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College athletes are getting paid and fans are seeing a growing share of the bill

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer

In Tennessee, a “talent fee” is added to the price of sports tickets. In Arkansas, concession stands charge 3% more. At Michigan and Michigan State, athletic directors sent letters alerting sponsors that winning will cost more in the future. And first, Clemson will begin adding an athletic surcharge to tuition.

It's never been free to win in major college sports, but in a rapidly changing era when players are allowed to earn money and be paid by their own schools, it's never been clearer that fans will take a bigger share of it Tab.

“College athletics, in my opinion, hasn’t become that professionalized yet,” said Nels Popp, a sports business professor at the University of North Carolina. He believes most schools still rely more on fans' emotional, long-term school ties than lower-line marketing strategies. “And now I think that’s forcing them in that direction.”

When the NCAA reluctantly approved payments to players for the use of their names, images and likenesses (NIL) in 2021, funders who previously donated to schools and their athletic departments began funneling money to collectives – independent organizations that raised the money and the Athletes paid. These collectives are becoming increasingly closely linked to universities.

Under a $2.8 billion settlement set to take effect next year, the NIL deals will remain in full force and the schools themselves will face further multimillion-dollar changes to their bottom lines must, including:

— Any school that has the money will be allowed to share up to $22 million in annual revenue with athletes — money they receive from ticket sales, television contracts and other sources. They may share less, but the arms race for talent will put top talent at the forefront.

– The amount the NCAA pays more than 350 Division I schools each year will decline. The organization will have to cover about $1.2 billion in damages under the settlement, with the rest being covered by conferences that receive less money each year from the NCAA and its lucrative men's basketball tournament.

— Schools are allowed to offer more scholarships in all sports, and that costs money. For example, a school could offer up to 20 additional scholarships for a total of 105 in football. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said adding scholarships in various sports could increase the department's education costs by $29 million. And that’s in addition to the revenue share.

“Maintaining a high level of support for our 29 NCAA sports programs requires increased commitment from everyone,” Manuel wrote to Wolverines fans last month.

One option for Michigan could be to place advertising inside Michigan Stadium, a practice the Wolverines have consistently avoided over the decades. The school also recently sent out a survey that asked, among other things, whether fans would be willing to pay between $3,000 and $4,000 for a new installment of chairbacks, which are rare outside of the Big House club areas.

Not all fans are committing due to “donor fatigue”

In 2023, attending a college football game cost an average of about $180 for two fans and about $340 for an NFL game. After all, college sports didn’t have to worry about the biggest expense in a professional team’s budget – player salaries.

NIL has begun to shake this up, and once the terms of the settlement take effect, this dynamic will shift even further. Michigan State AD Alan Haller told Spartans fans that his department's budget for the 25-26 season will include between $25 million and $30 million in additional spending.

“As a department, we will continue to explore new opportunities to generate revenue and contain costs,” Haller said. “However, your continued generosity and commitment will undoubtedly be paramount to our pursuit of excellence.”

Some fans will no doubt continue to write checks to keep the players – and hopefully the victories – coming, while retaining their “right” to buy a certain number of tickets to football games.

A tour of the parking lot before this year's Michigan-Michigan State game found others who appeared more reserved.

“The price of education is out of control,” said Michigan State fan Mike Bouchard, citing a price tag of more than $55,000 for an out-of-state student wanting to attend his alma mater. “I definitely won’t be dipping into my pocket beyond this amount. Tell them to use their hundreds of millions in endowments.”

“Absolutely not,” said Michael Ketslakh of Ann Arbor when asked if he would give more to support Michigan athletics. “I think it’s excessive. This is bad for the sport.”

Rick Karcher, the faculty representative for athletics at Eastern Michigan University, said fans continue to pay because the economic models at colleges are often elusive, unlike professional sports, where everyone knows the profits go to billionaire owners.

“College sports fans, students and supporters are willing to continue covering operating costs while the team’s coaches and administrators get richer because they view athletics as separate from the university,” he said.

Schools are looking for other ways to absorb higher costs

Earlier this fall, Texas Tech announced it was budgeting $14.7 million this fiscal year — about $9 million more than last year — to support its athletic program, which has a budget of nearly $129 million.

“I think if a unit on this campus were faced with a revenue decline of about 20 percent, we would have to consider how we could respond, and in this case we will,” school President Lawrence Schovanec said.

Texas Tech isn't alone in contributing to its athletic program, but not every school follows the same model. In Florida, for example, the sport is run by the University Athletic Association, which not only funds the sport but often also gives money back to the school.

According to a report in the student-produced Florida Independent Alligator, UF's athletic revenue was the eighth highest in the country; Two of its biggest supporters have donated eight figures to UAA's fundraising department.

However, it is clear that it is not just eight-figure donations that keep university sports running.

Tennessee was among the first to make headlines at the start of the football season when AD Danny White said the school would charge a 10% “talent fee” to renew football tickets for 2025. This was in addition to a 4.5% increase in ticket prices.

“The connection between resources and competitiveness has never been stronger,” said White. “Only now do we have the opportunity to share these resources with our athletes.”

In Arkansas, AD Hunter Yurachek explained the 3% fee on concessions in a letter to fans, noting the importance of continuing to “maximize additional revenue opportunities.” At Clemson, which has long prided itself on not charging students fees or ticket prices, the plan is to raise between $7 million and $8 million by adding an “athletic fee” of $150 per semester to tuition becomes. The Tigers have been to four national title games in the last decade and won them twice.

“I think it's kind of ridiculous, but there comes a point where we have sports teams that are good enough that it's somewhat valid,” student Sam Gault told South Carolina's WSPA-TV when the fee was passed earlier this month was announced.

To win big, schools have to pay big, and simply fielding a competitive team is no longer a given. In college sports, the question arises as to where the money should come from.

“They can pay more for tickets, put a sponsorship patch on uniforms, cut non-profitable sports or play the Big 12, the ‘Dr. “Pepper conference,” said Popp, a professor at North Carolina. “I don’t think fans are excited about it, but what might they be willing to accept? I think that’s what athletic departments need to figure out.”

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AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Ann Arbor, Michigan, contributed

The Associated Press contributed to this article