“Volunteer” is about to take on a whole new meaning. Tennessee let ticket holders know on Tuesday that they will be hiking ticket prices for the 2025 season. Prices are expected to rise by an average of 14.5%. That will include a 10% talent fee per single game ticket and season tickets. The donations fans pay to have access the purchasing of tickets will also be hit with the 10% fee. In addition to that, they also added a 4.5% price hike on tickets in general getting to the 14.5%.
This information was provided to all ticket holders via email on Tuesday. A video from Athletic Director Danny White attempted to give context to the decision.
“Over the past four years, our athletic department has worked tirelessly to become one of the best in the country. With the most passionate fans in all of sports, we have grown our self-generated revenues and aggressively reinvested those funds directly into our sports programs. Those investments have led to unprecedented success.”
White also noted that, “There has never been a time in college sports where revenue growth has such a close correlation to winning.” This is coming from the school that generated $134 million in gross revenue in 2023 just from football. The $59 million spent on expenses means the school’s net profit for only one year was $75 million. And that is just for the football program.
Tennessee completely sold out all 70,500 of their tickets for the second consecutive season in 2024. They also have a 15,000-person waiting list for tickets. This team will most likely extend that sold-out streak for years to come. Since White and current Volunteers coach Josh Heupel took over in 2021, Tennessee has drawn well over 2,000,000 to their games.
Tennessee isn’t the only college raising prices. Georgia announced in September that they would also be hiking ticket prices in some sections for the 2025 season. The game of college football changed when NIL deals became allowed so the highest-spending schools could get the best players. But raising prices now is a response to the court case that could see the NCAA functioning with what is ultimately a salary cap, limiting all teams’ yearly spending.
It will be interesting to watch how something resembling a salary cap could affect the landscape of college football. If two major SEC programs are already implementing this kind of change, it might become open season. Places like Michigan or Penn State with gigantic stadiums could benefit more than anyone with a ticket price increase. A move like this could set a new standard.
Tennessee doesn’t seem like a school that will be slowing down any time soon. Led by quarterback and Heisman candidate Nico Iamaleava, they are currently 3-0 and are averaging over 63 points per game, albeit against lesser competition. The Volunteers still rank sixth in the country with a huge matchup against Oklahoma looming this weekend.
