(O&W) Clemson AD says Student Ticket Plant not Settled

Apr 14, 2016, 9:02 AM

Clemson athletic director says student ticket plan not settled

By Mike Eads of the Independent Mail

CLEMSON — A proposal to start charging Clemson students for football tickets hasn't been set yet, and it might not ever be implemented, said Tigers Athletic Director Dan Radakovich.

Responding to a storm of complaints from alumni and students on social media, Radakovich said Wednesday that his department is merely considering the idea of charging students $225 a season for lower level seats.

"It was always a proposal," Radakovich said before a meeting Wednesday of the university trustees at the Madren Conference Center. "We sat down with the students and talked through it, and we were going to talk here about it to the board when it took a left turn."

A petition started at change.org/p/keep-student-tickets-free-at-clemson-university had more than 8,400 student and alumni signatures as of Wednesday night.

Joe Galbraith, Clemson associate athletic director of communications, said that under the proposal Clemson would "continue to provide an allotment of free tickets to students wanting to attend Clemson football games, just as they enjoy to each of our athletic events at no cost. We will also provide more seating for students, and new consolidated seating for students where they were spread across multiple sections previously."

Joey Wilson, who recently became undergraduate student body president, told the trustees Wednesday that charging students for tickets would be unfair.

"I believe every student should be able to sit in the lower deck in the future," Wilson said. "This is one of the reasons Clemson has such a loyal fan base. … We definitely don't want to divide the students between the haves and the have-nots."

Radakovich didn't say when a final decision about the issue might be made. He added that he's open to suggestions, but pointed out that Clemson is only ACC school that doesn't charge students for football tickets.

"We're just an outlier, and that's OK; we just need to make sure everyone understands that," he said.

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