Sports
Tennessee adds 'talent fee' in 2025 ticket cost hike
From left, Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel, Athletic Director Danny White, and Chief Communications Officer Jason Baum chat with Pilot CEO Adam Wright after the announcement of a branding partnership between Pilot and Neyland Stadium on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. With revenue sharing between college teams and athletes, the University of Tennessee called on fans to help carry the burden by introducing a ticket price increase labeled a “talent fee.”
Athletic director Danny White said he would like to make live game attendance “fair and reasonable,” calling the increase one of the hardest parts of his job.
“We’re excited about NIL and excited about this new era of rev share,” White said in an interview with On3 on Tuesday. “I think it’s great that student-athletes are starting to get resources that I think that they deserve. It’s a great time for college sports as we march forward. I think Tennessee is well-positioned in that space, we’ve been a leader in NIL. We’ve trying to lead in a lot of ways in college athletics.”
The increase includes student ticket prices, which went from $10 to $20 for 2024 and will be $25 in 2025.
Tickets are sold out for football and men’s basketball in 2024, White said. He said 60 percent of tickets in Neyland Stadium were discounted when he arrived. At present, he said there are 15,000 fans on the waiting list for tickets to home games in Knoxville, Tenn.
College football roster limits allowing for 105 scholarships and, pending approval of a tentative agreement of a House of Representatives settlement that would clear colleges to share around $22.5 million, White said he knew the university would need help to meet the “new world order in college sports.”
Court approval is not guaranteed for the NIL and revenue sharing agreement put forth by the House, but White said the financial realities were significant enough that he didn’t want to wait for legal entanglements to resolve.
White said the new fee is an investment in student-athletes and said Tennessee opted for transparency, telling fans the purpose of the price hike. White said that opened the door to allow fans to pay even more than the listed price, likening it to a tip at a great restaurant.
“You go out to dinner and you have a great experience,” White said, “they might have an 18 percent required gratuity or tip you can add on to it. They’ll have the ability to add on to the 10 percent, to the talent fee, for those that have the means and can do it.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Rangers activate RHP Cole Winn from 15-day injured list
Texas Rangers pitcher Cole Winn (60) throws against Detroit Tigers during the fourth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, May 1, 2026. The Texas Rangers activated right-handed reliever Cole Winn from the 15-day injured list on Tuesday after he was sidelined since May 23 by arm fatigue.
Winn, 26, takes the spot on the 26-man roster vacated by right-hander Luis Curvelo, who was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock on Sunday.
Winn allowed two runs on two hits in a third of an inning of his most recent outing that came during a 5-2 loss to the host Los Angeles Angels. He exited the game after three batters with fatigue and soreness in his right shoulder.
In 22 appearances this season, he is 2-1 with one save, a 5.59 ERA, seven walks and 23 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings.
In 68 career relief appearances, Winn is 2-3 with one save, a 3.91 ERA, 28 walks and 72 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings.
Texas made Winn the 15th overall selection in the 2018 MLB Draft.
Curvelo, 25, had a scoreless inning Sunday in the Rangers’ 10-0 victory over the visiting Guardians. He has a 4.91 ERA, two walks and four strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings over seven relief appearances.
He was on the 15-day injured list with a right biceps strain from April 15 to May 19.
In 24 career relief appearances since 2025, Curvelo is 1-1 with a 5.47 ERA over 26 1/3 innings
–Field Level Media
Sports
Frances Tiafoe outlasts Daniel Altmaier in first round at Stuttgart
Jun 1, 2026; Paris, France; Frances Tiafoe of the United States returns a shot during his match against Matteo Arnaldi of Italy on day nine at Stade Roland Garros. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images Sixth-seeded Frances Tiafoe saved 7 of 9 break points and outlasted Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 to post a first-round victory at the BOSS Open Tuesday in Stuttgart, Germany.
Tiafoe had 24 winners and 30 unforced errors while prevailing on the grass surface after the end of the clay-court season. Altmaier had 15 aces among his 40 winners but committed 42 unforced errors.
Tiafoe next faces Australia’s Rinky Hijikata, who rallied for a 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over German wild card Tom Gentzsch. Australia’s Nick Kyrgios beat the only other seeded player in action, prevailing 6-3, 6-4 over No. 8 Corentin Moutet of France.
The other winners Tuesday were Marcos Giron, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff and Yannick Hanfmann, Australia’s James Duckworth, France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro.
Libema Open
Adrian Mannarino of France hit 25 winners while posting a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over defending champion Gabriel Diallo of Canada in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
Mannarino ended a nine-match drought in singles play dating back to the Miami Open in mid-March. Diallo had 52 unforced errors against just 20 winners. Mannarino committed 44 miscues.
Martin Damm advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Jaume Munar. Also, China’s Zhang Zhizhen registered a 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-1 victory over Jenson Brooksby.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Bengals restructure Joe Burrow's, save $10M in cap space
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws a pass to a teammate during practice on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at Kettering Health Practice Fields in downtown Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Bengals have created $10 million in salary cap space this coming season by restructuring Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow’s contract, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.
The Bengals moved from near the bottom of the league in effective cap room, $7.1 million, per reports, to in the middle. The team could have restructured up to $19.2 million by converting his entire base salary to a bonus, per the reports.
The team announced on Tuesday that second-round draft pick Cashius Howell, a defensive end out of Texas A&M, signed his rookie contract, meaning all of the Bengals’ seven draft selections are under contract.
Burrow signed a $275 million, five-year contract extension in September 2023, including $219 million in guarantees, according to reporting at the time.
Now 29, Burrow has been supportive of the Bengals’ uncharacteristic spending on free agents and a blockbuster trade since finishing 6-11 and missing the playoffs for a third straight season in 2025.
“We’re going to go win a lot of games this year and play great and win a Super Bowl,” Burrow told reporters after a voluntary workout last month.
Cincinnati signed former Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook to a three-year, $40.25 contract and former Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe to a three-year, $60 million deal. The team also signed former Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Allen to a two-year, $25 million deal.
The defense also got a major boost when the Bengals traded the 10th overall pick in April’s NFL draft to the New York Giants for three-time All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who signed a one-year, $28 million extension for the 2028 season following the deal.
Cincinnati selected Burrow with the first overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft out of LSU.
Burrow is a three-time Pro Bowl selection, including in 2025 when he completed 66.8% of his passes for 1,809 yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions in only eight games (all starts) because of a turf toe injury.
He has started all 77 regular-season games that he has played and completed an NFL-record career-best 68.5% of his passes for 20,810 yards, 157 TDs and 51 interceptions. Burrow has thrown for another 1,826 yards, nine TDs and four picks in seven playoff games.
He was voted the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in both 2021 and 2024.
–Field Level Media
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Rangers activate RHP Cole Winn from 15-day injured list
