Clemson Enhances Fan Experience at Memorial Stadium

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff discussed the new video board inside Death Valley as well as other athletic-department projects.

Clemson fans will get their first look at one of the major phases of a $65 million renovation at Memorial Stadium on Saturday when the Tigers host the Furman Paladins at 3:30 p.m.

Death Valley's new video board will be the main attraction. The 127-foot wide, 56-foot tall piece of technology will combine with a state-of-the-art sound system and LED ribbons surrounding the stadium. 

"The new video board, which is 5 (times) the size, lights, sound system and the theatrics of that, let alone Ring of Honor and the ribbons around it, it's been a long time coming," Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said Thursday. "The 10 years that the prior board was here served its useful life and it served the Valley great." 

Neff said the video board is the eighth largest in the country, but he believes the proximity to the field and having it right about the Hill is the biggest in the country in terms of proportionality. 

"That experience for all 80,000, we're really, really excited about," Neff said. "Louisiana Tech game Week Three will be an 8 o'clock game. It'll be even different and we feel really excited about 25 seconds from an entry standpoint and then some of the timeouts and fourth-quarter videos and things like that throughout the game."

The latest additions are part of a heavy financial commitment to enhance the fan experience. Saturday will also mark the debut of The Master's Club, a premium, open-air seating section for Iptay members that's sold 633 of its 640 seats. While it also comes with a climate-controlled lounge, it's located below the WestZone on the concourse level and offers fans a premier view of the Hill. 

Neff said there is a high demand for premium seating and a good return on investment for the university.  It's just a portion of what Clemson has done to give the fans the best gameday possible inside Death Valley.

"We've actually reorganized some of our internal staffing from an administrative standpoint to align our operations and focus on marketing and getting promotions," Neff said. "Ultimately, fan experience and what that means from a facility standpoint physically, let alone just the game flow and scripting...we've taken steps internally to staff up and reorganize to have more intentionality around that."

Neff discussed several other ongoing projects the athletic department is working on for both the fans and the student-athletes:

• A new tiger statue has been placed at the entrance of Lot 5, where the players and coaches arrive for the pregame "Tiger Walk." Neff said there is now a pull-off portion for the team buses so that their drop-off doesn't interfere with traffic as much as in previous years. 
• Lot 5 will receive a makeover after the season. It will get repaved and re-lotted with trees and other features being added. That will give "Tiger Walk" attendees a different experience for the 2023 season. 
• The team locker rooms and player areas on the first floor of the WestZone will be remodeled next season. 
• Clemson has significantly upgraded its sports medicine and recovery facility with "100 Yards of Wellness," which opened in the fall semester. The athletic department added a new physical therapy staff for all sports and invested in recovery and sports science.
• With Name, Image and Likeness becoming a critical part of college athletics. The latest Clemson project is an "athletics branding institute, which is really a recognition from a NIL standpoint of how we support and give space and creative opportunities and rentable spaces for our student-athletes to engage and really focus on NIL opportunities which is obviously incredibly important for our student-athletes here, let alone from how we create opportunities from a recruiting standpoint, etcetera," Neff said. 
• Later this fall, Clemson will break ground on a women's sports expansion that includes rowing and new sports lacrosse and gymnastics. Most of the construction will occur during the winter. 

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