The Tennessee Volunteers set a small NIL and College Football precedent this week when they announced a “Talent Fee” for the 2025 season, hiking ticket costs by up to 10%.
This is Tennessee Athletic Director Danny White’s strategy of getting ahead of what most people believe will be revenue-sharing arrangements in college football following the House v NCAA settlement.
College football is undoubtedly changing, and things like this do not sit well with some. ESPN’s College Football Analyst Paul Finebaum described the decision as “utterly disgraceful.”
“Utterly disgraceful,” Finebaum stated. “And, by the way, they’ve already raised ticket prices on top of that; these are the people who support the program, the people of Tennessee who buy tickets, whether they can afford them or not, because they love the Vols, and the athletic director there simply tacked this on as a surcharge. They did not ask. I mean, they can raise the money on their own, but now they’re forcing good people who buy tickets and support the program to pay extra so that young kids can get in, which I recognize as a sign of the times. It’ll probably happen somewhere else, but it still makes me sick to my stomach.