Tennessee Volunteers (3-0) have had a perfect start to their 2024 season. A bigger test awaits the team in Week 4 as they travel to No. 13 Oklahoma. A lot to look forward to for the fanbase. Amidst all that, rather than using the motivated base as the 12th man for the players, the university has hit them with a 10% hike on their tickets. The reason? It is a talent fee. The big question on everyone’s mind is: why are fans being called upon to spend more when Tennessee football itself had grossed $ 130 million in the last fiscal year?

ESPN’s Elle Duncan and Gary Striewski were very straightforward about the situation on The Elle Duncan Show. “Tennessee football team brought in $130 million of revenue last year, and they had $79 million in profit… that’s insane. We’re the ones who get taxed for all of the overspending,” Duncan said.

Duncan stressed that this amount of money should be sufficient to meet the expenditure on players while not putting pressure on the fans to pay additional charges. It did little to quell Striewski’s confusion over the new 10-percent increase, which he stated while pointing to the great gross, “If we’re talking a $20 million roster, you’re still clearing $50 million in net revenue.”  – where is the cash going?

Tennessee’s football program‘s financials indicate that the program is in the growth stage, but the timing of ticket prices for next season, which have been hiked in the same year the university generated record revenue, has left fans fuming. Neyland Stadium has 70,500 season tickets, and they were sold out. The Vols have not demonstrated any indication of diminishing in their performance under Josh Heupel. But even this 10% ‘talent fee’ doesn’t end at football. 

Big money moves and big questions: the pushback and the payday

This was good enough for Tennessee’s athletic director, Danny White, who stated that it was important for the team to act in this way to remain relevant. White stated further that the distribution of extra revenue across all codes, not just football, was in the best interest of the Athletic Department. “This will give our teams the best chance to bring championships home to Rocky Top,” White said. 

The latest ticket price increase is undoubtedly a new tactic towards the NIL era in which schools are, in a way, fighting over the athletes, with the idea of out-competing each other a norm more than ever. Tennessee’s goal? Ensure that the Vols continue to get talent, as is exhibited in Gaston Moore and Nico Iamaleava, two quarterbacks on the team. In the conversation between Gary Striewski and Duncan, he said- “You can definitely let some of that money trickle down to the players,”. The question is now whether the fans will accept such a financial model of the game, or whether they will be convinced by it, or rather feel used.

But for now, that is the position that Tennessee fans must accept—more money for more victories. But time alone will tell if this was a masterstroke that would help fetch them more championships and fans. This was voiced by one of the fans: “It is one thing to be a supporter of the team, but it is another thing to feel that we are unable to afford the stadium.”

You can listen to the Think Tank podcast with Doug Sanders to get more in-depth insights.