Traditionally, all student tickets at Clemson have been free. However, that could change under a new proposal that would charge students $225 for lower-level tickets. The free tickets have been available on a signup basis and the lower-level tickets would be a season ticket of sorts, guaranteeing students admission to all of Clemson's home games.
The students hate it, but I don't see it as a big deal. I paid ~$75 to get guarenteed tickets in the the nosebleeds every year (and that was 7+ years ago).
What do you think?
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they gotta fund that new athletic complex somehow
And Dabo's new salary...
Surprised they don't just increase the athletic fee for each student by $117.50 each semester ($225 per year) instead while still being able to tout the tickets are 'free'.
Maybe Clemson actually does have some integrity? ZOMG!
You mean like the $55M football players only 'village' they're getting ready to build?
Not sure how that impacts what we're talking about.
In any case, I assume if we could afford such a travesty, we would do it too.
It impacts what we are talking about because the building of a $55 million football only facility is a direct cause of why Clemson is pricing student tickets now that used to be "free".
Yeah but the OP said why don't they do it to ALL students (raise prices), and I said maybe they have some integrity still - more of a TIC comment but I digress - Instead of charging ALL students extra, they're selling it to students at a certain price for a certain type of seat.
If they charged everyone $225 they probably could build that monstrosity, but they aren't.
Well, I'd like to understand. Was it offered for free before and now they're charging? Or was it NEVER open to students and now it is but at a price?
In any case, I'm all about letting students get great seats, even if its at the cost to me. Students are what give stadiums a home-field advantage, not sitting-down, quiet old alumni.
My assumption (read: I don't actually know) was that student tickets were 'free' and now they're making certain preferred sections an additional cost.
So Clemson has what's basically a donor club called IPTAY. IPTAY stands for "I Pay Ten A Year" as $10 was the membership price when it started, but by the time I was there for my freshman year in 2011 it was (I think) $300. Being an IPTAY member gave you first go at seats as a student, especially for football, and gave you a higher chance of getting seats as an alumni. Technically the seats were free, but if you wanted to sit in the lower bowl you'd have to get your tickets early, and if you weren't in IPTAY you wouldn't get them in time to get in the lower bowl. To get the best seats you still had to wait in line, which meant camping out with your friends, as I did twice before realizing I hated everything about Clemson. Those lower level seats are really close to the field, and most Clemson students will be able to afford it, however I don't know what role IPTAY plays in this.
Clemson has designated student seating sections in both the lower and upper deck. It's not clear to me if the sections that will require payment under the new proposal are the same sections or "better" sections than the sections designated as student sections in the past. The existing student ticket process has been to distribute tickets for free on a per-game basis using a tiered hierarchy and first-come, first-serve approach. Essentially you must wait to pick-up a ticket until your appropriate group's timeslot:
-Student Organization Block Seating - Tuesday week prior to game
-IPTAY Collegiate Club Members (paid $40 annual fee) - Noon-6pm on Sunday before game
-Graduate Students - 6pm-midnight on Sunday before game
-Seniors - Noon-6pm on Monday before game
-Juniors - 6pm-midnight on Monday before game
-Sophomores - Noon-6pm on Tuesday before game
-Freshman - 6pm-midnight on Tuesday before game
-Remaining tickets - Wed, Thur, Fri (while supplies last)
The way I interpret the proposal is that paying the $225 gives you a few benefits (1) you guarantee yourself seats for every game, without having to go get in line for every game (2) you guarantee yourself seats in one of the lower level student section rather than potentially getting stuck in one of the upper deck sections.
This is somewhat similar to when Tech started offering student season tickets back in 1999. Up to that point, all student tickets were free, but they were first-come, first-serve for every game (without the tiered timeslots that Clemson uses). That said, the line started forming earlier and earlier before the time ticket distribution began. I think when the line was forming days ahead of time was when Tech realized they needed to offer another alternative. Starting in 1999, you could bypass that process by buying season tickets at a price of $7/game. Still, that first year that season tickets were offered, a lot of students (myself included) opted to save their $42 and get the free tickets through the first-come, first-serve process. The success of the 1999 season pretty much killed that though, and everyone I knew decided it was worth paying up for student season tickets in 2000.
They just agreed to pay their coach $5M+...think they can afford to keep the student tickets free.
How do you think they plan to fund part of that salary each year?
We'll see how much Clemson fans love Dabo, because as usual the fans are usually the ones that end up footing the bill.
Yea I'm surprised it took them this long. When I starting as a Freshman at Tech 10 years ago I was very surprised and disappointed to see that students weren't given free tickets (I grew up in Clemson's shadow and that was all I had ever seen). However this day in age you almost have to. Heck, every ticket that goes to a student and not an alumni who is a paying Hokie Club, IPTAY, or whatever the school calls it member is potential money lost. Yet then again the more students the better the atmosphere so I guess it's about finding the right balance.
That money is made up in student fees typically. VT has a low amount of student fees, so making students who are actually invested in the athletic event pay for their season tickets is a fair way to cover the cost rather than charge everyone a fee and only 10,000 of the 28,000 student body gets to benefit from it. And yes, I know there are more benefits to your athletics fees as well.
Oh absolutely I understand that now. I was just saying that I didn't understand that when I was 18, but then again I guess that's why Clemson does it the way they do.
Its sad but not surprising. College Football is becoming more and more of a business, they want to make money however they can and will continue to find ways to squeeze it out pf everyone...
This is the new normal and doesn't really come as a shock. Here at OSU it's 250 for the full home package and it usually sells out quick.
By the new normal you mean the old normal. Almost no universities offer all student tickets for free. Most don't offer any student tickets for free.
I have many friends still at Clemson that are not happy about this, surprisingly. That, coupled with the constant construction, and restructuring the availability of some classes forcing summer school for students who otherwise wouldn't need it, is causing quite stir around here.
*singing* Soooo glaaaddd I transferredddd
It's interesting that Clemson has a phenomenal year, makes it to the national championship, and likely makes record dollars, but that's not enough to cover their increased expenses.
The world is not enough.