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Tennessee athletics will raise season ticket prices across all its sports by 10%.
The school said it is implementing the “talent fee” to prepare for the proposed revenue-sharing model that Tennessee believes could happen as soon as July 1, 2025.
Tennessee football season ticket holders were notified via email Tuesday that the changes will go into place for the 2025 season.

Nico Iamaleava, #8 of the Tennessee Volunteers, warms up prior to the Duke’s Mayo Classic against the NC State Wolfpack at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 7, 2024.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

The University of Tennessee is raising its season ticket prices by 10% across all its sports to prepare for athletes starting to get a cut of the school’s sports revenue, according to an email sent to football season ticket holders on Tuesday.
Tennessee is calling its hike a “talent fee,” and said it “will help fund the proposed revenue share for our student-athletes,” according to the email.

Athletic departments have been gearing up for revenue sharing after a proposed settlement involving three cases the NCAA is named in. A judge has yet to approve the settlement and expressed concerns this month over some of the terms, but Tennessee believes it could go into effect as soon as July 1, according to the email.
The proposed settlement would give $2.78 billion in backpay to student-athletes and would allow schools to pay players up to 22% of the Power Five schools’ average athletic revenue in a given year going forward, according to the NCAA release. It would also get rid of a cap on scholarships.
“As the collegiate model changes, we have to remain flexible,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White said in a video included in the email. “We have to continue leading the way. That connection between resource and competitiveness has never been tighter, only now we have the ability to share these resources with our student-athletes.”
The changes will go into effect beginning with the 2025 football season and will also include a 4.5% hike on single-game tickets.
Tennessee already has one of the biggest athletic departments in the country, coming in at eighth overall for total operating revenue in the 2022-23 season in Sportico’s database of public university athletic departments.
College athletes have been permitted to profit off their name, image and likeness since 2021, which has changed college sports dramatically. Star athletes have been able to sign big endorsement deals, but universities have not started direct revenue sharing, which would benefit more student-athletes.

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Boeing’s CFO Brian West earlier this week said the company would freeze hiring and raises to cut costs, and would let “non-essential contractors” go temporarily.
The cost-cutting measures come after more than 30,000 Boeing machinists turned down a contract and voted to strike.

Workers with picket signs outside the Boeing Co. manufacturing facility during a strike in Everett, Washington, US, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. 
M. Scott Brauer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Boeing will temporarily furlough thousands of U.S. executives, managers and other staff, citing the ongoing machinist strike as the company races to preserve cash, CEO Kelly Ortberg told employees Wednesday.
The furloughs will affect tens of thousands of Boeing employees, a company spokesperson said.

The plan came less than a week after Boeing’s more than 30,000 machinists in the Seattle area and Oregon overwhelmingly voted down a new labor contract and 96% voted to strike, walking off the job just after midnight on Friday.
Negotiations between the two sides continued this week with a mediator. Boeing had offered a 25% raise and the union endorsed the tentative contract. But some workers told CNBC that the contract offer was rejected because the raises weren’t sufficient enough to match the increase in the cost of living in the Seattle area and it didn’t restore their pensions.
“We will not mince words – after a full day of mediation, we are frustrated,” the union said in a statement Tuesday.
Ortberg, who has been in the job for just under six weeks, said in a staff memo that affected employees would take one week of furlough every four weeks for the strike’s duration and he and his team would take “commensurate” pay cuts during the strike.
“While this is a tough decision that impacts everybody, it is in an effort to preserve our long-term future and help us navigate through this very difficult time. We will continue to transparently communicate as this dynamic situation evolves and do all we can to limit this hardship,” Ortberg said in his message.

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Boeing’s CFO, Brian West, earlier this week said the company would freeze hiring and raises to cut costs, and would let “non-essential contractors” go temporarily.
The financial impact of the strike will depend how long it lasts, West said, but it adds to pressure on Boeing’s leaders, who are trying to move the company past safety and quality crises, including the fallout from a near-catastrophic door plug blowout in January, and $60 billion in debt.
Ortberg said that “activities critical to our safety, quality, customer support and key certification programs will be prioritized and continue” including production of its 787 Dreamliners, which are made in a nonunion facility in South Carolina.

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ESPN’s star NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski is retiring from the company, according to a post from his X account Wednesday morning.
Wojnarowski became known in the NBA world for his breaking news reports.
He will take a job at St. Bonaventure University and become the general manager of its men’s basketball program, per ESPN.

Adrian Wojnarowski looks on before a game at Kaseya Center in Miami on June 7, 2023.
David L. Nemec | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

ESPN’s star NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski is retiring from the company, according to a post from his X account Wednesday morning.
The longtime sports reporter will take a job at St. Bonaventure, his alma mater, and become the general manager of its men’s basketball program, the university said.

Wojnarowski often broke big news in the NBA world, so frequently that his breaking news reports on player transactions became colloquially known as “Woj bombs.” He and The Athletic’s Shams Charania often competed for scoops on the latest news.
“I’ve known and admired Woj since we first worked together at Yahoo! in 2007. His work ethic is second to none,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “He’s extraordinarily talented and fearless. He has led the industry at ESPN, and his dedication to the craft and to fans is legendary.”
The general manager position has grown in popularity in college athletics since the introduction of the Name, Image and Likeness era as athletic departments look for ways to help their programs and student-athletes navigate the new era where they can ink endorsement deals.

