Will Starkville and Ath Dept survive a 3 yr rebuild

[msugolf]

I expect a huge drop in numbers going forward. I know the hardcore fans and Leach apologists will show up but the silent majority won't care to be there when there's zero excitement. When a coach comes out and tells the fan base "yeah we're gonna basically suck for a while and we'll lose players" that's not really motivation to attend.

Also with basketball attendance at an all time low (even before covid) that leaves just baseball to get people excited. There's gonna be some lean years ahead for some.

[SPMT]

Yes they will.

They survived Croom.

[defiantdog]

Yes they will.

They survived Croom.

Barely..... But I did get some great seats out of that pergatory of a stretch croom put us through.

[chef dixon]

This is pretty dramatic. We've been bad, sometimes really bad, more than we've been good. And even when we are good, we are usually just alright.

[bluelightstar]

Yes they will.

They survived Croom.

Worst case scenario for football is that fans stop coming and never come back, even if we are competitive again (see MSU basketball). I do not think that will happen because football is a much more popular sport. I think the AD can weather the other issues because of tv money and whatnot. Three years of fan disengagement (close to apathy!) is going to be very tough though.

Starkville is a different animal. The city has grown since the Croom days — and like many college towns, depends on revenue from football weekends. The effect of fans tapping out hurts Starkville pretty acutely.

[Johnson85]

Worst case scenario for football is that fans stop coming and never come back, even if we are competitive again (see MSU basketball). I do not think that will happen because football is a much more popular sport. I think the AD can weather the other issues because of tv money and whatnot. Three years of fan disengagement (close to apathy!) is going to be very tough though.

Starkville is a different animal. The city has grown since the Croom days ? and like many college towns, depends on revenue from football weekends. The effect of fans tapping out hurts Starkville pretty acutely.

I don't think fans never come back, but I do think there is a risk that a lot of fans stop coming back, or more likely, stop coming back as season ticket holders. I know professional sports have other things going on like just being out of season for them and having players and ownership that have a lot of views on the US, cops, and the military that antagonize a lot of their core fans, but I think a decent part of their ratings drop is that people just didn't miss it that much when it was gone, or at least found other stuff that has so far kept their attention.

Making even five weekend treks to starkville in a football season is a lot of work if you're not within two hours, which a lot of our fan base isn't. Even if you are within two hours and can pretty reasonably drive in and out, that's still a hassle and I'd be shocked if a lot of people driving back after the game don't at least think about how nice it'd be at their house or making a ten minute drive after watching the game with friends somewhere, which granted if the condo market takes a step back because of teh football team stinking, we will be more likely to do that.

And that's before even talking about the money. You start thinking about how much work it is, and the fact that you could take one or two trips a year to starkville and still save enough money to go on a decent vacation, and I think we'll see some people just not come back as season ticket holders. That's sort of what happened to us. We had to stop going because work and kids schedule just wouldn't allow it. We've always said we'll start going again in a few years, but I'm thinking it's likely that it will be a one or two game a year deal unless and until we decide to buy a place up there.

[msugolf]

This is pretty dramatic. We've been bad, sometimes really bad, more than we've been good. And even when we are good, we are usually just alright.

I think its a very real situation, especially when businesses are closing down or barely getting by already because of covid lockdowns. And times have changed as it regards to people's attention. Its a whole lot easier to find other things to do, not to mention that youth sports takes up a whole lot more time than it used to for parents. You better win now or at least show something to get their attention or they'll check out and won't come back.

[Hambone]

Yes.

We still have baseball which will feed the community. We are one of maybe 16 schools that can use baseball to feed the community’s.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I don't think fans never come back, but I do think there is a risk that a lot of fans stop coming back, or more likely, stop coming back as season ticket holders. I know professional sports have other things going on like just being out of season for them and having players and ownership that have a lot of views on the US, cops, and the military that antagonize a lot of their core fans, but I think a decent part of their ratings drop is that people just didn't miss it that much when it was gone, or at least found other stuff that has so far kept their attention.

