How much Clemson made in first season of alcohol sales at football games
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CLEMSON — Clemson football had a losing record at home this season for the first time since 1998, but the school’s new alcohol policy was a success.
According to the school’s athletic department, Clemson generated $1,822,871 in gross revenue and sold 173,775 units over seven home games at Memorial Stadium. The net revenue for alcohol sales is not available yet because Clemson will split revenue with its vendor, Aramark Sports and Entertainment.
The school made the most money when Clemson hosted LSU to start the season on Aug. 30 in front of a sold-out crowd of 81,500 fans. This was the first time alcohol was sold at a regular-season Clemson football games, and the school sold 45,460 units to make $467,771 in gross revenue.
Clemson generated over $300,000 again this season when the Tigers sold 31,016 units for $323,760 against Florida State on Nov. 8. The fewest amount Clemson made was $143,611 against Troy on Sept. 6.
The Clemson-LSU game was the only game to exceed what Clemson made from a sold-out baseball game for the Savannah Bananas in April at the same venue, which sold 27,181 units to make $346,684 in gross revenue.
Clemson’s athletic department announced April 1 that alcoholic would be available for purchase at designated stands and kiosks at sporting events. Clemson was one of three Power Four schools along with Utah and BYU that neither offered the sale of alcoholic beverages in its athletic venues nor accepted sponsorship revenue from alcoholic beverage advertisers.
Revenue generation was a reason why Clemson finally permitted alcohol sales to address increased costs in 2025-26 for revenue sharing with athletes.
The cap for this school year is approximately $20.5 million, and Clemson is using the full amount and will fully fund 150 new scholarships across all sports, increasing totals from 275 to 425. That will be an approximate additional cost of $6 million for Clemson.
To combat rising costs, Clemson began revenue-generating initiatives ahead of this year’s settlement being approved, including adding a student athletics fee, increasing season-ticket prices for football games and hosting non-NCAA sports on campus like the Savannah Bananas.
Clemson also created Clemson Ventures, a revenue-generating entity that will produce in-house sales and sponsorship and facilitate NIL deals with businesses for Clemson athletes, and “Death Valley Nights,” a concert series that will feature music artists like Morgan Wallen and George Strait next year.
Clemson will have the chance to generate more dollars next season, too. The Tigers can add corporate ads on their field like Tennessee and South Carolina have done to boost revenue.
Although not approved, jersey sponsorships are another way Clemson can add dollars. NCAA rules prohibit schools from putting sponsorship logos on their jerseys, but the organization could change that rule similar to adding sponsors on the field. The Tigers already have a jersey sponsor for their mascots: Novant Health.
Clemson can also add an alcohol sponsor. It currently doesn’t have one with Aramark handling the sales at games.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: How much alcohol Clemson sold at football games in 2025, led by LSU
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