"The Balconies" at DWS

[Leroy Jenkins]

https://hailstate.com/news/2022/6/21/football-introducing-the-balconies-at-davis-wade-stadium-coleman.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2Ca00HxlGKFlTezvs2aCfrwQJp EJVlvfZJWYLOtEJPaJfsdpJ7BLOYuGc

Renderings released


https://twitter.com/hailstatefb/status/1539639899896180743?s=21&t=1pl6TxNMraGJIhcPLcgwWg

[BuckyIsAB****]

If it is basically a tailgate in the upper deck that is honestly pretty badass

[Leroy Jenkins]

If you have to reduce seating anyway, this is a good option IMO.

[IMissJack]

Winning is the fix to the seating problem.

[Saltydog]

I like it but pretty pricey for upper deck viewing.........

[Maroonthirteen]

I like idea. However where are the fans that will purchase this? In the past, if fans occupied this area, it was visitors or a big game with reduced prices.

Maybe this appeals to this who are tired of the bleachers. However a $2700 donation? Good luck.

[BrunswickDawg]

I like idea. However where are the fans that will purchase this? In the past, if fans occupied this area, it was visitors or a big game with reduced prices.

Maybe this appeals to this who are tired of the bleachers. However a $2700 donation? Good luck.

Split between 10 people that's nothing. It means your season ticket is $525 but you can offset that by bringing your own food and drink. If you just brought your own tall boys to every game you would break even.

[BrunswickDawg]

Winning is the fix to the seating problem.

Even when we win pretty big those two sections are basically give away seats - especially after NEZ expansion.

[Pancho]

be hot on a sunny day just standing there on the concrete.........

[MaroonFlounder]

be hot on a sunny day just standing there on the concrete.........

The back side of each section has an overhang for shade. And the West side is in the shade for games that aren't 11am kickoff.

Kudos to Cohen for fighting for us to have late evening/night games in Sept.

[Dawgology]

If you could set up canopies and such like in the left field lounge that would be legit

[Cooterpoot]

Can I pee off the upper deck now?

[Leroy Jenkins]

Can I pee off the upper deck now?

You can at least once.

[Todd4State]

I like idea. However where are the fans that will purchase this? In the past, if fans occupied this area, it was visitors or a big game with reduced prices.

Maybe this appeals to this who are tired of the bleachers. However a $2700 donation? Good luck.

This seems like a decent way to keep visiting fans out of Davis Wade. Or really make it slightly more difficult.

[IMissJack]

Since this is about raising revenue and filling the stadium with MSU fans, why not put MSU staff tickets up there and open some of the best seats in the house to higher paying customers? At least They probably wouldn’t sell their seats to LSU fans. Secondly, as someone who pays high rates to get equivalent seating on the lower level West side, I don’t see how it is fair to charge West side a big donation for the seats, but not for essentially 50 yd line seats on the East.

[99jc]

if i could put a small refrigerator that holds a keg of beer with a tap on the front i am in and all elitedawgs are invited to stop by for a free cold one...i am dead serious.

[Maroonthirteen]

Y'all are way more social than me. I might know 10 State fans. I certainly don't know 10 that go to games. Ha.

But I've always liked that view from the first few rows.

[Apoplectic]

Y'all are way more social than me. I might know 10 State fans. I certainly don't know 10 that go to games. Ha.

But I've always liked that view from the first few rows.

And when you purchase that life insurance policy you?ll get to meet 9 new friends.

[Pancho]

You can at least once.

i know a guy who did pee off the west side right after the pre game egg bowl fight when deuce broke the Hinds CC lineman who was on a visit. I forget the year

[WSOPdawg]

You can at least once.

^^^ props for this... lol

[Todd4State]

Since this is about raising revenue and filling the stadium with MSU fans, why not put MSU staff tickets up there and open some of the best seats in the house to higher paying customers? At least They probably wouldn’t sell their seats to LSU fans. Secondly, as someone who pays high rates to get equivalent seating on the lower level West side, I don’t see how it is fair to charge West side a big donation for the seats, but not for essentially 50 yd line seats on the East.

Especially since most of them don't care about football anyway. I typically see a lot of non maroon colors from my seat on the West side in their section.