Making even five weekend treks to starkville in a football season is a lot of work if you're not within two hours, which a lot of our fan base isn't. Even if you are within two hours and can pretty reasonably drive in and out, that's still a hassle and I'd be shocked if a lot of people driving back after the game don't at least think about how nice it'd be at their house or making a ten minute drive after watching the game with friends somewhere, which granted if the condo market takes a step back because of teh football team stinking, we will be more likely to do that.

And that's before even talking about the money. You start thinking about how much work it is, and the fact that you could take one or two trips a year to starkville and still save enough money to go on a decent vacation, and I think we'll see some people just not come back as season ticket holders. That's sort of what happened to us. We had to stop going because work and kids schedule just wouldn't allow it. We've always said we'll start going again in a few years, but I'm thinking it's likely that it will be a one or two game a year deal unless and until we decide to buy a place up there.

I think season tickets is where you'll see the biggest drop. People will always come for the big games(Bama, LSU, UF, UGA, A&M, OM) but most people don't care anything about the other 4-5 home games and only come to see friends, tailgate, etc. With so many people gathering at homes this year and having watch parties because of attendance restrictions I feel like the days of selling out DWS are over. Couple all that with the fact that for at least the next year and probably the next 2-3 we're not going to be competitive in most games, this is going to be a BIG problem for the Athletic dept. and Starkville as a whole.

[Liverpooldawg]

I expect a huge drop in numbers going forward. I know the hardcore fans and Leach apologists will show up but the silent majority won't care to be there when there's zero excitement. When a coach comes out and tells the fan base "yeah we're gonna basically suck for a while and we'll lose players" that's not really motivation to attend.

Also with basketball attendance at an all time low (even before covid) that leaves just baseball to get people excited. There's gonna be some lean years ahead for some.

Good grief, it's been worse, way worse.

[Maroonthirteen]

Yes. Starkville will be fine.

State has about 10-15k hardcore fans. Fans that will buy season tickets and bring their significant other and kids regardless of the success of the team. So I believe you are looking at 30k at least. Then add in visitors and those that go to one game a year.... 40-45K.

With that said, I don't think you'll see attendance in high demand anywhere in the sec except the schools that compete for the sec and nc title that particular year. Tickets prices have gotten to expensive. The tv product is to good and a much cheaper alternative.

[Jack Lambert]

It will not survive this stupid 25% capacity and no tailgating.

[BB30]

Eh, go through Starkville on a weekend. There are still plenty of people out and about. We went a couple of weekends ago on a non football weekend and I was amazed at all of the people that were out shopping/eating/doing things.

The construction boom that we had seen from 2009-2017 probably won't be quite the same especially with all of the condo sales etc. But local restaurants and businesses should survive and be fine if that weekend was any indication of what it will continue to be like.

It still blows my mind that people wanted Mullen gone/fired. Half of our fanbase didn't realize how good of a coach he was for us. I had heard he was on the chopping block regardless in 17 if he didn't put a decent season together. That is asinine. He was a huge part of the reason Starkville blew up with new construction etc. No telling how much he made for the Starkville businesses and communities.

There isn't a number you could have paid him that would have been too much compared to the gross income he was drawing for all of these businesses simply by putting a decent product on the field. From what I have come to understand he was job hunting due to pressure from the fanbase and our administration. I don't know how much truth there is to that but it came from someone I genuinely trust that typically doesn't just say things to say them, he said that the ******* actually enjoyed being in Starkville and weren't necessarily looking to leave every year.

[bluelightstar]

Eh, go through Starkville on a weekend. There are still plenty of people out and about. We went a couple of weekends ago on a non football weekend and I was amazed at all of the people that were out shopping/eating/doing things.

The construction boom that we had seen from 2009-2017 probably won't be quite the same especially with all of the condo sales etc. But local restaurants and businesses should survive and be fine if that weekend was any indication of what it will continue to be like.

It still blows my mind that people wanted Mullen gone/fired. Half of our fanbase didn't realize how good of a coach he was for us. I had heard he was on the chopping block regardless in 17 if he didn't put a decent season together. That is asinine. He was a huge part of the reason Starkville blew up with new construction etc. No telling how much he made for the Starkville businesses and communities.

