Students, alumni, and players alike are gearing up for the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship between the Clemson Tigers and Miami Hurricanes, taking place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday.
Despite almost 5,000 requests from Clemson University students looking to attend the game, only 200 were granted tickets from the school’s allotment. Both Clemson and Miami were given 5,500 tickets to the game, according to Amy Yakola, executive associate commissioner and chief of external affairs for the ACC, to either sell or give away as they saw fit.
So, what did Clemson do with the other 5,000+ tickets?
The university sold 200 tickets to a lucky fraction of the 4,860 students who requested them for $65 each. Five hundred tickets were allotted to the Tiger Band, and 1,300 to the players’ guests and staff members. A majority of the school’s tickets – 3,500 – were sold to IPTAY donors and season tickets holders for between $128-$214, said Joe Galbraith, assistant athletics director at Clemson (IPTAY stands for “I pay ten a year”, and is the school’s athletic fundraising organization).
The University of Miami allocated 236 of its 5,500 tickets to students, according to Carter Toole, Miami’s associate athletic director for communications and digital strategy.
Tickets to the ACC Championship went on sale to the public in July, months before the competing teams were known. When the teams are determined, universities with teams playing in the championship are required to purchase and sell thousands of tickets in the week or so leading up the game – as many as 12,000 in the past.
Galbraith said that, “even for Clemson, if we had a choice, we’d rather be responsible for selling a (lower) number [than 12,000]”, but also that the university attempted to request more than 5,500 from the ACC.
Of the 13 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, this will be the seventh year the game takes place at the 75,000+ capacity Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Yakola said ACC title games at Bank of America Stadium have sold out four times – this Saturday included.
