Beginning next season, colleges and universities will be permitted to make direct payments to student-athletes. And one SEC team has a rather controversial plan to kick the cost of paying those athletes to the fans.
During a recent interview with Andy Slater of On3, Tennessee Volunteers athletic director Danny White revealed that the school is planning to add a 10 percent “talent fee” to all of its ticket prices to help cover the cost of paying student-athletes.
“It’s a talent fee, and it’s going directly to the talent,” White said according to On3. “It’s going to our student athletes as part of this new world order in college sports. So I know our fans will embrace it.”
While it’s certainly an unorthodox approach and not everyone will be happy about the increase in prices, White seems to think that the fanbase will rally and pay the extra price in order to help the team.
“They do a phenomenal job of filling our venues, buying hats and T-shirts and in all the different ways that they invest in our program,” White said. “This is another way that they can help us be more competitive.”
We’ll have to see whether or not other college football teams take a similar approach.
[On3]
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