There isn't a number you could have paid him that would have been too much compared to the gross income he was drawing for all of these businesses simply by putting a decent product on the field. From what I have come to understand he was job hunting due to pressure from the fanbase and our administration. I don't know how much truth there is to that but it came from someone I genuinely trust that typically doesn't just say things to say them, he said that the ******* actually enjoyed being in Starkville and weren't necessarily looking to leave every year.

He went to Florida because of high pressure from Mississippi State??

[Liverpooldawg]

He went to Florida because of high pressure from Mississippi State??

Yes, in part.

[Bothrops]

Don't expect anything next season, I just hope we can become more competitive in our losses. You know it's one of those dreaded odd year schedules where you can pencil in 3 to 4 conference losses regardless of how good we are.

[Cowbell]

It will not survive this stupid 25% capacity and no tailgating.

Yes - this is more of an issue than our on field performance. If this maintains through next season, some fans will shift their attention to other hobbies.

[mparkerfd20]

You mean at least 5 year. Because after Mike Leach dessimates us in his 3 years it will take the next guy at least 2 or 3 to field a semblance of a competitive team.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Starkville will definitely suffer... I even have tickets this year, but most likely my last until Cohen is gone. Not being political, but there is a very good chance a lot of you will have a lot higher taxes and less discretionary income in the future.

[Doggie_Style]

Mississippi State needs to hire a new President first. Then we need a new AD. When we finally give up on Leach we can hopefully find a coach that can design an offence around the players he has available rather than the Moorhead/Leach square peg round hole method.

[msbulldog]

Yes, in part.

Wait till he loses to Georgia again, that will be pressure.

[Extendedcab]

Wait till he loses to Georgia again, that will be pressure.

You mean losing to Upig and KY is not enough pressure?

[msbulldog]

Starkville we'll do just fine, it's just like any other medium size town. Plus it has a +20,000 student population 8 months out of the year and a large number of well paid employees that live there year round that other medium size towns don't have.

[msbulldog]

You mean losing to Upig and KY is not enough pressure?

Pay attention that was a reply to a post about Mullen being pressured to go to Florida.

[BB30]

He went to Florida because of high pressure from Mississippi State??

Yes, that played a role in him wanting out. We were pretty dang close to firing him a couple of times and a lot of people didn't really realize that I don't believe.

Pressure from the adminstration and the fanbase.

That is why realistic expectations are so important and our fanbase is full of people that have extremely unrealistic expectations.

Where we are at currently, going anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3 with a shot at making a run every 4 or 5 years should be sufficient for everybody. Unfortunately, we have fans that think we should be beating Alabama and winning 10 games a year with some regularity while nobody in the rest of the conference is beating them on a regular basis nor are many teams going 10-2 often. Schools that spend way more on football than we do aren't even winning 10 games consistently.

We have the smallest donor base in the conference, we have been outspent by everybody in our conference not named Vanderbilt. Yes, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Missouri donate/spend more on football and recruiting than us.

Money isn't always a good indicator of who will be successful but most of the time it is.

We are potentially dead last in giving as Vandy's numbers are private because they are a private institution.

We have a cheap beer budget fan base and yet, our fans are expecting champagne results. In what other industry/world does that typically lead to success?

Last I looked we are also dead last in recruiting spending and we still have fans that expect us to recruit better than 3/4ths of the conference.

[msbulldog]

Yes, that played a role in him wanting out. We were pretty dang close to firing him a couple of times and a lot of people didn't really realize that I don't believe.

Pressure from the adminstration and the fanbase.

That is why realistic expectations are so important and our fanbase is full of people that have extremely unrealistic expectations.

Where we are at currently, going anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3 with a shot at making a run every 4 or 5 years should be sufficient for everybody. Unfortunately, we have fans that think we should be beating Alabama and winning 10 games a year with some regularity while nobody in the rest of the conference is beating them on a regular basis nor are many teams going 10-2 often. Schools that spend way more on football than we do aren't even winning 10 games consistently.

