THE MONEY GAME
I made a football road trip last weekend to East Lansing and Michigan State, my alma mater.
My total in and out cost was less than $200. Two important factors contributed to the relatively cheap trip: I spent more time at the tailgate than the bar and the Spartans played Prairie View A&M. The MSU administration wrote a generous six-figure check to the Fighting Panthers for the right to have us kick their ass. That money will go a long way in Abeline, Texas.
I don’t know if I’ll ever make the trip again so inexpensively. Schools like my alma mater will soon have to start paying their work force and the bill is coming due.
This past week, Tennessee announced it would be adding a 10 percent “talent fee” to all ticket sales. This in addition to the 4.5 percent annual hike they hit fans with every year. The news made the rounds this week as Tennessee is the first major school to be so transparent about how it plans to fund direct payments to players.
And what about those million dollar costs? By instituting the “talent fee," Tennessee is keeping in line with the most true form of capitalism: passing them on to their customers.
The Volunteers are members of the South Eastern Conference, arguably the most competitive and richest conference in college football. The conference just kicked off a 10-year television contract with ESPN. There’s a new 12-team playoff this season. Reports have annual payouts to individual SEC schools at well over $50 million, likely approaching $100 million by 2028. Where is all that money going?
There’s not enough of it to cover what will soon become these colleges’ largest expense: player payroll.
Earlier this month, a California judge declined to rule on a settlement figure stemming from a House vs. NCAA billion-dollar lawsuit. The judge ordered lawyers to “go back to the drawing board” as she didn’t feel comfortable with terms that would limit outside income (name, image, likeness deals, etc.) for athletes. All of the legal momentum since 2021 has ruled on the side of student-athletes demanding to get their share of the money.
With every legal challenge, the cost of that share keeps going up, up and up.
Tennessee is smart in getting out in front of this. Strike while the iron is hot — the Volunteers are 3-0 and ranked in the Top 10. I’d call that a seller’s market.
And know the next time you road trip to a major college campus for a football game, be sure you have plenty of money in the bank.
THE SIX
*Straight out of a Tom Clancy or Frederick Forsyth political thriller plot: Simultaneously, hundreds of pagers belonging to members of the terrorist group Hezbollah explode. Thousands are hospitalized, as many as nine are killed. Less than a day later, another round of explosions, this time of walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members. What is going on? Who’s responsible? The Free Press tracked down a reporter who covers the Middle East to “talk about the ongoing “shadow war” between Israel and Iran’s proxies across the region.”
*Back with another Six True Crime article…the setting, Midwestern, USA. A shocking act of violence divides a Minnesota town. The writer of the piece for The Atavist, John Rosengren, unravels the troubled characters and disturbing tensions in vivid detail. A long but compelling read.
*A newsletter that covers food published a story ranking the “most unhealthy fries.” That paradox makes for interesting reading (isn’t that the faustian bargain you enter when you buy french fries? If I had a craving for golden beets I wouldn’t be idling in the Wendy’s drive thru at 12:30 in the morning). Five Guys tops the list, news that likely boosted sales this week, followed by Steak ‘N Shake and Bojangles.
*Via literary website Electric Lit. A writer introduces the premise of a creepy bedtime story: A new father remembers the terrifying bedtime stories his mother used to tell him and wonders why she wanted to scare her child. The mom denies doing so. Regardless, the new dad recalls those tales and worries that, given the opportunity, she will repeat the experience for her grandson. But what if both mother and son are telling the truth? Who is telling the stories? Even adults will get chills from this one.
*Best bros George Clooney and Brad Pitt get the full GQ treatment. If you’re really into a pair of 60-something buddies who happen to be among the wealthiest and most privileged Hollywood superstars chopping it up — “rich-guy teasing,” writer Zach Baron calls it — you’ll enjoy this Q&A. In some respects it’s cool to know how cutthroat competitive Clooney and Pitt still are with each other, even as they’re admittedly playing on life’s back nine while “comparing notes on Portuguese stonemasons.” Always liked Pitt, who’s Midwestern roots never left him completely.
*Finally, fighting a few pangs of nostalgia this week. Thirty-one years ago Thursday, Pearl Jam released the album Vs., their second studio album. At the time, Vs. set the record for the most copies of an album sold in its first week. I remember standing in line with my friends in front of the Student Book Store on Grand River Ave. in East Lansing, Michigan for the right to purchase one of those copies when the store opened at 12:01 a.m. My favorite PJ record is Vitalogy, released the next year, and the physical format of records in the 90’s made the search and listen of music a richer, more community-flavored experience. This is my favorite song of Vs. and hearing those distinct Eddie Vedder vocals — and Stone Gossard guitar lick — takes me right back to 1993.
Have a suggestion for The Kerr Report? Send email to jonjkerr@gmail.com.