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CLEMSON -- The controversy over student ticket prices for football has Clemson's attention.

Two days ago, during a press conference announcing Dabo Swinney's big raise, athletics director Dan Radakovich was asked about charging for student tickets and he outlined the plan to charge students for lower-deck seats while setting aside 3,300 free seats in the South upper deck.

It sounded like Radakovich was saying it was a done deal. But over the past two days the AD has clarified his remarks and said it's merely a proposal.

Board of Trustees approval would be required only for the imposition of a mandatory fee, and since this scenario is elective Radakovich does not officially need the BOT to sign off on it.

Unofficially, though, this has become such a controversy that the board and the president are most certainly going to be consulted and we are told there will be further discussion.

Radakovich's comments came a day after the athletics department met with student representatives to discuss the idea, but before the AD had put together a finalized proposal.

We are told the athletics department met with student representatives again Wednesday. We anticipate a statement from the AD later today with some clarifications and corrections of alleged misinformation that's out there.

On Wednesday, the second and final day of the BOT meetings, Radakovich told Anderson Independent-Mail news reporter Mike Eads that this plan "was always a proposal."

"We sat down with the students and talked through it, and we were going to talk here about it to the board until it took a left turn," Radakovich said.

Radakovich has spent more than two years trying to create a revenue stream out of student tickets. A previous proposal for a mandatory student fee was soundly rejected.

Clemson is in the distinct minority in the ACC, SEC and Big 12 with its traditional philosophy of allowing students to attend football games for free.

Virginia, for example, makes $13.7 million off an athletics fee for its 12,000 students. At South Carolina, an athletics fee generates $2.5 million a year.

Radakovich is hoping this season's ticket purchase plan, which would put a $225 price tag on 9,000 lower-deck seats, would generate $1.8 to $2 million.

Radakovich said Monday he was hoping to have the plan implemented for the 2016 season, which would necessitate settling the issue before the end of the spring semester.

"It's no great secret they don't want to do that," Radakovich said of the students. "It's been part of Clemson for an awful long time."

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