If you’ve bought tickets for concert or movie, you know that the price on the stub is just a starting point, an opening act, if you will, to the fees and hidden charges that come tucked in to the cost of admission.
Sports is no different. In recent years, those who run the games have discovered new and inventive ways to part us fools from our hard earned cash.
The latest addition to the parade of officials who have found novel approaches to shake down fans comes from the University of Tennessee. And this one is a doozy.
When Volunteer football supporters get their bills for season tickets for next season, they’ll notice a 14.5 percent increase in their bill. That’s a hefty hike no matter how you slice it.
But Tennessee athletic director Danny White told the faithful that nearly 75 percent of that markup was being assessed as a quote talent fee unquote to help the athletic department cope with the new reality of college sports, where athletes are paid for their use of their names, images and likenesses.
Said White to the Knoxville News Sentinel quote "We've come a long way in the last few years. In this new era, it's going to get a lot more expensive. But there's also going to be a closer relationship between resources and competition than there ever has been before. And our biggest asset is our fan base."
What White is alluding to is the result of a court settlement where schools will have to share revenue with athletes, perhaps as early as next year.
Schools like Tennessee, who operate at the highest level of sports, will have to pay $22 million annually to pay their current athletes with another $5-10 million going to fund additional scholarships. That’s on top of NIL payments.
Despite the fact that Tennessee took in more than $200 million in revenue last year by virtue of membership in the Southeastern Conference and its lucrative deal with ESPN, not to mention the sale of 70,500 football season tickets in its 105,000-seat stadium, the Volunteers appear to need cash.
That’s what happens when you pay your football coach Josh Heupel $8 million a year, much less the exorbitant salaries paid to a bloated slate of assistant coaches and staff.
Oh, and let’s not forget White himself. His recent contract extension takes his annual salary to $2.75 million, making him the highest paid athletic director at a public university, and with a 5 percent raise to boot.
To cope, the school has already doubled student fees from $10 to $20 per game for this season with another $5 hike coming next year.
It’s not as if anyone should have pity parties for the Knoxville faithful. The overall athletic program has been the best in the SEC for three straight years. And there are 15,000 people on the waiting list to get football tickets.
Yep, everything is hunky dory on good ole Rocky Top. And the denizens there are willing to pay through the nose to keep it that way.
And that’s how I see it for this week. You can reach us via email with your questions and comments at Sports at Large at gmail.com. And follow me on Threads and X at Sports at Large.
Until next week, for all of us here, I’m Milton Kent. Thanks for listening and enjoy the games.