Josh Heupel’s Tennessee aims to ramp up student’s earnings with a 10% “talent fee” on football tickets: Reports

Coach Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Volunteers are introducing a new initiative to boost student-athlete earnings by adding a 10% "talent fee" to football tickets, starting in the 2025 season. Athletic director Danny White shared that the fee is part of a broader plan to share revenue with players, set to kick off as early as July 1, 2025.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on September 17, CFB insider Brett McMurphy, reports that the 10% talent fee will be applied to all football tickets, directly benefiting the players. Tennessee estimates that the fee will lead to an average ticket price increase of 4.5% across the stadium. Ticket renewals begin on Thursday, Sept. 19, with a deadline of Feb. 27.

This change follows the NCAA’s $2.8 billion antitrust settlement in May, which allows schools to opt into revenue-sharing with athletes.

For the Volunteers, this could mean raising up to $30 million annually. With the talent fee alone, they expect to generate $10 million.

Tennessee has seen record ticket sales, selling out 70,500 season tickets in each of the last two years. Just ahead of the 2024 season, the school sold out its entire season ticket inventory for only the third time in 23 years.

Meanwhile, Georgia also announced a price increase for their tickets, eliminating separate prices for SEC and non-conference games.

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Tennessee’s Josh Heupel confident in new transfers

Volunteers coach Josh Heupel and quarterback Nico Iamaleava (Credits: IMAGN)

Josh Heupel is confident that Tennessee Volunteers’ new tight ends are already making a positive impact. The Volunteers brought in two transfers this season, Holden Staes and Miles Kitselman.

According to the coach, quarterback Nico Iamaleava is building strong connections with them too.

"We got great trust in those guys,” Heupel said [H/t SI]. “Nico's got a great trust with those guys that, you know, the route patterns, they're going to see it the way he sees it. They're going to be able to settle in zones and win vs. man-to-man.”

He said they understand the route patterns and know how to read the defense.

“Those guys have all done a really nice job, you know, really through spring ball, and certainly as they got more comfortable in what we're doing and speaking specifically to the transfers, as we got into training camp, those guys took a big jump. Just being able to operate within our system as we got to training camp," the coach said.

The Volunteers are now gearing up for a big test as they travel to face the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday.