Last week, before Clemson hosted the Savannah Bananas in front of 81,000 fans at Memorial Stadium, Clemson athletic director Graham Neff stated that the Tigers planned to continue hosting various non-sporting events at Memorial Stadium and their other athletic venues moving forward.

Nothing has changed in that regard since the Bananas came to Tiger Town. In fact, Saturday’s highly successful event was a “big step” in the direction of Clemson holding more non-sporting events at Memorial Stadium, according to Neff.

Neff told Ben Portnoy of Sports Business Journal that Clemson estimates it will net between $400,000 and $600,000 in gross revenue from Saturday’s game.

Neff added that the Tigers are “in talks with promoters around potential future events.”

“We’re not Atlanta. We’re not Charlotte. We’re not gonna have a concert every week in Death Valley, per se,” Neff said to Portnoy. “But, yeah, the thoughtful use of our facilities for 365 [days per year], this is a first step, or a big step toward that.”

The revenues Clemson received from Saturday’s “Banana Ball” game came from parking, premium sales and food and beverage, including alcohol sales. Clemson introduced alcohol sales at the April 5 spring game, so the Bananas game was the second time Clemson sold alcohol at Memorial Stadium.

Neff said last week before the Bananas game that Clemson’s alcohol sales were off to a good start.

“We’ve generated about $125,000 of gross revenue, which maybe doesn’t strike you as a huge number… but again, those are baseball and softball games, and a spring game,” Neff said. “So, as we project out with seven full stadiums of Saturdays and Littlejohn and the year in total, our revenue projections, we’re trending well. It’s been a good start for that.”

–Photo courtesy of Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK