CLEMSON — If you scroll on X.com, visit the message boards or listen to the radio, you will come across Clemson fans complaining that the school is not doing enough financially to get with them times in college football.
Following Wednesday’s announcement that Prisma Health will brand its corporate logo on Frank Howard Field this coming season, those same fans are complaining that Clemson has given into the system and has sold its soul to the corporate world.
In other words, Clemson is damned if it does or damned if it does not.
What do you guys want them to do?
Graham Neff, Clemson Ventures and Clemson Athletics are literally doing whatever it takes to bring funds to the athletic department so it can keep up with the Joneses in college athletics.
Remember, Clemson needs to make an additional $20.5 million a year in revenue to help pay student-athletes as part of the House settlement from 2025.
The athletic department is also doing all it can to keep the football program relevant on the national stage, as Neff reportedly said this summer, the football salaries this year will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million.
That’s good, however, LSU’s roster is $40 million. So, you can see right away how far behind Clemson is playing from.
As a traditionalist, I get it. All the traditions and pageantry that make college football so unique are dying.
College football is just not what it used to be, and there is nothing we can do about it.
If you are Clemson, you either get with the times, or you are left behind.
There is some good news, though. At least Clemson did not sell everything like some schools—cough, cough—Wake Forest.
At least Memorial Stadium is still Memorial Stadium for the time being. At least Frank Howard Field is still Frank Howard Field. At least Clemson Running Down the Hill is not sponsored by Nissan or Coca-Cola or something like that, so it could be worse.
Clemson is doing all it can to compete again at the highest level in college football. Clemson needs its football program to be ranked among the nation’s best.
Over the summer, Clemson netted $8 million from the George Strait and Morgan Wallen concerts at Death Valley. Look for Clemson Ventures to do more summer concert series in the future.
Why?
The old way is not working anymore. Clemson has to change with the times and if putting Prisma Health on the playing surface at Memorial Stadium is one way to bring in some extra income, then I am all for it.