Dabo Swinney Clarifies Clemson’s Alcohol Sale Decision as Cade Klubnik Responds to Viral Post

It’s official. Memorial Stadium has announced that alcoholic beverages will be sold inside the arena, beginning with the game on August 30 between No. 6 Clemson and No. 9 LSU. It marks the first time that alcohol will be sold in the stadium on such a large scale, after a test run was conducted in April. With the 81,000-seater stadium expected to be packed out, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney believes that the addition of alcohol won’t have a substantial impact on the atmosphere of the Memorial Stadium.

Of course, Swinney being Swinney, he didn’t just give a flat yes-or-no response. He spun it into something bigger, suggesting that Clemson’s decision was part of the sport’s shifting landscape. To him, the arrival of alcohol inside the gates isn’t a revolution so much as a recognition. “I’m sure they ain’t all bringing Diet Coke back in,” Swinney said with a grin. “It’s probably the first time they’re selling it, but it ain’t the first time they’ve been there. I promise you.”

In other words, this is 2025—policies changing, rules bending, but the core experience looking familiar to anyone who’s ever spent a Saturday in Death Valley. Dabo Swinney even likened it to NIL and called it “pre-NIL”, noting how players were once quietly paid under the table before formal legalization. For him, alcohol sales are the same story: an old reality, now simply made official.

That framing makes sense when you look at Clemson’s stadium setup. Unlike many venues, Memorial Stadium has long had a re-entry policy, which allows fans to leave and return with a voucher and a valid mobile ticket. Swinney’s point: fans already had avenues to bring in whatever they wanted, and many did. The Tigers’ May 2025 policy update made it crystal clear that outside alcohol is banned except in premium seating, but now the school is pulling the revenue lever itself.

It’s also in line with what most major programs have done. LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State—schools with big crowds and bigger TV deals—have embraced alcohol sales without seeing their game-day atmospheres collapse. Clemson is simply catching up, and with 81,500 people crammed in for a top-10 showdown, every detail of the fan experience feels amplified.

Dabo Swinney’s comments came amid another media storm involving one of Clemson Tigers’ star players.

Cade Klubnik’s fake accident news made his mother tear up

Cade Klubnik appeared in front of the media yesterday to address something far stranger than beer sales—a viral car accident hoax that nearly derailed his family’s peace of mind. The rumor, born on a Clemson fan message board, spread like wildfire across social media, pulling in nearly 900,000 views on X. For Klubnik, it became personal when his mom called him in tears, panicked by what she thought was real. The QB1 responded calmly in front of the media, using the moment as a show of maturity.

Tigers’ Cade Klubnik has been around long enough to know how quickly rumors swirl in CFB, but even he was caught off guard by the latest internet stunt. It had a misspelling of his last name, which helped to prove that the news was fake. And while Klubnik himself mostly laughed it off, his family and loved ones went through a tough ordeal believing the news to be true.

“I was sitting at home just hanging out with my roommates and my mom calls me crying,” Klubnik said Wednesday. “And I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ She’s tearing up, seeing if I’m OK. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m fine. What’s going on?’ That was the first I heard of it, and then the calls and texts started coming in.”

For Klubnik, the cruelest part wasn’t the cheap shot at his name or the false narrative, but the fear it sparked for his mother and his loved ones. “I don’t know who it was, but man, just shame on them for the pain that they had to put people that I love through,” he said. “I’m not really interested in talking about it anymore, but it was a messed-up joke, whatever. But I’m OK.” With a grin and fresh haircut, the senior QB made sure to reassure Tiger fans of the bigger picture: he’s healthy, unfazed, and laser-focused on Saturday’s massive opener against LSU.