Open Letter From Terry Don Phillips

March 17, 2003

An Open Letter to Tiger Supporters:

The purpose of this letter is to express my personal regret that you were not provided prior appropriate notification that an adjustment in athletic ticket prices (to include football) would be forthcoming. Over the past two to three years in planning the current construction projects, it became a reality that reasonable adjustments in ticket costs (based upon other competitive programs) would be necessary to help support the nearly $32.2 million of debt the construction projects created.

Several convergent issues produced this reality, which include among others:

Increases in costs of the projects themselves, e.g., Littlejohn roof;
The substantial increases in scholarship costs necessitated by the highly significant state funding cuts to the University;
Economic factors impacting the Tiger Pride campaign; and
By the nature of the projects, no new revenue streams were created to offset costs, thereby placing a $3.1 million obligation on the department’s operating budget.

Like many of you to whom I’ve spoken, I’ve been surprised by the subsequent discovery that our department is not quite as financially strong as once believed. However, even though our present circumstances are challenging, we do have a firm foundation to build upon, thanks to past leadership. Also encouraging is that the pricing adjustments and recent cost containment initiatives will provide opportunity to move forward aggressively toward the performance level we all want and expect.

Please know we will work diligently to be good stewards of the resources that are provided. We will work hard to create the best opportunity possible to pursue our goal of preeminence. As I’ve said before, the future is not something we simply enter, but together, we have the exciting chance to create a great future for our program. We appreciate and are grateful for your support.

One Clemson,

Terry Don Phillips Director of Athletics

2003 Season Ticket Update Season Ticket purchasers are receiving a discount off the face value of individual ticket prices.

Sum of Individual Home Ticket prices = $231.00 (7 Games) Season Ticket Price = $220.00

Discount to season ticket purchasers = $11.00 Average Price per ticket for home 2003 games = $31.00 Average price per ticket for 2002 season = $28.00

Admission fee increase of $2.00 per ticket will go to the retirement of the bonds used for construction and/or renovation of: Memorial Stadium Littlejohn Coliseum and Huckabee Annex Doug Kingsmore Baseball Stadium Indoor Track and Practice Facility

At USC Priority Update Clemson and USC have agreed to reduce the number of tickets exchanged to 10,000. USC only received 10,000 tickets in 2002. Due to this reduction, priority points on USC tickets rose more than in the past.