We have the smallest donor base in the conference, we have been outspent by everybody in our conference not named Vanderbilt. Yes, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Missouri donate/spend more on football and recruiting than us.

Money isn't always a good indicator of who will be successful but most of the time it is.

We are potentially dead last in giving as Vandy's numbers are private because they are a private institution.

We have a cheap beer budget fan base and yet, our fans are expecting champagne results. In what other industry/world does that typically lead to success?

Last I looked we are also dead last in recruiting spending and we still have fans that expect us to recruit better than 3/4ths of the conference.

^^^^THIS^^^^

[R2Dawg]

Problem is Croom didn't have Covid with it too. Gonna be tough.

[R2Dawg]

Yes, that played a role in him wanting out. We were pretty dang close to firing him a couple of times and a lot of people didn't really realize that I don't believe.

Pressure from the adminstration and the fanbase.

That is why realistic expectations are so important and our fanbase is full of people that have extremely unrealistic expectations.

Where we are at currently, going anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3 with a shot at making a run every 4 or 5 years should be sufficient for everybody. Unfortunately, we have fans that think we should be beating Alabama and winning 10 games a year with some regularity while nobody in the rest of the conference is beating them on a regular basis nor are many teams going 10-2 often. Schools that spend way more on football than we do aren't even winning 10 games consistently.

We have the smallest donor base in the conference, we have been outspent by everybody in our conference not named Vanderbilt. Yes, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Missouri donate/spend more on football and recruiting than us.

Money isn't always a good indicator of who will be successful but most of the time it is.

We are potentially dead last in giving as Vandy's numbers are private because they are a private institution.

We have a cheap beer budget fan base and yet, our fans are expecting champagne results. In what other industry/world does that typically lead to success?

Last I looked we are also dead last in recruiting spending and we still have fans that expect us to recruit better than 3/4ths of the conference.

I get your point but we have good facilities and paying a coach 5 mil plus Dan was offered 6 mil. Money didn't seem to be the issue. We paid 2 mil for Moorhead and same results. Money doesn't solve all problems. Bama could pay Saban 20 mil a year, it will not change his NC # one bit. At some point, money has diminishing returns.

[KentuckyDawg13]

Not being political, but there is a very good chance a lot of you will have a lot higher taxes and less discretionary income in the future.

Nah, only way taxes go up is if you make over $400k/year under Biden's plan. Doubtful many here (not "a lot of you") make that.

[Virgil Caine]

It will not survive this stupid 25% capacity and no tailgating.

I think the program/Cohen/Leach are kinda lucky that these rules are in place now. Hard to judge the actual level of interest in going to the games with the pandemic ongoing. If we were in a normal year, I think the stadium would be fairly empty, and the pressure on Cohen would be even higher. Let?s see where we are next fall, but if it?s less than full capacity, it?ll be hard to point to attendance as a reason to fire Leach.

[AROB44]

BB30 IS SPOT ON!!!!

[msbulldog]

Nah, only way taxes go up is if you make over $400k/year under Biden's plan. Doubtful many here (not "a lot of you") make that.

Sorry but you're wrong the first thing Joe and Kamala said they're going to do is repeal the Trump tax cut, that will raise my taxes by 10%. You can't believe a damn thing Joe Biden says, he got ran off from running for president years ago, when they found out that he plagiarized somebody's material for a paper he wrote in law school. Then he lied about finishing in the top half of his law school which he didn't, they caught him in that too. They also caught him plagiarizing somebody else in a speech he gave. And if you say that was years ago, he's lying today about not knowing Hunter Biden was peddling his influence to China, Russia and other foreign entities and funneling a % back to the big guy (lying Joe).

[IMissJack]

I?m keeping an eye on the real estate market in Starkville, in case some of the condos come down some.

[IMissJack]

Nah, only way taxes go up is if you make over $400k/year under Biden's plan. Doubtful many here (not "a lot of you") make that.

Just the major donors... of course we need those.

