College Football Fans Largely Footing the Bill for Colleges and NIL

NIL has brought many changes to collegiate athletics, including rising prices for fans.

The Oklahoma State fans react after an Arizona State player is ejected in the first half of the college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Arizona State Sun Devils at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, OK. on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Name, Image, and Likeness has brought with it many changes to the landscape of collegiate athletics for student-athletes and fans alike.

While student-athletes are now being compensated for their performances in their respective sports, the colleges that these athletes attend have set up collectives where the university and its boosters pool their money in order to cover the rising cost of a superstar freshman quarterback.

While it was a promising method of operation starting out, the money that these top-tier athletes require has quickly risen, much like the salaries for their professional counterparts over the years.

Also like their professional counterparts, the universities and boosters have quickly grown tired of bleeding money for their efforts to win, and have begun looking into ways of recuperating that money, landing on pushing the cost off on the fans, something their professional counterparts have done for years.

In the professional landscape, the rising salaries of players have brought a rise in the price of a ticket and the price of a hot dog, in order to better alleviate the difference, though the leagues have been much more quiet about it and they do not put a name on their hikes.

The collegiate athletic landscape said, "Not so fast my friend!" and have decided that it is best to not only let fans know the reason for the increase in ticket prices but also raise prices on tuition for their students with (not-so) hidden fees.

The Tennessee Volunteers said earlier this year that they are adding a "talent fee" to the price of a ticket, a 10 percent bump in the original price.

The Arkansas Razorbacks have not raised the prices of their tickets as blatantly as the Volunteers, though you will have to pay three percent more for your nachos (no cheese, please) and soda.

The Clemson Tigers are adding an "athletic surcharge" to their students' tuition, a $150 fee, per semester, just because the students were lucky enough to get accepted to a school with such a highly prestigious track record.

These are but three examples of how universities are beginning to get up and go to the bathroom when the waiter brings the check, leaving the fan to pay the tab.

The collegiate athletic landscape continues to push more and more towards mirroring the professional landscape, with the immense salaries that the student-athletes are now receiving, and with the fans starting to foot the bill for those salaries on a much larger scale.

NIL has changed collegiate athletics forever, and continues to do so regularly.

Love it or hate it, NIL is here to stay.