For this year's national championship, Clemson anticipates spending $25,000 for advertisingGETTY IMAGES
Clemson on Monday will play in its third CFP National Championship game in four years, and the school's recent success on the football field has "helped fuel enrollment growth at the university and new construction," according to Mollie Simon of the ANDERSON INDEPENDENT MAIL. Clemson's win in the '17 title game "helped increase the university's national presence," as Google Trends data showed searches for "Clemson University" reached a "five-year peak" following the game. Clemson VP/University Relations Mark Land said that success in sports "gives the university opportunities for free advertising." The week of the '17 title game, Clemson had "more than 250,000 visits to its website from people outside of the region." Land said that in total, the '17 game "led to 27 million total social media impressions for the university's pages and 10,800 new followers." Simon noted applications to Clemson have also "increased along with the Tigers' winning." A total of 15,542 students "applied for freshman admission to Clemson" in '08, but that grew by 86% to 28,844 in '18. Land: "Not a lot of students say they chose to come to Clemson because we won a national championship, but there is a significant number of students who said their first introduction to Clemson was through attending an athletic event. Athletic success serves as a front door to the university." The school in '17 "spent about $30,000 on advertising" around the CFP title game against Alabama Land said that for this year's national championship game, the school "anticipates spending $25,000." He added that Clemson "views the big games as a 'business opportunity' and a way to talk about the other things happening on the campus" (ANDERSON INDEPENDENT MAIL, 1/3).
HARD TO BEAT: In South Carolina, Gene Sapakoff wrote Alabama-Clemson is "taking its place as the best championship-level rivalry in football, college or pro." There is "no good football comparison here." Sapakoff: "You have to go to other sports. Celtics-Lakers, Ali-Frazier, Duke-North Carolina." While there may be college football rivalries with "much more tradition," the questions exists as to whether fans want a "long tradition of meaningless games or shorter bursts with everything on the line?" Sapakoff: "Tired of Alabama-Clemson? Pace yourself" (Charleston POST & COURIER, 1/3). ESPN's Mina Kimes said Alabama-Clemson "makes for an excellent championship game because it has everything you want." Kimes: "The best players, the best coaches. It is the optimal rematch." But ESPN's Clinton Yates said, "There is not that great of a storyline with this is situation. ... There isn't something that as a non-Bama or Clemson fan that is going to draw me to this" ("Around the Horn," ESPN, 1/2).