[RocketDawg]

Worst case scenario for football is that fans stop coming and never come back, even if we are competitive again (see MSU basketball). I do not think that will happen because football is a much more popular sport. I think the AD can weather the other issues because of tv money and whatnot. Three years of fan disengagement (close to apathy!) is going to be very tough though.

Starkville is a different animal. The city has grown since the Croom days ? and like many college towns, depends on revenue from football weekends. The effect of fans tapping out hurts Starkville pretty acutely.

Starkville grew while Croom was the head coach, by about 1500 over his 4-year tenure. It's had fairly steady growth no matter who the head coach was, so it doesn't seem to matter who the coach was or how well the football team was doing. Numbrer of visitors (fans) could be an entirely different matter.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=starkville+population+2004&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[BB30]

I get your point but we have good facilities and paying a coach 5 mil plus Dan was offered 6 mil. Money didn't seem to be the issue. We paid 2 mil for Moorhead and same results. Money doesn't solve all problems. Bama could pay Saban 20 mil a year, it will not change his NC # one bit. At some point, money has diminishing returns.

We have good facilities but not great compared to what the rest of the conference has. Doesn't matter what you pay your coach when we are getting out spent on the recruiting trail significantly by just about everybody. You can say money doesn't matter and that there is a diminishing return but it seems as though if that were the case Bama wouldn't still be hiring analysts and spending almost 4 times as much as us on recruiting.

How many analysts do we have on staff? Do we have the money to hire former head coaches like Sark and Freeze to be analysts? I know he didn't get Freeze but he sure tried and would have had the SEC not stepped in.

He at one point had 3 analysts that were former power 5 head coaches. If you don't think that helps when gameplanning etc. I can't help you.

We certainly have not reached the law of diminishing returns yet with what we spend. And you can't expect UF/LSU/Auburn results when you spend what we spend.

I'm not even including Bama and UGA in that list. It seems like our fans expect results similar to Auburn and yet they outspend us close to 3 times the rate. Again, in what industry does that typically lead to success and why is college football different?

[Homedawg]

Nah, only way taxes go up is if you make over $400k/year under Biden's plan. Doubtful many here (not "a lot of you") make that.

Uh no. He's already said he would repeal the trump tax cuts. That's EVERY tax paying person.!!

[Todd4State]

We have good facilities but not great compared to what the rest of the conference has. Doesn't matter what you pay your coach when we are getting out spent on the recruiting trail significantly by just about everybody. You can say money doesn't matter and that there is a diminishing return but it seems as though if that were the case Bama wouldn't still be hiring analysts and spending almost 4 times as much as us on recruiting.

How many analysts do we have on staff? Do we have the money to hire former head coaches like Sark and Freeze to be analysts? I know he didn't get Freeze but he sure tried and would have had the SEC not stepped in.

He at one point had 3 analysts that were former power 5 head coaches. If you don't think that helps when gameplanning etc. I can't help you.

We certainly have not reached the law of diminishing returns yet with what we spend. And you can't expect UF/LSU/Auburn results when you spend what we spend.

I'm not even including Bama and UGA in that list. It seems like our fans expect results similar to Auburn and yet they outspend us close to 3 times the rate. Again, in what industry does that typically lead to success and why is college football different?

I think a lot of the problem is we don't know how to be a major SEC program. We could easily spend more money and invest more in recruiting. It seems like they expect Tony Hughes and our off the field guys like Rod Gibson to do all the work. MSU must improve in recruiting to be what we want to be.

[Liverpooldawg]

Yes, that played a role in him wanting out. We were pretty dang close to firing him a couple of times and a lot of people didn't really realize that I don't believe.

Pressure from the adminstration and the fanbase.

That is why realistic expectations are so important and our fanbase is full of people that have extremely unrealistic expectations.

Where we are at currently, going anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3 with a shot at making a run every 4 or 5 years should be sufficient for everybody. Unfortunately, we have fans that think we should be beating Alabama and winning 10 games a year with some regularity while nobody in the rest of the conference is beating them on a regular basis nor are many teams going 10-2 often. Schools that spend way more on football than we do aren't even winning 10 games consistently.

