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

[Voltopia]

 

[Freiwillige]

I'm about 99.9% (repeating of course) certain that Freiwillige's comment was sarcastic.

At least, it better have been, because I laughed out loud at it.

You are right, I was being sarcastic. I should have told everyone to turn their sarcasm meter on.

 

[LittleCat]

The best always costs more. We have a Ferrari on the field. Can't have that on a Fiat budget.

espn article - "In the most recent financial data available, the Tennessee football program turned a $75 million profit in 2023 -- after $134.9 million in revenue and $59.1 million in expenses."

it's not just a ut thing. it's not just a football thing. prices on every event and product have skyrocketed. it's pure greed by the people who control these events/markets. there's always fancy talk about why, but it all boils down to greed. i see it in the industry i work at every level. if people can make even a dime more, they will. they will never pass savings onto the consumer. it's just todays world.

 

[TheVolunteer002]

And when you don't have a Ferrari on the field, how's that "talent fee" going to sit with you? Or when you "give your all" and some kid up and leaves after a year for a bigger bag? Will it have felt worth it then?

I wonder how it'll feel in that world, a world where a century of all the rah-rah stuff about the Tennessee spirit is laid bare as pure marketing speak with no significance aside from the amount of money it can bring in from people. I guess when the students chose the rifleman to represent Davy Crockett, they were choosing the mascot that could most resonate with the locals and help part them from their money. Who knew.

This is of course where people come in and say that. "It's always just been about money." Yes of course, it's always been solely about the money. All that other stuff was fake. There was never anything like pride in one's school, or one's region. That was all just talk. The University of Tennessee Volunteer athletics program was always just about the dollars. A century of history and tradition in east Tennessee, all purposed for marketing. Who knew the "Volunteer Spirit" was just about volunteering your money?

And sure, I get that some people are fine with it. The "just win, baby!" crowd has always been pretty clear about it's priorities. But this new world exposes the old one as rather hollow. I don't think it was once upon a time, but now? Hollower and hollower. We're losing something that I think mattered and meant a lot to communities and to people. But hey. Who cares? Just win, baby.

Fair point. Somebody should ask Danny what he thinks about issuing 10% rebates for all the fans who bought tickets in the years we were losing 7 conference games per season and had minimal talent on the field.

 

[TartanTurff]

In my opinion the "talent tax" is merely a tool to create additional revenue from football ticket sales to create a pool of dollars to meet White Danny's Title IX obligations once they start paying male scholarship athletes, the NIL will operate as it has done so far, but the university's payments will operate separate and distinct from the NIL collective, but being university funds, the equal treatment of all scholarship athletes will kick in, creating the obligation to pay all athletes even in the non revenue generating sports. Let's see how much the talent tax is expected to generate in 2025, if there is a talent tax on men's basket ball, women's basketball, men's baseball and women's softball and where those dollars are actually spent on the student athlete. I don't think the university's payments will steer any high profile football or men's basketball payer's to Tennessee, those will be within the province of the exchange and the NIL framework that will still operate in the background of the academic scholarship and the university's payment to its scholarship athletes.

 

[McDad]

espn article - "In the most recent financial data available, the Tennessee football program turned a $75 million profit in 2023 -- after $134.9 million in revenue and $59.1 million in expenses."

it's not just a ut thing. it's not just a football thing. prices on every event and product have skyrocketed. it's pure greed by the people who control these events/markets. there's always fancy talk about why, but it all boils down to greed. i see it in the industry i work at every level. if people can make even a dime more, they will. they will never pass savings onto the consumer. it's just todays world.

2 things.
1. Football net revenue doesn't stay in the football program. It funds a lot of other stuff. Including practically every other sport at UT.
2. No one is forced to attend games. Prices will stop rising when attendance drops and revenue suffers.

 

[dduncan4163]

The best always costs more. We have a Ferrari on the field. Can't have that on a Fiat budget.

Preach it Hoss.

 

[McDad]

Preach it Hoss.

Great to see you posting again. Glad to hear you're in a better place!

 

[dduncan4163]

Great to see you posting again. Glad to hear you're in a better place!

I’mmmm thank you so much Brother I really am. Isaac my youngest son started playing football and he motivated me to start walking and exercising and I feel better than I’ve felt in years. He plays Strong Safety and I couldn't be prouder of him.

 

[WeeohdeeWood]

Maybe he's saving up to pay Nico 15 million for a senior season. Back to back to back national championships.

 

[EastTNVol6240]

Tennessee season tickets have dropped by over 25% when taking inflation into account. What else has dropped by a similar percentage?

Because gas, groceries, housing, etc. have increased means that Tennessee should drop its ticket prices by more than 25% they already have? Do you think that maybe expenses at UTAD have also increased?