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Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines can go through with their planned merger, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday.
The two carriers must maintain the value of their airline reward systems and preserve several key routes, among other conditions.

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines can go through with their planned merger, but they must maintain the value of their airline reward systems and preserve several key routes, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday.
The two carriers’ $1.9 billion merger agreement cleared the U.S. Justice Department’s review last month. That put it in the hands of the Transportation Department, which must also review airline mergers.

The DOT said the airlines must ensure that miles earned in the HawaiianMiles and Alaska Mileage Plan programs before the creation of a new, combined loyalty point system will not expire and that they can transfer at a 1-to-1 ratio.
They also must preserve “essential air support” for rural areas and maintain current levels of service for passenger and cargo routes between the Hawaiian islands, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on a press call.
The Department of Transportation noted that the airlines can begin the process of closing the merger, but still need approval for a transfer application, which allows them to combine and operate international routes under one certificate.
After the DOT’s announcement, Alaska said it would appoint an interim transition team to oversee the combination of the two companies as they seek a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. Joe Sprague — who is currently Alaska Airlines regional president overseeing Hawaii — will be appointed CEO of Hawaiian Airlines once the transaction is closed until the FAA process is finished, the company said.

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Hawaiian’s stock rose nearly 4% on Tuesday.

The two airlines said in December when they announced plans to combine that they would keep each carrier’s brand but operate under a single platform, combining into a more than 360-airplane fleet offering over 130 destinations.
Hawaiian must also adopt Alaska’s practices of guaranteeing family seating without an additional fee and providing compensation if the airline causes significant flight delays or cancellations, the DOT said.

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The car industry’s effort to decarbonise revolves around replacing petrol with batteries. A growing number of customers want both. Buyers who cannot afford a fully electric car, or worry about the availability of charging points, are turning to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), sales of which are rocketing. But the hybrid ride may prove to be short. More

The car industry’s effort to decarbonise revolves around replacing petrol with batteries. A growing number of customers want both. Buyers who cannot afford a fully electric car, or worry about the availability of charging points, are turning to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), sales of which are rocketing. But the hype for hybrids may prove to be short-lived. More

Each year China makes as much steel as the rest of the world combined. The vast scale of its output—around 1bn tonnes a year—is obscured by the fact that most of it stays in the country. Lately, however, China’s exports of the metal have surged, reaching 90m tonnes in 2023, up by 35% on the previous year (see chart 1). That may be a fraction of China’s total production, but it is more than what America or Japan make in a year. And it is enough to build a thousand Golden Gate bridges. More

Flutter, the parent of FanDuel, is acquiring Italian gaming company Snaitech.
It also announced a major deal in Brazil last week, as Flutter looks to a range of international markets for growth.
Italy is the largest regulated gaming market in Europe, while Brazil will become a regulated market next year.

People walk by a banner outside of the New York Stock Exchange for the initial public offering of Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, on Jan. 29, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment will spend $2.6 billion, or 2.3 billion euros, to acquire Italian gambling company Snaitech from Playtech, adding to a string of deals that aim to boost international growth.
In an email to CNBC, a Flutter spokesperson said the company is “hugely excited” to add another leading brand to its portfolio “in what is Europe’s largest regulated market.”

The deal comes as Flutter pushes to invest in the top companies in regulated markets around the world. Last week, the company made a major move into Brazil — which will have regulated gambling starting in January — when it bought a majority stake in NSX Group.
Italy is a particularly attractive market for Flutter, as it had about 21 billion euros in gross gaming revenue in 2023. But only about 21% of that came through online play.
Snai operates roughly 1,600 gambling shops and a variety of online poker and casino games. Flutter has been building up its presence in the country. It also acquired Italian lottery and gaming operator Sisal in 2022, and just reported record online market share in Italy in the second quarter.
Flutter said it expects the Snai acquisition will close by the second quarter of 2025 and will immediately boost earnings per share. Flutter said Snai had almost 10% market share in Italy last year and nearly 300,000 monthly active users.
The company’s strong brand awareness will likely be an advantage given Italy’s tough restriction on advertising and marketing.

The British gaming company’s acquisition is only its latest to expand its international presence. Flutter last week said it is taking a 56% stake in NSX Group for about $350 million and its existing Betfair Brazil business.
NSX operates Betnacional and other brands, and holds the No. 4 position in the Brazilian market.
Flutter expects “an exciting runway of future growth” through the agreement, CEO Peter Jackson said in a statement when it was announced.
The new business will be renamed Flutter Brazil, and the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025.
A gambling “gray market” currently exists in Brazil, where players have unfettered access to online betting platforms without formal regulation. That will change Jan. 1, when new regulations and licensed gambling go into effect.
Brazil had nearly $3 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2023, and the market has grown roughly 38% since 2018, according to Flutter.
Flutter will face a lot of competition in the market.
In Brazil, 113 companies have applied for licenses in a preferred application window. MGM Resorts has applied in partnership with Latin America’s biggest media group, Grupo Globo. Global gaming powerhouse Bet365 is already operating in Brazil and expected to be a formidable competitor.
Massachusetts-based DraftKings, FanDuel’s main competitor in the U.S., remains focused on opportunities within its home market.

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