Clemson fans are failing to show their support, only purchasing half of the alloted Orange Bowl tickets.
First it was reported Virginia Tech is falling short of selling its allotment for the 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl costing the school a significant amount of money, now it looks like Clemson is in the same financial predicament. The Tigers are projected to take a $185,000 hit just to play in the 2011 Orange Bowl. This is not good news for Clemson considering it is the program’s first major bowl appearance in 30 years.
Clemson received $1.75 million in ACC bowl allotment funds, but is reporting over $1.91 million in expenses including lodging ($576,696), meals ($148,904), travel costs ($192,250) mileage allowance for players ($114,280) and buying unsold tickets ($390,070). Clemson has only sold about half of its allotted 17,500 tickets with no signs of selling the remaining 8,500.
Again, this only adds more concern to the entire BCS and bowl process as programs with significantly less resources will have to start seriously considering passing on bowl invites.
The Tigers are set to face West Virginia on January 4, 2012 in what may be a half-empty stadium.
