The University of Tennessee made headlines this week when news broke that the Volunteers brass will be instituting a 10% ‘talent fee’ on all athletic tickets starting in the 2025 season which will go towards paying players through NIL.

For football, the price hike is even higher with an additional 4.5% being tacked onto season tickets for a total price increase of 14.5% for loyal Tennessee season ticket holders.

Tennessee athletic director Danny White posted a video update explaining the increase and called it essentially the reality of college sports today as he looks to keep UT near the top of the game across the board:

“In this new era, it’s going to get a lot more expensive,” White said via Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel. “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.”

Naturally, as is often the case, corporations (in this case, giant athletic programs) pass the financial burden onto the consumer (in this case, the fan). At a time in America where it is becoming increasingly difficult for a family to attend sporting events for their beloved teams, Tennessee is just making it more unrealistic.

Of course, they won’t be the only school to do this. In all likelihood, a system like this will become commonplace at universities with big-time sports programs across the country in order to keep the bottom line strong for athletic departments.

It’s just the latest example in a long line of changes in college sports that hurt the fans and in turn, hurt the product. But as White himself said, that’s just the reality of college athletics in 2024.