Beer in Death Valley? Clemson weighs changes to alcohol policy at football games

If you’re a Clemson football fan, Memorial Stadium offers plenty of perks. But sitting down and watching the Tigers play with a beer in your hand isn’t one of them.

Not yet, that is.

While there are no changes planned for Clemson’s 2024 home football schedule or the immediate future, Tigers athletic director Graham Neff said the university has been looking into the logistics of selling alcohol at football games and other sporting events.and it will remain a “continual conversation” for Clemson leaders.

“It’s certainly something that we have talked about and are talking about,” Neff said in an Aug. 21 news conference. “So that’s an active answer, but it’s also a retroactive answer. We’ve been talking about that. We’ve been assessing.”

Despite offering an impressive tailgating culture outside of Death Valley on football Saturdays, the Tigers stand out in the ACC and as one of the few major schools nationally who’ve held off on selling beer, wine, seltzer and/or other alcoholic beverages directly to their fans.

According to a 2023 survey by The Associated Press, 55 of the 69 then-Power 5 conference schools plus Notre Dame — or 80% of those surveyed — currently sell some form of alcohol (mostly beer) to fans in public areas of their football stadiums on game days. Clemson is among the 14 schools that don’t indulge.

The Tigers do allow beer, wine and liquor possession and sales in various club and luxury suite locations at Memorial Stadium and Littlejohn Coliseum , where their men’s and women’s basketball teams play. But they’ve held off on selling alcohol directly to fans, something former AD Dan Radakovich framed in 2018 as a decision that helps maintain a family-friendly atmosphere .

Things change, though.

Revenue ‘never more important’

The most pressing item: What’s known as the House settlement.

Under that agreement, which stems from various class action lawsuits against the NCAA including House vs. NCAA and is expected to be finalized in coming months, Clemson and other schools are set to share roughly $21.5 million per year in revenue directly with their athletes starting with the 2024-25 athletics year.

That’s a new, unbudgeted expense schools must find the money to fulfill.

Add in the growing costs of competition in college athletics across the board — and, although Neff didn’t explicitly tie this in, the fact Clemson is engaged a lengthy and expensive court battle against the ACC — Clemson’s AD said it’s “never been more important” for the school to think creatively about ways to generate revenue.

Alcohol sales fall firmly into that category.

“We certainly know the marketplace well,” Neff said. “We know the dynamics with it, the revenue opportunities with it and how it would fit here at Clemson. So it’s been a long type of conversation — a long, continual conversation. And it’s certainly continuing and active right now.”

Neff’s comments last month marked a notable change in tune since the last time Clemson’s third-year athletic director publicly addressed the possibility of alcohol sales. In September 2022, he told the media that Clemson, at that point, hadn’t had any major discussions about changing its alcohol policy for sporting events.

Now, he said, it’s on the table.

“We’re well aware of the national landscape and who does and doesn’t (sell alcohol) and those types of things,” Neff said. “There’s decisions for Clemson. Yes, there’s revenue generation needs. And of course, there’s fan experience opportunities.”

A national trend

Alcohol sales can have an immediate impact on a school’s bottom line. One of Clemson’s ACC colleagues, North Carolina , made $320,213 in net sales during its first year selling alcohol in 2019-20 — and quadrupled that number last year, per The AP.

Clemson’s in-state rival, South Carolina , started selling alcohol to fans at sporting events in 2020. The Gamecocks athletic department made roughly $3 million off sales at Williams-Brice Stadium (football), $1.7 million off sales at Colonial Life Arena (basketball) and roughly $920,000 off sales at Founders Park (baseball) in 2023, The State previously reported .

Adding to the intrigue from a Clemson perspective: Earlier this year, the university formally applied for permits for the on-premise sale of beer and wine and liquor by the drink at Memorial Stadium, as well as on-premise sale of beer and wine at Littlejohn Coliseum and other venues.

According to representatives for Clemson and the state Department of Revenue, which handles permits statewide through its Alcohol Beverage Licensing office, those applications merely represented Clemson adhering to a new set of DOR guidelines released last fall (mostly surrounding technicalities for alcohol storage).

Still, the publicly posted notices for licenses at the university’s two largest sporting venues caused quite the social media reaction in May — most of it positive — and showed there’s an appetite among Clemson sports fans for public alcohol sales.

By applying for permanent alcohol licenses at Memorial Stadium — as well as another “zone” that includes Littlejohn Coliseum, baseball’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium and 17 other athletic venues/facilities — back in May, Clemson has also gotten the ball rolling on an extensive, months-long ABL application process.

In other words: Applying for these licenses now (even if it’s solely to comply with state law) would make it easier and simpler for Clemson to start selling alcohol to the public in the future, if the university ever chooses to do so.

Neff said in August that selling alcohol at sporting events is “going to remain on our list” of things the Clemson athletic department will consider to generate revenue.

“But it’s been on the list for quite some time,” he said. “We’ll continue to study it and see what becomes of it.”

Athletic ‘zones’ and alcohol licenses

According to documents obtained by The State via public records request, Clemson submitted two separate permanent alcohol licenses to the state Department of Revenue’s Alcohol Beverage Licensing office in May to cover its sporting venues.

Clemson applied for a seven-day on-premises beer and wine license as well as a business liquor by the drink license for Zone 4, which exclusively covers the football stadium. The university also applied for a seven-day on-premises beer and wine license (but no liquor license) at Zone 3, which covered these 19 athletics venues:

• Littlejohn Coliseum (basketball)

• Riggs Field (soccer)

• Duckworth Family Tennis Facility

• Jervey Athletic Center

• Jervey Gym (volleyball)

• McFadden Building

• Poe Indoor Football Facility

• Doug Kingsmore Stadium (baseball)

• Penley Golf Facility

• McWhorter Stadium (softball)

• New Watt Facility

• Clemson Lacrosse Complex

• Rowing Center

• Penley Building

• Reeves Football Complex

• Track & Field Complex

• Athlete Recovery Center

• Clemson Rowing Complex

• Clemson Gymnastics Complex

Clemson also submitted two other applications for on-premise beer and wine permanent licenses at Zone 1 (which covered five on-campus buildings) and Zone 2 (which covered 15 more on-campus buildings) in April. A university spokesman said all four of the applications were submitted solely to comply with new state guidance.

“The University, and its contracted vendor Aramark , is required to provide public notice as part of an approval process to request licenses to store alcohol for catering and special events at various locations around campus,” the spokesman said. “There are no plans for retail sales of alcohol to individuals at these locations.”