What is Clemson gaining from country music concerts? Millions in alcohol sales and a new grass field. By Jon Blau 6 hrs ago CLEMSON — Clemson is laying concert stages on top of Memorial Stadium’s playing surface this offseason to pull in extra money for its athletic department.
Lots of it, because the university says there were $2.8 million in food and beverage sales from a George Strait concert earlier this month, including $1.8 million in alcohol.
And the next country star coming to Death Valley will cover the costs of fixing the field.
After country star Morgan Wallen performs on June 26, Clemson says AEG Global Touring will foot the bill for a field replacement typically valued at around $200,000-$300,000. A new surface is slated to be installed in July.
“The setup, the stage, the flooring, everything is gonna be different for Morgan Wallen,” said Eric Sabin, Clemson deputy athletic director for finance and operations, in an episode of the podcast 2 Right Turns recapping Strait’s performance and looking ahead to Wallen.
“We're gonna have that field covered all week long. We're not gonna be able to do some of the things that we did this go-around with George to try to keep some of the field open,” Sabin added.
There were just over 90,000 attendees amassed around a 45-foot-wide round stage planted at midfield on May 2 as Strait, the “King of Country,” held his most-attended performance outside of the state of Texas.
Wallen, however, tours with a sound stage that spans from the back of Memorial Stadium’s east end zone to the 45-yard line, according to Sabin.
“I would say that Eric was very easy going with with with George and the team, because it is pretty typical to put in a field cost replacement (in a contract), regardless of whether you're gonna do it or not,” said Jared Stone, CEO of Does Entertainment.
Clemson could have requested Strait’s team address the field at Clemson following his concert, but Sabin noted the football program had its football camps coming up in late May and early June. That didn’t leave much turnaround time to flip a field.
Fields can be replaced relatively quickly, though. In 2021, the bermudagrass in Death Valley was ravaged by nematodes and a “ready play” surface was laid down between Sept. 18 and Oct. 2 home games at a cost of roughly $100,000.
This time around, it’s giant stages leaving imprints for the first time since Strait last performed at the venue in 1999.
Clemson Ventures, the university’s revenue-generating arm, has organized these concerts. In fact, Ventures pays Clemson a facility rental fee of $6,000 a day and also reimburses the athletic department for its operation costs for the event, but that’s just money changing hands between two parts of a larger enterprise.
Clemson athletics itself generates concessions revenue from the event while Ventures makes money from whatever revenue splits it negotiated with the artists’ management.
As a combined enterprise, Clemson and Clemson Ventures will definitely bring in a seven-figure dollar amount from the Strait concert. There were 106,226 alcoholic beverages sold, which came at an average cost of $17 per unit. Alcohol sales are typically split evenly with Clemson’s vendor Aramark.
These profits create a much-desired cash infusion for Clemson as it tries to keep up with the ever-increasing expenses of college athletics.
Schools are now paying athletes up to $20.5 million in revenue-sharing, as well as additional scholarships, as a result of the NCAA’s settlement of antitrust lawsuits. Donors and corporate sponsors are also being tapped to direct even more money to athletes via third-party name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals.
Clemson has employed several strategies to increase revenues, including selling alcohol at sporting events, instituting a student athletic fee, and building out Clemson Ventures to create more revenue opportunities.
In the content space, Clemson has a Gatorade-sponsored “Versus” show where athletes compete against each other in cornhole, among various sports. Clemson’s “House Call” series, which visits football players in their hometowns, has been licensed to stream on Amazon Prime.
Clemson continues to search for a corporate sponsor to affix its logo to the playing surface at Memorial Stadium after failing to find one for the 2025 season, while the NCAA will also allow schools to add a sponsor’s jersey patch this coming season.
In the meantime, events have been booked for Death Valley, including the Savannah Bananas and musicians like Strait and Wallen. Sabin said in the 2 Right Turns podcast that Clemson hopes to have one major event in Memorial Stadium each year, as well as performances in Littlejohn Coliseum once its practice facility expansion is done.
Jon Allen, associate AD for facilities operations and events, said Clemson has looped in city partners on planning for an influx of visitors in what’s usually the offseason.
“You're kind of used to seven Saturdays in the fall,” Allen said on 2 Right Turns, “you need to start adding a few dates probably in the spring here, too, as we start to expand our portfolio a little bit.”
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