Tennessee “Talent Fee” Just Means Higher Price for Fans

This week the University of Tennessee football program added a 10% “talent fee” to price of their future season tickets to pay for the cost of paying their athletes. This is nothing new for schools as they are all looking for ways to adjust to this new world of paying student athletes. They are preparing to do that for the 2025-2026 school year although there is still a lot that has to be worked out in the court systems before that is decided.

Most schools have been increasing donation levels required to buy season tickets, or fundraising to bring in money to pay players. The Vols are just using a very transparent “fee” to say ‘if it costs us more to have these football players on the team, then it will cost you more to come see them play’. That is the exact same thing that has been happening in professional sports for years, that when a team greatly increases their payroll they often raise prices that fans pay for tickets.

What does this mean for fans buying tickets for Tennessee games? If you are buying from the school then you are obviously paying that additional 10% fee, and if you are buying from TicketCity or anywhere else on secondary ticket market then you are likely just going to be paying a slightly higher price to cover the cost the seller paid on those tickets. In short, it just means it will cost a bit more to go see a Tennessee Volunteers football game so let’s hope those paid players make it worth the price of admission. The current Vols team has put up 69, 51 and 71 points in their last 3 games so I’d say that is worth the added price of admission.

While we’re talking about the Vols, they have a huge football game this weekend at Oklahoma. That game is an SEC blueblood versus one of the SEC newcomers, so pride is on the line in Norman, especially with Josh Heupel returning to OU after starring for the 2000 Sooners. Ticket prices started at $233 per (w/ fees) when we posted this story.

Here is On3’s commentary and interview with Tennessee Athletic Director, Danny White, on the subject of this added 10% “talent fee” and the changing face of college athletics. On3 Story

Story image sourced from Patrick Brown @ Chattanooga Times Free Press