Estimating the private consumption benefits derived from the college football game experience

The purpose of this study is to estimate the private consumption benefits derived from the college football game experience and determine whether these benefits would justify the utilization of public subsidies for construction projects of university sports facilities. A systematic sampling strategy was used to collect email addresses from individuals visiting Clemson, South Carolina to participate in the Clemson University home football game experience. The study\u27s response rate was 56.9% with a sample size of n=769. Results reveal South Carolina residents participating in the Clemson home football game experience derive $168.80 per person per game in private consumption benefits (i.e., consumer surplus). Multiplying the estimated private consumption benefits derived by South Carolina residents by the total number of South Carolina residents that visit Clemson, South Carolina to attend Clemson home football games, results in an aggregate value of$75 million in private consumption benefits for the 2008 football season

Clemson Football Parking Optimization Using the Hitchcock Algorithm and Validation with Bluetooth Sensors

The City of Clemson has a population of approximately 14,000 residents and the university has 22,700 enrolled students. However, for seven weekends during the fall, the roadways are pushed beyond capacity during home football games on Clemson University\u27s campus. Typical attendance for these home games is 80,000+ Clemson fans. These home games generate non-recurring congestion and typically require special mitigations measures, such as police officer-control of intersections. With this substantial increase in demand during football game days, the mobility around the Clemson area is severely constrained both before and after games. In an effort to alleviate traffic congestion, researchers at Clemson employed the Hitchcock Algorithm to optimize where ticketholders from particular origins park. By optimizing where ticketholders park and the routes they take into campus, unnecessary link flows can be reduced. Furthermore, demand for games is high enough to cause links to reach capacity, so this research also considers link capacity when optimizing lot and route assignments. Additionally results from a Bluetooth study collected by a third party were used to calibrate the existing probable routes and link flows. The data also showed that where these vehicles park is not typically a function of where they enter the network. The added travel time of these vehicles through the campus network negatively impacts the traffic congestion of the overall system. This research revisits the problem of optimizing football parking analyzed by Malisetty in 2004 but incorporates the use of Bluetooth sensor data and the concept of capacity-restraint. Likely link flows through campus resulting from existing lot assignments are compared to those predicted by the Hitchcock optimization, and recommendations for new parking assignments (both lots and routes into campus) are proposed for ticketholders based upon the region of the Southeast US where they originate

Field of Dreams

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, Furman was a football power that competed consistently against Clemson, South Carolina and Georgia. And Manly Field was its home

Hotel Tax Collections and a Local Mega-Event

Cities compete for the opportunity to host events that draw large crowds of visitors. The argument is that these visitors bring with them lots of spending in hotels and restaurants, providing jobs for workers in the service industry, and generating sales tax revenues for the city. In many places, there is also a separate tax on hotel and motel accommodations. Indeed, taxes on accommodations are one example of jurisdictions exporting their tax burdens, as people who pay the accommodations taxes are visitors. This paper looks for the beneficial impact of a megaevent by focusing on the accommodations tax collections in and around the jurisdiction that hosts the event.sports, South Carolina, NASCAR, college football, tourism