Tennessee to add 10 percent 'talent fee' to ticket prices to raise money to give to players

BleedGopher

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Per Andy:

Tennessee is preparing for a world in which schools pay athletes directly by charging fans a “talent fee” to pass along to the players.

Though the House v. NCAA settlement that would usher in the era of revenue sharing has yet to be approved by a federal judge, Tennessee athletic director Danny White told On3 that his school will implement a plan to add a 10 percent surcharge to all season and single-game ticket sales. If the settlement is approved, schools would be allowed to pay about $22 million a year to athletes beginning in the 2025-26 school year.

White estimates that with the new roster caps included in the settlement — which would raise the number of available athletic scholarships — the actual cost is closer to $30 million a year. Tennessee hopes to recoup about $10 million of that through the surcharge, which will come in addition to a football ticket price increase averaging 4.5 percent across all seats. Knowing any hike in ticket prices would produce consternation, White and his team decided the best way to handle this one was to explain which part of the new money will be earmarked for the players.

“It’s a talent fee, and it’s going directly to the talent,” White said. “It’s going to our student athletes as part of this new world order in college sports. So I know our fans will embrace it.”

White said the best comparison is restaurants charging large groups an automatic fixed gratuity atop the price of the meal. Tennessee might be the first school to add such a fee, but expect plenty of copycats. As college sports’ economic model evolves, schools will need to find a way to fund player compensation without forcing donors to choose between players and the capital projects and administrative costs they’ve traditionally helped fund.


Go Gophers!!
 

Sounds ridiculous but no different than what we do. I would much rather have my mandatory donation go towards NIL than whatever scholarship program it goes towards.

It is hard being a fan. In my entertainment budget I have Gopher tickets plus a mandatory donation. Add in a few 100 dollars for parking over the course of the season. Then on top of it when they are on the road I need to subscribe to multiple apps in order to watch all the games. I am not complaining, it is what it is, but hard to justify shelling out more money for NIL donations.
 

Sounds ridiculous but no different than what we do. I would much rather have my mandatory donation go towards NIL than whatever scholarship program it goes towards.

It is hard being a fan. In my entertainment budget I have Gopher tickets plus a mandatory donation. Add in a few 100 dollars for parking over the course of the season. Then on top of it when they are on the road I need to subscribe to multiple apps in order to watch all the games. I am not complaining, it is what it is, but hard to justify shelling out more money for NIL donations.
It stinks but it’s the reality of the new world
 






That is really an awesome idea!

Delete this comment before any other teams see it, and reach out to DTA.
Oklahoma State wanted to do it. They wanted to have a QR code on the back of their helmet, but the NCAA decided they would put their foot down on this.

 

lol....why not.....it will work at schools with rabid fanbases that will show up no matter how much the school charges them.....wouldn't work nearly as well at a school like ours or any of the others that already struggle to get fans to buy tickets.
 



Oklahoma State wanted to do it. They wanted to have a QR code on the back of their helmet, but the NCAA decided they would put their foot down on this.

Yup...because they wanted to alter their uniforms to add that.

This could be something they put on the scoreboard to go to a site to make a one-time tip to a player who made a great play.

Or advertise that opportunity any number of ways. They announce that proceeds from Parlour goes to NIL, so why not this?

I would have been more than happy to tip a few bucks after a big play. And I would think that a lot of people would too.
 

I said it on a thread a couple months ago. The $20M Ohio State payroll from this year will tear locker rooms apart.

Not because it's too much, but because in a few years a $20M payroll will not be enough to keep many P4 players from transferring out.
 

Doesn’t make much sense. We have been told there us massive amounts of money being raked in by the Athletic Departments. Weird.
 




Doesn’t make much sense. We have been told there us massive amounts of money being raked in by the Athletic Departments. Weird.

I'd guess that college football has been a giant moneymaker for a long time now; it certainly seems like the TV money has been huge for as long as I can remember, and it keeps getting bigger.

So what's changed? Why are they holding out their hands asking for more $$$$?

Well, there is (maybe) a simple explanation. What's changed is that now the athletes themselves are demanding a slice of that very big pie. The folks who have been getting rich all along from college football certainly don't want to share their portion, so they're asking the fans to come up with the "extra" money to pay the players. The big cigars are not willing to take a pay cut in order to pay mere jocks.

'I'm not sharing my piece of the pie. Just bake a bigger pie.'

So all you fans who buy tickets to attend the games in person can now pay more, and all of the fans who watch at home and already sit through seemingly endless commercials can simply watch a few more Taco Bell spots.

I think that's probably why they've suddenly added the two minute warning (although the folks at corporate headquarters don't want that term being used).
 
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I'd guess that college football has been a giant moneymaker for a long time now; it certainly seems like the TV money has been huge for as long as I can remember, and it keeps getting bigger.

So what's changed? Why are they holding out their hands asking for more $$$$?

Well, there is (maybe) a simple explanation. What's changed is that now the athletes themselves are demanding a slice of that very big pie. The folks who have been getting rich all along from college football certainly don't want to share their portion, so they're asking the fans to come up with the "extra" money to pay the players. The big cigars are not willing to take a pay cut in order to pay mere jocks.

'I'm not sharing my piece of the pie. Just bake a bigger pie.'

So all you fans who buy tickets to attend the games in person can now pay more, and all of the fans who watch at home and already sit through seemingly endless commercials can simply watch a few more Taco Bell spots.

I think that's probably why they've suddenly added the two minute warning (although the folks at corporate headquarters don't want that term being used).
You just made my point. You said there is a massive amount of money being made, yet no stats or figures involved. Because there are a lot of people that don’t know the difference between revenue and profit.

