Tennessee adds fee to college football tickets to pay players – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Tennessee announced it will raise the price of college football tickets starting in 2025, with the majority of the increase going to player salaries.

The increase, announced Tuesday morning in an email to season ticket holders, includes a new 10% talent fee on all invoices to “help fund the proposed revenue sharing” for athletes and help Tennessee attract and retain top talent. The video link shows athletic director Danny White explaining the reasoning behind the price increase for a seat at Neyland Stadium.

“As the university model changes, we have to be flexible,” White said of the price increase, which includes a 4.5 percent increase on top of a 10 percent talent fee. “We have to continue to lead. That connection between resources and competitiveness has never been stronger. Now we can share those resources with our athletes. We can generate revenue that goes directly to our players. That will give our teams the best chance to be successful and bring championships home to Rocky Top.”

The promotion comes after Tennessee started the season with a 3-0 record and finished sixth in the AP Top 25.

The announcement also includes a link to an update on talks between the NCAA and the major college conferences, which are trying to resolve three antitrust lawsuits related to athletes’ name, image and likeness compensation. They have a settlement agreement in place that will pay $2.78 billion in damages to hundreds of thousands of college athletes, dating back to 2016.

In a hearing last week, the federal judge overseeing the cases declined to grant preliminary approval of the deal and sent the case back to lawyers to address her concerns about certain aspects of the agreement.

The NCAA changed its rules in 2021 to allow athletes to profit from their fame through sponsorships and performing arts deals after decades of a ban.

Tennessee is trying to stay on the forefront of the changing landscape by supporting athletes. Point guard Nico Iamaleava was a prized recruit who signed with Tennessee’s NIL athlete support collective, the Volunteer Club, founded by Spyre Sports Group. It was one of the first and most organized clubs to form in the country after the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes making money off celebrity.

That deal prompted a meeting between NCAA investigators and Tennessee officials in January, followed by a devastating letter from Chancellor Donde Plowman to NCAA President Charlie Baker, accusing the NCAA of creating “extraordinary chaos” by failing to provide clear rules on name, image and likeness for both universities and athletes.

The attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA the day after Plowman’s letter was published. A federal judge granted the attorneys general a preliminary injunction on Feb. 23 barring the NCAA from enforcing the NIL rules.

White cited NIL for creating an even tighter link between resources and competitive success. Tuesday’s announcement noted that the current settlement projections could go into effect as early as July 1, and the athletic director said Tennessee wants to be as transparent as possible with the fan base that has helped build the nation’s best athletic department. White said the ticket fee is key to continuing that success.

“We want to be a leader in college sports. That means we want to be a leader in revenue sharing,” White said. “We want to provide our athletes with the best experience here on Rocky Top.”

White, whose last contract extension was announced in August, praised fans for selling out the 102,000-seat Neyland Stadium for the third straight year while having a 15,000-person waiting list for season tickets. He said that’s because other programs across the country are talking about shrinking stadiums they can’t fill. Tennessee fans can start renewing their 2025 tickets on Thursday, with the deadline being Feb. 27, with the option of a 10-month payment plan to cover the costs.

In June, Tennessee won the SEC men’s basketball regular-season title and its first national championship in baseball.