It’s convenient of you to cherry pick inflation numbers. I’d like to know which numbers you’re using and what metrics are included. Do not try to tell me we are in a better place now than we were 15 years ago. That’s garbage. In 2010 as a 24 year old I was making 70K a year, bought a brand new 1900 square foot home, owned my own car, and had plenty of money to do whatever I wanted within reason all while having money left over. Go to UT games for example. Right now if you’re a single person making 70K a year you can forget about doing much of that. You certainly can’t make a house payment on that same house that now costs $450K at 6-7% interest. Yes, I know they just dropped a bit. You certainly can’t own that home and a car, and you for sure can’t be blowing 1K a weekend on a UT experience. So while your inflation numbers may make you feel warm and fuzzy, it certainly doesn’t pass the eye test once you take the big ticket items into account.

 

[Dadof2Vols]

Right now the cut off is 20 million in NIL per school based on the lawsuit settlement. Don’t know if that will be adjusted for inflation. Probably.
When the settlement was reached, I figured this was coming. The top sports colleges (like UT) will be able to get the money from fans. Not sure how other schools will do it. Probably just lose their top players to teams like UT that can afford them.

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.

 

[volfan2024]

If you gotta travel from out of town book rooms buy tickets buy meals it ain’t cheap. But once a year or whenever suits me fine.

 

[Firebirdparts]

Glad it ain’t my money.

 

[dentman23]

Sad they are gonna outprice a lot of the east Tn folks who have stuck with them through 10 years of trash football for corp money. That’s how the Titans have done as well for their new stadium season tix price.

 

[Volbrando]

.

 

[LWSVOL]

What the heck is Pilot for? Was told for the settlement.

When costs go up the fans are going to help cover that cost. No matter what the Pilots, BAM, or other big donors do, its going to cost the fans going to games. Its the way it has always worked... besides, Haslam's are now the minority with Pilot and may be totally out of there by now.

 

[LWSVOL]

My question is this. It's like when you hear politicians say "We need more money to fund xyz, therefore we need to raise taxes." Ok, why can't you cut 10% of expenses to pay for it?

We're an extremely profitable Athletic Dept. Money is pouring in. We can't find 10% in the budget to cut? I love DW and recognize he's a forward thinker. But damn, it's just frustrating when these institutions swimming in money 'want' (but say 'need') more money.

check out athletic department staffing sometime. Lot of people to run that department.

Staff Directory - University of Tennessee Athletics

The official Roster for the University of Tennessee Volunteers

utsports.com

 

[LWSVOL]

This isn’t for NIL, this is to cover the NCAA suit

UT estimates the 10% ticket price increase for a “talent fee” will account for $7.5 million, or about one-third of the annual $22 million revenue-sharing pool to pay athletes.

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

 

[UTFranklinVol]

For me at least this isn't a big deal at all since 100% of the tickets I buy to games are secondary market and already marked up 1000%. And season ticket holder already "donate" to get to purchase their tickets so I'm not sure who this really hurts that bad?

 

[VOLINVONORE]

1. Millions of people in the state would protest using tax dollars for athletics.

2. If the state did that for UT-Knoxville, then all public universities would have to have it.

Tennessee is a land grant university and they have provided funding for athletics in the past. Millions of people want Tennessee to have championship athletic programs.

 

[Pride85]

Players have been getting paid for years. Anybody who believes the Keith Jackson / ABC amateur bull is truly not smart. Jackson, in his "honest impartial way" (ha) was good a being for some of the teams that paid players well as they represented "pure amateur athletics."

Just like the Olympics in many countries back in the day (and now) which was (is) not amateur, some college sports in the US have been fake amateur forever. People need to get over their beliefs in a fake world. Amateur did happen in some cases, but not usually for the big boys because that is what made them big boys. That and the media hanging on to their (the media's) heroes.

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.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Fair point. Somebody should ask Danny what he thinks about issuing 10% rebates for all the fans who bought tickets in the years we were losing 7 conference games per season and had minimal talent on the field.

For some, one has to make a decision whether they want to give their sole to the University or help support getting their kids and grandkids a college education. I believe education is the way to go.

 

[Voltopia]

Tennessee is a land grant university and they have provided funding for athletics in the past. Millions of people want Tennessee to have championship athletic programs.

Taxpayer money has no business "providing funding" for Tennessee to have championship athletic programs. If the school wants to run a business, that's their decision. And if the "millions" believe in giving them money to win, they can make offerings to the UTAD as they see fit.

And LWSVOL is right - in some weird scenario where the state blew money on these for-profit sports operations, it'd have to do so fairly and equally among all the public institutions in the state.

 

[YankeeVol]

Correct. We moved sections 2 years ago due to a huge jump in the prices for D, and next year we will have to pay right at double what we were paying 6-7 years ago.

Not everywhere made that big of a jump. Again, sections like Q are quite cheaper than they were 10 years ago.