Most Athletic Departments, including ours, don’t turn big profits, if at all. With that being the case we can’t just split up this massive surplus but instead will have cut sports, raise ticket prices, or both.
 
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You just made my point. You said there is a massive amount of money being made, yet no stars or figures involved. Because there are a lot of people that don’t know the difference between revenue and profit.

Most Athletic Departments, including ours, don’t turn big profits, if at all. With that being the case we can’t just split up this massive surplus but instead will have cut sports, raise ticket prices, or both.

There are people at the top of the money pyramid who will never, ever see their pay get cut.
 

No, not more money.

The same amount of money, but there are now more people demanding their fair share.
Tennessee will be getting 10% mo money in ticket revenue.

The University of Minnesota is getting substantially mo money from the current Media Rights deal than previously.
 
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There are people at the top of the money pyramid who will never, ever see their pay get cut.
I take it you mean the coaches? Well even if they did get their pay halved, it ain’t gonna be enough, not even close. But with massive pool of money that we hear about we shouldn’t need to cut anyone’s pay or raise any ticket costs?
 

I take it you mean the coaches? Well even if they did get their pay halved, it ain’t gonna be enough, not even close. But with massive pool of money that we hear about we shouldn’t need to cut anyone’s pay or raise any ticket costs?

The coaches? Are you serious?

When the various conferences sign huge deals with the TV networks, who gets the money?

When the TV networks subsequently sell billions of dollars worth of advertising spots during those college football games, who gets the money?

Do the executives at ESPN, FOX, B1G Network, etc. make extremely large bonuses for negotiating those deals to broadcast those games? I'll bet they do.

This is the money pyramid. Billions of dollars.The money has been there for years, all of it generated by people like you and me who want to watch kids play a brutal sport. We contribute the money directly by buying tickets or indirectly by watching on TV. I'm saying that lots of people have grown wealthy off of this money pyramid... except the players themselves.

Now the athletes want some of that money. And nobody else in the pyramid wants to see the athletes' share to come out of their pocket.

Just charge the fans more. Until they say, "Enough! I'll find another way to spend my Saturdays."
 

Neyland Stadium holds 101,000 fans. That's a lot of money raised.
 

Wow!, What a great idea. Hope Coyle adapts such a policy.
 

Per Andy:

Tennessee is preparing for a world in which schools pay athletes directly by charging fans a “talent fee” to pass along to the players.

Though the House v. NCAA settlement that would usher in the era of revenue sharing has yet to be approved by a federal judge, Tennessee athletic director Danny White told On3 that his school will implement a plan to add a 10 percent surcharge to all season and single-game ticket sales. If the settlement is approved, schools would be allowed to pay about $22 million a year to athletes beginning in the 2025-26 school year.

White estimates that with the new roster caps included in the settlement — which would raise the number of available athletic scholarships — the actual cost is closer to $30 million a year. Tennessee hopes to recoup about $10 million of that through the surcharge, which will come in addition to a football ticket price increase averaging 4.5 percent across all seats. Knowing any hike in ticket prices would produce consternation, White and his team decided the best way to handle this one was to explain which part of the new money will be earmarked for the players.

“It’s a talent fee, and it’s going directly to the talent,” White said. “It’s going to our student athletes as part of this new world order in college sports. So I know our fans will embrace it.”

White said the best comparison is restaurants charging large groups an automatic fixed gratuity atop the price of the meal. Tennessee might be the first school to add such a fee, but expect plenty of copycats. As college sports’ economic model evolves, schools will need to find a way to fund player compensation without forcing donors to choose between players and the capital projects and administrative costs they’ve traditionally helped fund.


Go Gophers!!

This is what a $2.75M athletic director and his 266 person (non-coaching) staff will get done for you. ROI. They don’t just grow on trees.
 
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I said it on a thread a couple months ago. The $20M Ohio State payroll from this year will tear locker rooms apart.

Not because it's too much, but because in a few years a $20M payroll will not be enough to keep many P4 players from transferring out.
I think 5 years from now, it could be insane.

There is talk that eventually the rule of only being eligible for 4/5 seasons will be challenged and the standard will just be something like “enrolled student” or something like that.

At that point, there is nothing stopping someone like Ryan Tannehill from taking a big chunk of money to become a “grad student” and play football at Texas A&M.
 

I think 5 years from now, it could be insane.

There is talk that eventually the rule of only being eligible for 4/5 seasons will be challenged and the standard will just be something like “enrolled student” or something like that.

At that point, there is nothing stopping someone like Ryan Tannehill from taking a big chunk of money to become a “grad student” and play football at Texas A&M.

I have long posited that the NCAA could get super diabolical and end eligibility limits, in the process creating an existential threat to the NFL.

I had never considered the idea of a pro player going back to college, but I think it's a very prescient thought, and a scenario I'll bet we hear of before this decade is over.
 

I have long posited that the NCAA could get super diabolical and end eligibility limits, in the process creating an existential threat to the NFL.

I had never considered the idea of a pro player going back to college, but I think it's a very prescient thought, and a scenario I'll bet we hear of before this decade is over.
If they did away with eligibility limits you would have guys who couldn't hack it in the NFL potentially coming back to the college game. There are a lot of those guys out there and it would absolutely kill high school recruiting. Why sign some 18 year old high school kid when there is a 23 year old with a ton of experience available......

You would also potentially get NFL guys near the end of their career wanting to play a season or two in college to finish off a degree or whatever.
 

U ofTennessee sports now charging 10% tax for talent fee.
 






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