Clemson football fans will be making their way back into Death Valley at full capacity for the first time in two years in just a couple of weeks when the Tigers host S.C. State.
While there are still tickets on sale, the renewal rate for season tickets was fairly high and there is expected to be a nice crowd on-hand for each of the six home games this 2021 season.
One of the biggest questions for Clemson football fans heading into this season was the game day protocols and what will be required to attend the event.
Tigernet’s David Hood reported Wednesday several bullet points for what can be expected:
- Masks won’t be required, but fans are asked to wear one and to be courteous. They’re asked to stay home if they’re sick.
- Clemson isn’t requiring proof of a vaccine or a negative test
- The expectation is that tailgating will resume as normal
Clemson Athletic Director Dan Radakovich made an appearance on WCCP with William Qualkinbush and Kelly Gramlich and was asked about LSU’s announced policy to require proof of vaccination for entry.
"“I think that certainly the state of Louisiana and where they are with some of their vaccination rates and the influx of the Delta variants there – whether it was the Saints, Tulane and now LSU – they’re in a little different spot than we are here in South Carolina right now,” Radakovich said. “But I think that for our outside seating areas, we’re going to look to strongly encourage people to wear masks when they’re not eating or drinking. Right now on campus, we have a certain stance where if you are in an interior space – a classroom, a laboratory, an office building – you are asked to wear a mask if you’re not in your office by yourself. That may end, and that process will end before our first home game. So, whether it gets extended or not, we’ll have to see. But if that does, we’ll have to have some conversations as to whether or not the club and suite areas are affected by that.”"
Clemson football fans are ready to return to Death Valley
It’s going to be exciting to see Clemson football fans back in Death Valley, no doubt.
After a year in which Clemson limited capacity to just around 19,000 in the stands and had to pipe in crowd noise, it’s going to be refreshing for Tiger fans and for College Football as a whole to see stadiums with fans and to see the pageantry of the sport return.
Clemson opens up the season with a neutral-site game against Georgia in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte before returning home.
For those wondering, the last time we saw a full-capacity crowd in Death Valley, it was November 16, 2019 when the Tigers beat Wake Forest 52-3.
Even for lesser opponents, we expect the atmosphere to be electric in Clemson Memorial Stadium this season.