
At Tennessee, they are adding a ‘talent fee’ to the price of sports tickets. At Arkansas, they will charge 3% more at the concessions stands. At Michigan and Michigan State, athletic directors sent letters alerting boosters that winning is going to start costing more. And, in a first, Clemson is going to start adding an athletic surcharge to tuition bills.
Winning at big-time college sports has never been free, but in a rapidly changing era in which players are allowed to earn money and be paid by their own schools, it has never been clearer that fans will be picking up a bigger part of the tab.