We have the smallest donor base in the conference, we have been outspent by everybody in our conference not named Vanderbilt. Yes, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Missouri donate/spend more on football and recruiting than us.

Money isn't always a good indicator of who will be successful but most of the time it is.

We are potentially dead last in giving as Vandy's numbers are private because they are a private institution.

We have a cheap beer budget fan base and yet, our fans are expecting champagne results. In what other industry/world does that typically lead to success?

Last I looked we are also dead last in recruiting spending and we still have fans that expect us to recruit better than 3/4ths of the conference.

NAILED IT.

[HoopsDawg]

Unfortunately, we have fans that think we should be beating Alabama and winning 10 games a year with some regularity while nobody in the rest of the conference is beating them on a regular basis nor are many teams going 10-2 often

I don't know a single MSU fan that thinks this way. Not a single one.

[KentuckyDawg13]

My taxes raised under this administration. Not sure what tax cut you are referring to besides the one for off-shore accounts.

[Johnson85]

My taxes raised under this administration. Not sure what tax cut you are referring to besides the one for off-shore accounts.

If your taxes went up while your financial situation remained the same, then that almost certainly means you were having huge SALT deductions, in which case your taxes fixed an inequity, or you had kids old enough to not qualify for the tax credit when you could have claimed an exemption for them before, which either way is roughly equally defensible but certainly sucks personally if you came out on the wrong side of that.

For the vast majority of people, if Biden follows through on his promises to repeal the Trump tax cuts, their tax burden will go up. If breaks that promise and instead he follows his other, mutually exclusive promise to not raise taxes on people making less than $400k, then most people's tax burden will not go up, but our major donors will certainly be hit.

I don't think he'll be able to repeal the trump tax cuts even if he has the senate because a lot of democratic senators are not going to want to use their new majority to immediately raise taxes. I think it's much more likely that the rich will get a tax break by getting rid of the SALT cap and at worst he will raise the highest tax bracket or maybe highest two brackets up a few percent.

[R2Dawg]

Survive, yes. Take some severe hits on engagement on all levels, no doubt that is going and already happening.

I bleed maroon and will always support my team but I ain't going to watch pathetic every year for every home game either. I'll watch from home and go to one or two. Just remember how bad attendance got with Croom. Those days will return if this goes on for too long like Croom did.

Next year Leach must show improvement, he doesn't have to win 7 games next year but year 3 he better win more than he loses or stick a fork in him.

[R2Dawg]

We have good facilities but not great compared to what the rest of the conference has. Doesn't matter what you pay your coach when we are getting out spent on the recruiting trail significantly by just about everybody. You can say money doesn't matter and that there is a diminishing return but it seems as though if that were the case Bama wouldn't still be hiring analysts and spending almost 4 times as much as us on recruiting.

How many analysts do we have on staff? Do we have the money to hire former head coaches like Sark and Freeze to be analysts? I know he didn't get Freeze but he sure tried and would have had the SEC not stepped in.

He at one point had 3 analysts that were former power 5 head coaches. If you don't think that helps when gameplanning etc. I can't help you.

We certainly have not reached the law of diminishing returns yet with what we spend. And you can't expect UF/LSU/Auburn results when you spend what we spend.

I'm not even including Bama and UGA in that list. It seems like our fans expect results similar to Auburn and yet they outspend us close to 3 times the rate. Again, in what industry does that typically lead to success and why is college football different?

Facilities is a funny topic. Bigger doesn't always mean better. Yes there are some bigger and better but there are several that are bigger but not better. At some point, living in a 10,000 sqft house or a 15,000sqft house doesn't really matter if it has all the necessary items. We have all those. If the bling is what makes the difference in us and somewhere else, he won't be happy here anyway.

The town of Starkville that everyone makes fun of ain't as bad as some think either. There are some big name football schools that are in towns that are a dump. I know people at or from those schools that hated it but from the outside everyone thinks they are grand. More media PR misdirection.

