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Tennessee Football’s 10% talent fee opens up the discussion about how many schools and sports will follow suit

By GARY B. GRAVES AP Sports Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – The silent part about the evolving landscape of name, image and likeness compensation in college athletics had to be said out loud, and it wasn’t all that shocking when the Tennessee athletic department stepped forward and cleared its collective throat and stated the obvious.

A week has passed since the school announced a 10% “talent fee” for 2025 football season ticket renewals to help pay athletes and help the No. 5 Vols attract and retain the best talent. That’s in addition to the 4.5% increase that athletic director Danny White explained on video, which will allow the program to “remain flexible” as the collegiate model changes.

The price increase could be seen as a preemptive measure following an agreement to pay $2.78 billion in damages to hundreds of thousands of athletes dating back to 2016. As part of that settlement, schools agreed to distribute up to $21 million in revenue annually to athletes. starts early next fall.

Anticipating all of this hitting their budgets, some schools have already implemented ticket price increases. Tennessee could be the first to specifically mention a talent allowance, as the bidding wars for top players are exposed for what they are.

“I can’t imagine they’re going to be the only ones announcing something like this,” Louisville AD Josh Heird told The Associated Press. “It’s just a question of, how do you think as an athletic department you can get that out of that rotation to try to compensate the student-athletes at the highest level possible?”

The NCAA opened the door to NIL payments to athletes in July 2021, leading to the emergence of so-called collectives, funded by boosters, around many programs separate from school athletic departments. It is still too early to predict where collectives will end up, but regulating them is an important part of the solution.

As for talent fees, the question is whether season ticket holders will accept an additional surcharge in addition to the handling and convenience fees on top of the face value. Ditto for the spectator who plays at one game and wonders how much the entry fee will be.

Judging by the announcement from Tennessee — that the 101,915-seat Neyland Stadium is consistently selling out for Vols home games, with thousands more on a waiting list — there are indications that this will happen. And for starters, the school is likely to be joined by football greats like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Texas.

But that fan acceptance also heightens the high expectations of hoisting the national championship trophy, or at least regular appearances in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. Not that all these schools have problems understanding the assignment.

“Given the landscape of college athletics and the current economy, I think most fans at the Power Conference schools would probably be fine with a marginal talent fee or tax like we’re seeing here because they want to field competitive teams,” said Lamar Reams. , department chair and professor of sports administration at Ohio University.

“For the fans, this is a very specific and transparent tax that they know they can contribute to. So if there’s some success on the field and further down the line, they can certainly take the perspective that they had or played a role in that.”

Reams noted that such compensation may not be palatable to fans of a school with less football success or tradition. And those who are initially willing to pay may eventually drop out if results on the field or in the field don’t provide a return on investment.

Given the vast disparity between athletic scholarship awards and coaches’ salaries in revenue sports at many Power Four schools, Indiana State associate professor Craig Morehead wouldn’t be shocked if talent compensation became more common.

“They are looking for new sources of revenue to cover what they see as a new expense, rather than reallocating the resources they have,” said Morehead, who teaches in ISU’s Department of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sports.

Talent compensation could also become an option at smaller Division I schools with strong football or basketball traditions. San Diego State athletic director J.D. Wicker echoed Reams’ belief that sometimes having fans feel more invested in the team’s success can be a positive thing.

“If (Tennessee) is in the Jeremy Pruitt era, you probably don’t do it,” Wicker said, referring to the Vols’ previous coach. “But if you’re in the top six in the country heading into Oklahoma and you’ve had a lot of success, it’s a lot easier.”

And as college sports prepares for revenue sharing, Wicker noted, “People are getting creative.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.