Should Illinois Adopt Tennessee's Approach to 'Talent Fees' for Athletes?

Illini athletic director Josh Whitman answered whether a special ticket surcharge is on the way

Oct 12, 2019; Champaign, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini athletic director Josh Whitman looks on during the fourth quarter of the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Allio-Imagn Images / Michael Allio-Imagn Images

In college athletics' new era of name, image and likeness deals, player compensation and settling up with former student-athletes, we'll likely be hearing more of cooked-up concepts that give athletics departments the best opportunity to balance the books while continuing to chase the best talent.

Last month, it was the University of Tennessee that announced it was instituting a 10 percent "talent fee" – on top of a separate 4.5 percent price hike – to be applied to all 2025 football season ticket renewals. Volunteers athletic director Danny White described the move as a way to "remain flexible" in the face of a changing college athletics business model. "That connection between resources and competitiveness has never been tighter," he said.

Given the Highlander-like odds for most schools – when it comes to annual NCAA championships, there can be only one – driving the cost of attending games ever higher seems like an unsustainable strategy. At some point, fans expect a return on their investment.

But most are bound to come away disappointed. According to Sportico, the average price of a ticket to a sporting event increased about twice as fast as overall consumer prices between 1999 and 2020. And just since May 2023, according to government data, they rose another 21.7 percent – more than that of any other category tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It's hard to imagine this spending spree among schools slowing anytime soon, especially as administrations are increasingly under pressure to meet the demands of a $2.78 billion settlement that will create new, significant and ongoing financial commitments – particularly for Power Five conference universities.

So what might that mean for Illinois fans, who are still basking in the glow of an Elite Eight appearance and a rich recruiting haul on the basketball side and thanking their stars for a 4-1 football season that seems to hold the potential of a corner-turning moment for the program.

Perhaps an additional 10-15 percent for the price of admission seems like ... well, the price of admission for competing with other top-shelf college athletics programs.

For now, says Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman, Illini fans have nothing to worry about.

"I think that, as with everything we're doing right now, I would never rule anything out. I think that we're putting all the options on the table to try to figure out the best combination of variables that we can pull together to make sure that the finances work for our athletic program.

"So every place is going to make their own decisions. And, obviously, I saw the news out of Tennessee, and that makes sense for Tennessee. I don't know that we would do that in Illinois, but I also don't know we wouldn't. I think that, at this point in time, for me to close the door on anything would be premature. And so we'll just continue to evaluate all the different options and see what makes the most sense."

Still, Whitman acknowledged that Illinois, like the NCAA's other power schools, is on the hook to suddenly scare up an additional $22 million annually (plus a lump-sum payout) as part of the recent settlement. That money has to come from somewhere. Wouldn't a "talent fee" put a dent in that debt?

"There are no plans right now to do that, though," Whitman said. "We have no plans for that right now."