[CaptainObvious]

I think season tickets is where you'll see the biggest drop. People will always come for the big games(Bama, LSU, UF, UGA, A&M, OM) but most people don't care anything about the other 4-5 home games and only come to see friends, tailgate, etc. With so many people gathering at homes this year and having watch parties because of attendance restrictions I feel like the days of selling out DWS are over. Couple all that with the fact that for at least the next year and probably the next 2-3 we're not going to be competitive in most games, this is going to be a BIG problem for the Athletic dept. and Starkville as a whole.

Yep. I guess certain fans prefer to watch the Dogs against the teams they have an 80 to 90 % chance of losing and skip the games where they have a 70-80% chance of winning. I guess being in the stadium when that 1 in 10 chance of winning actually happens is just to much to pass up.

i remember when Homecoming was the biggest crowd of the year and we usually beat VPI or Villanova by 40 in this games. Now we fill the stadium to watch Bama or LSU curbstomp us on the chance that we can say ?I was there when we beat the Bear!?

[Johnson85]

Starkville we'll do just fine, it's just like any other medium size town. Plus it has a +20,000 student population 8 months out of the year and a large number of well paid employees that live there year round that other medium size towns don't have.

Survive was probably an overstatement but Starkville won't do just fine if it loses say 10,000 fans on average over 7 home games. Even if a lot of those fans don't spend much money other than on a hotel, that will still be a lot of money not pumped into the starkville economy. It will certainly survive and adjust, but there will be some short term pain adjusting to losing that much revenue on a yearly basis and of course it won't grow like it could if it still had that money coming in.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

I see attendance of 35k more likely being the norm in Fall 2023 than 55K....if that?s the case, Starkville will be more like 1985 than 2019.

[Johnson85]

I see attendance of 35k more likely being the norm in Fall 2023 than 55K....if that?s the case, Starkville will be more like 1985 than 2019.

That may be but I wonder what the typical fan we lose looks like. Are the people we lose the ones that drive in, tailgate, and leave? Or the ones that drive in on Friday, eat out Friday night, grab either a quick breakfast or dinner out on saturday depending on the time of the game, and then eat brunch sunday morning on the way out of town. I assume the ones with condos or homes are still coming and that they are typically spending money. I assume will lose some of the ones driving in and driving out, but that they will be the ones to come to a game or two less, not just quit altogether.

I think the ones we're most likely to lose are the ones that are coming in and paying for two nights of hotel rooms at inflated prices and eat out and maybe even shop for their tailgate in starkville. I guess if we are losing those, maybe all that will happen is hotel prices will come down and somebody will replace them if hotel prices drop enough.

[Offshore Dawg]

You mean losing to Upig and KY is not enough pressure?

I think he's referring to Dan

[StarkVegasSteve]

I see attendance of 35k more likely being the norm in Fall 2023 than 55K....if that?s the case, Starkville will be more like 1985 than 2019.

That's why we need to chairback the entire stadium and reduce the capacity down to 45-50K. However, with the pandemic and losing money from season ticket sales I would imagine most construction projects are being put on hold for the moment.

[Maroonthirteen]

State has so many students now. I don't think a 10-20k swing in football attendance is as bad as people think. Sure it helps to have those fans but isn't detrimental to the town to not have them.

Having over 20k in enrollment will allow Starkville to maintain what it has now.

[msbulldog]

Survive was probably an overstatement but Starkville won't do just fine if it loses say 10,000 fans on average over 7 home games. Even if a lot of those fans don't spend much money other than on a hotel, that will still be a lot of money not pumped into the starkville economy. It will certainly survive and adjust, but there will be some short term pain adjusting to losing that much revenue on a yearly basis and of course it won't grow like it could if it still had that money coming in.

When I started at State in 1973, there was Sonic and Burger Chef. MSU broke 10,000 students that fall and Starkville is still here with a lot more industry than it had then.

[BrunswickDawg]

State has so many students now. I don't think a 10-20k swing in football attendance is as bad as people think. Sure it helps to have those fans but isn't detrimental to the town to not have them.

Having over 20k in enrollment will allow Starkville to maintain what it has now.

And Starkville itself has grown. 1990 it had 18,500+/- residents. 2019 it was estimated at 25,600 +/-. All told between residents and students (and there is some overlap), you easily have 35,000 people between Starkville and campus.

