made Sportscenter!
View attachment 677833

We're on other message boards, too.

Mixed reactions but most feel college sports is headed this way and we're on the cutting edge.

 

[Voltopia]

I assume all other major teams will follow this as well

Of course they will. And then someone will come up with the next way to extract funding from fans, and athletic departments will copy that too. And on and on. The real zealous "I'd pay anything to win" sorts will keep driving this spiral down. Everyone else will be sucked into their wake. I imagine the brands have a lot of churn to burn through before they have to worry about exhausting revenue streams.

Until people stop handing over their money, the schools are not going to stop coming up with ways to take it from them.

 

[BigALWiLson]

Bottom line: this was the inevitable for everyone once NIL and revenue sharing were introduced, if you want your team to be successful.

It does surprise me that enough Tennesseeans are able and/or willing to drop this kind of money in today's economy. That's a lot of season tickets. Of course, concert tickets are no different.

I have been fortunate to see several memorable games in person @ Neyland and others stadiums like Athens, Lsu and Florida, however I can not justify spending 1k to go to a single game like UF that is 90 miles away. People selling tickets are just as damn greedy as the University probably more so.

 

[Volbrando]

Of course they will. And then someone will come up with the next way to extract funding from fans, and athletic departments will copy that too. And on and on. The real zealous "I'd pay anything to win" sorts will drive this spiral down. Until people stop handing over their money, the schools are not going to stop coming up with ways to take it.

I don’t mind paying more, but Neyland could use a lot more enhancements than what they are doing now if they want to charge NFL prices

 

[lukeneyland]

as long as they give it to the sports that matter I’m happy with it. Give Josh, Tony and Rick whatever they want. I just don’t want to further subsidize boring women’s sports that I take zero pride in

 

[P.O.T.S. VOL]

Moaning and groaning is inevitable. Can't allow the negative few to overshadow the positive many.

"Or the one".

 

[EastTNVol6240]

I first got season tickets in 1992 in the south end zone upperdeck. As I recall, a pair in the zone required a $250 donation on top of $450 ticket cost for 2 seats. So all in, $700 in 1992 for 2 seats.

That $700 in 1992 dollars is equivalent to about $1570 in 2024 dollars according to some online calculations.

With the announced 2025 pricing, two seats in the first 16 rows upper deck end zone are $1150 all in. So when you account for inflation (something out of control of both Danny White and the UTAD), real seat prices have dropped by a pretty significant amount, $420 to be precise.

Just some perspective.

Fake news. I’d bet in the grand scheme of things there are far less average families able to afford a Saturday trip when all things are accounted for. Groceries, housing, wages, etc. Especially if you’re talking average TN median income.

 

[McDad]

"Or the one".

Certainly you see from the thread this is 50/50 or 60/40 issue.

The new reality of college athletics is here. We can embrace that reality and be innovative or pine for the 'good old days' and become irrelevant.

 

[Pennheel]

As long as teams are winning, it's a good idea on paper. It's when a program/sport starts to struggle that you start to worry when tickets are already pricey. This is the route college sports are going to go to keep high ranked talent.

 

[McDad]

As long as teams are winning, it's a good idea on paper. It's when a program starts to struggle that you start to worry when tickets are already pricey. This is the route college sports are going to go to keep high ranked talent.

I believe there are a handful of fanbases that are loyal to a fault. That loyalty will keep butts in seats even if in a down cycle. UT fans have proven we are one of those few fan groups.
The tough question for a school like University of Miami which doesn't draw well even in the good times.

 

[Voltopia]

Certainly you see from the thread this is 50/50 or 60/40 issue.

The new reality of college athletics is here. We can embrace that reality and be innovative or pine for the 'good old days' and become irrelevant.

I don't find it innovative. The ability to squeeze the fans for every last dollar has been there for a long time now. That doesn't take genius. It just takes someone willing to squeeze. And we've just reached the point - both administratively and culturally - where schools are ready to squeeze. And they will squeeze. As long as they can beat the churn rate and rake in the money, they will squeeze.