Clemson Family,
It’s officially fall, and our sports are in full swing here in Tigertown as we get set to welcome many for Homecoming weekend. When I reflect upon where we were at this point last year, it has been great to hear from our coaches how much they have appreciated having fans back in the stands. The atmospheres at Memorial Stadium, Historic Riggs Field and Jervey Gym have been tremendous.
If you’re making the trip in, consider attending our olympic sport events taking place this week, with volleyball and women’s soccer on Friday night, or take in Tigerama.
I deeply appreciate our fans’ willingness to take safety measures seriously as we continue to navigate some modified operations and new procedures. Your game experience – whether soccer, football, volleyball or any other sport – is critical to our success. Seeing the lots full for the first two home football games has been great, and there’s nothing that matches it.
Philosophically we look at each individual’s experience from driveway to driveway – from the time you leave your house until you return home after a memorable day in the stadium – and take great pride in that.
We also know through the feedback that we’ve received and our own observations that there are areas we can improve.
While we take great care in communicating and managing all elements of the gameday experience, I understand and acknowledge that we have fallen short of expectations in some areas. We have been listening to your feedback as we have implemented new entry procedures and work through staffing shortages at the gates and concession stands. Unfortunately, we have not been immune to many of the issues and shortages, both from a supply and staffing standpoint, that many businesses have seen nationwide.
We have been working with all of our partners to attempt to address these, both from a training and staffing standpoint. We’ve also made some adjustments to concession stand operations and the queuing procedures, and saw a better result between the first two games.
For stadium entry, we recognize the transition to mobile tickets has been challenging for many, but I am encouraged about the progress from the first week. Our staff is aware of the concerns and issues at entry that comes with bringing 81,500 fans in safely, and are working diligently to address them. We continue to urge fans to download tickets prior to leaving home. Some of the delays at the gate could be mitigated by these early downloads. View the mobile ticket guide.
Our operations team continues to evaluate all areas of our planning and procedures. We are also thankful for our third-party vendors’ efforts in increasing staffing and training, but we know we have work to do.
Your passion is important to us. Thank you so much for your patience and your support of Clemson.
Go Tigers!
Dan Radakovich
Director of Athletics