[Mobile Bay]

I see attendance of 35k more likely being the norm in Fall 2023 than 55K....if that?s the case, Starkville will be more like 1985 than 2019.

If six days in the fall make or break your business, you need to consider another line of work.,

[grandprairiedog]

Sorry but you're wrong the first thing Joe and Kamala said they're going to do is repeal the Trump tax cut, that will raise my taxes by 10%. You can't believe a damn thing Joe Biden says, he got ran off from running for president years ago, when they found out that he plagiarized somebody's material for a paper he wrote in law school. Then he lied about finishing in the top half of his law school which he didn't, they caught him in that too. They also caught him plagiarizing somebody else in a speech he gave. And if you say that was years ago, he's lying today about not knowing Hunter Biden was peddling his influence to China, Russia and other foreign entities and funneling a % back to the big guy (lying Joe).

Surely you are kidding.. . . trump character is below negative. He is everything that christian folk say they should NOT represent, lying, stealing, cheating, hypocrite, etc . . . .

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Surely you are kidding.. . . trump character is below negative. He is everything that christian folk say they should NOT represent, lying, stealing, cheating, hypocrite, etc . . . .

How is that different than Biden?

[StarkVegasSteve]

If six days in the fall make or break your business, you need to consider another line of work.,

Then there's A LOT of restaurants, bars, hotels, and stores in and around Starkville, Oxford, etc. that need to consider another line of work.

[Johnson85]

How is that different than Biden?

Trump says terrible things and then does perfectly normal, mainstream republican party things (except not starting wars and brokering MIddle East peace deals).

Biden says things that are perfectly normal, moderate democrat party things and then does terrible things. He also says things that are in line with the most extreme leftists and I don't think he'll follow through with them, although I guess.

They both say pie in teh sky ridiculous things about what they are going to do or have done that aren't remotely within their capability, but they're politicians so kind of have to give them a pass on that.

[Johnson85]

If six days in the fall make or break your business, you need to consider another line of work.,

This is really ignorant. There are lots of retail businesses that can't make it if you take out say, 7 of their 14 biggest weekends. Even outside of retail, lots of businesses would be in trouble if you took away several of their biggest clients, or even just took 7 weeks of revenue away from them.

[Bothrops]

That's why we need to chairback the entire stadium and reduce the capacity down to 45-50K. However, with the pandemic and losing money from season ticket sales I would imagine most construction projects are being put on hold for the moment.

This is insane^

[StarkVegasSteve]

This is insane^

How so? Our days of selling out the stadium are OVER. Why not give the people who are paying money for season tickets some amenities. What the hell does it matter if you have 45K or 60K? We aren't breaking any attendance records anyways. If all we cared about was attendance records then we wouldn't have a LFL and most of the baseball stadium would be bleachers. We could fit 20K in there, but at what cost? If someone is going to drop a couple grand on season tickets then they're going to need a hell of reason to do it. Especially with the product we're going to be putting on the field for the foreseeable future.

[OSCAR]

Barely..... But I did get some great seats out of that pergatory of a stretch croom put us through.

That?s an interesting thought. Better seats sounds nice. Maybe less money too!

[Maroonthirteen]

The 2017 season was a good indication to me that attendance was dropping for reasons other than what was on the field.

That was a great schedule. With an early season win vs LSU and it was still extremely easy to get a ticket to the LSU, Bama and OM games. Also the BYU, UK and UMass games were sparsely attended.

Anyway, I agree. Bleachers need to go. Chairbacks or ideally loge type seating through Out where there are bleachers now, is the future.

[Todd4State]

The 2017 season was a good indication to me that attendance was dropping for reasons other than what was on the field.

That was a great schedule. With an early season win vs LSU and it was still extremely easy to get a ticket to the LSU, Bama and OM games. Also the BYU, UK and UMass games were sparsely attended.

Anyway, I agree. Bleachers need to go. Chairbacks or ideally loge type seating through Out where there are bleachers now, is the future.

Having the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving doesn't help as far as attendance goes either.