States across the country are scrambling to add much-needed funds to their university athletic departments, as college athletes are now able to profit from their names, images and likenesses (NIL) and a nearly $3 billion federal lawsuit settlement is pending.
Between NIL and legal settlement costs related to the case of House v. NCAA, athletic departments are expected to incur additional costs of at least $22.5 million per year. Each is taking a different approach, with the same goal of being able to fund athletic programs now that athletes are to be compensated.
The University of Tennessee introduced a 10% “talent fee” on all athletic tickets for the 2025 season. The school also added a 4.5% increase on football ticket prices to help pay athletes.
Ohio allows the athletic department at its largest college, Ohio State University, to run an almost $38 million deficit, according to a report to the NCAA.
The University of Florida may soon have to emulate these actions. At a meeting in late January, members of the Florida university system’s Board of Governors, including UF representatives, met to discuss what schools across the state plan to do to raise athletic funds.
“Change is inevitable, and you have to adapt,” said UF booster Robert Lloyd. “I am very nostalgic for the old days.”
He’s been a booster for over 30 years and sees both positives and negatives in these changes. While it can even the playing field between collegiate sports teams, it also causes players and organizations to have different goals from one another, he said.
“For instance, in the bowl games, players opt out,” Lloyd said. “They don’t play because the money from the bowl games goes to the institution and its boosters. It doesn’t mean anything to the athlete.”
At the Board of Governors meeting, a major concern was keeping up with schools across the country in paying players. Amy Meyers Hass, the Gators’ deputy athletics director, explained at the meeting that schools are scrambling to figure out how to raise funds.
“We are all thinking about what we can add to ticket prices or add ons or sponsorships or marketing opportunities,” Hass said. “Anything that might generate some new revenue.”
To dedicated fans like Lloyd, a rise in ticket prices or additional fees is not something they would want to see.
“Once you get those fees in, they’re hard to get out” Lloyd said.
Hass also emphasized that the school’s goals are to not minimize the student-athlete experience or cut teams that don’t generate revenue. However, she said Florida universities need maximum flexibility from the state.
“We are seeing states around the country who are either issuing executive orders to their governor’s office, some have legislated in this space,” Hass said. “Those pieces of legislation tend to sort of loosen the restrictions that historically existed on the institutions.”
States like Georgia, Virginia and Ohio have already passed such legislation. In all these cases, the state governments are allowing universities to either directly pay student athletes for their NIL benefits or are allowing athletes to profit from their likeness in other ways.
Universities in other states are also using education and general state appropriations toward athletics. Pennsylvania, California, and Arkansas are among the states that allow certain higher education institutions to do so.
Florida, however, does not allow its universities to use such funds. In Lloyd’s opinion, it should stay that way.
“I feel like I give plenty,” Lloyd said. “If I was willing to give to the NIL collective, I’ll do that separately. But I don’t think it’s appropriate for taxpayers. I just think that’s a misuse of public funds.”
Morteza Hosseini, chairman of UF’s Board of Trustees, disagreed with Hass on the point of flexibility. In his opinion, this will cause universities to take funds away from academics, which will harm students, he said at the meeting.
Hosseini mentioned that UF already charges an athletic fee of about $2 per credit hour. While he doesn’t want to increase in-state tuition, Hosseini did not rule out generating additional revenue from out-of-state students.
“We may have an opportunity in the future…with that out-of-state tuition,” Hosseini said. “We see a lot of out-of-state very qualified students trying to come to our universities because we’re doing such a good job.”
Sam Leschins, 21, is a current UF junior from New York. He wrestled with the idea of an additional athletic fee on out-of-state tuition because he wants Gator athletics to be successful.
“If they’re (the university) only looking to applying it to out-of-state students, that doesn’t really make sense to me,” Leschins said. “But I do think a small fee per credit hour would be somewhat reasonable if it’s going to mean that we’re going to keep up with the super competitive NIL landscape.”
No plans are finalized, but the school and athletic department must quickly decide which routes to take to raise revenue. Alan Levine, vice chair of the board, told universities at the meeting to submit their cost gaps and potential solutions to the board. Their plan is to bring the topic back up at a meeting in late February or early March and review these solutions.
Lloyd believes UF sports fans will remain loyal regardless of the school’s decisions. It’s an affinity that only happens in college sports, he said.
“Gator fans stick because the alternative is not watching Gator football or not watching Gator basketball and that’s just not acceptable,” Lloyd said. “We’re lifers. Once you’re in, you’re in.”