[Todd4State]

If these balconies work I wonder if they plan to "add more" and just basically make the entire upper deck balconies and move those people that have season tickets either to the East side upper deck or down to the East or West side?

[Hot Rock]

if i could put a small refrigerator that holds a keg of beer with a tap on the front i am in and all elitedawgs are invited to stop by for a free cold one...i am dead serious.

You are allowed a refrigerator, no cooking but you can stock it on Fridays and you get bring chairs or bar stools etc... These things are going to be great. I actually like the view from up there better myself. The only draw back was the walk up but if the pay off was one of these, I would definitely consider it.

Plus, you will have a removable shade of some sort. That might just rock.

[viverlibre]

You are allowed a refrigerator, no cooking but you can stock it on Fridays and you get bring chairs or bar stools etc... These things are going to be great. I actually like the view from up there better myself. The only draw back was the walk up but if the pay off was one of these, I would definitely consider it.

Plus, you will have a removable shade of some sort. That might just rock.

We need to put up some type of sun shade like Oregon State has (but better). The Romans did this 2000 years ago, surely we can.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

They Should have put them in the MSU Staff and Employee section and that would make BAMA, LSU and Georgia fans have to sit in corners.

[R2Dawg]

I'll give our leadership credit for one thing - they will come up with some innovative ideas to address some issues (lack of attendance in this one) and do something no one else has done and see what happens. No one else does anything like that.

It is better than having empty seats all over the place on TV or full of visiting teams colors.

That said, I'd really like the energy on getting a championship product on the field and let the rest take care of itself.

[AROB44]

I'll give our leadership credit for one thing - they will come up with some innovative ideas to address some issues (lack of attendance in this one) and do something no one else has done and see what happens. No one else does anything like that.

It is better than having empty seats all over the place on TV or full of visiting teams colors.

That said, I'd really like the energy on getting a championship product on the field and let the rest take care of itself.


Might as well give up on that. Will never happen in football.

[FoggyBottom]

Take your binoculars . . . . . .

[MaroonFlounder]

Take your binoculars . . . . . .

Or just watch the JumboTron, which is what a lot of people do anyway.

[Bothrops]

It seems a lot of our fans want stadium capacity to go back to what it was in the Croom era, by installing premium booths, chairbacks, and what not. I guess that's fine if you aren't counting on the team ever being worth a damn again. I thought 62k squeezed in during the 2014 season was the perfect home field advantage for us. Why diminish that? I don't think we need to go below 60k, just in case. Unpopular opinion and weird I know, but we are already small, and I don't want to get much smaller.

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

If these balconies work I wonder if they plan to "add more" and just basically make the entire upper deck balconies and move those people that have season tickets either to the East side upper deck or down to the East or West side?

Our fans need to stop caring about baseball so much first, for that to happen...

[oildawg]

I like how we take traditional bad seating & convert it to premium seating. My seats are in the Scoreboard Club. Usually upper deck, end zone are the worst seats in a stadium. But, MSU has made it a fun, desirable location. Looks like the Balconies will be the same. Well done!

[Goldendawg]

I like how we take traditional bad seating & convert it to premium seating. My seats are in the Scoreboard Club. Usually upper deck, end zone are the worst seats in a stadium. But, MSU has made it a fun, desirable location. Looks like the Balconies will be the same. Well done!

Please get rid of the trolley cars. Cheap look. Sell them for gas $ for our next trip to Omaha. Hail State!

[R2Dawg]

It seems a lot of our fans want stadium capacity to go back to what it was in the Croom era, by installing premium booths, chairbacks, and what not. I guess that's fine if you aren't counting on the team ever being worth a damn again. I thought 62k squeezed in during the 2014 season was the perfect home field advantage for us. Why diminish that? I don't think we need to go below 60k, just in case. Unpopular opinion and weird I know, but we are already small, and I don't want to get much smaller.

It takes a good product to put that many fans in stands and we ain't got that. This is our way to hide our poor product (and poor fan support) and gimic our way to some positive press. That is all this is. Again, I say props on one hand and it sucks on the other.

[Goldendawg]

Only winning will refill ours and many other stadiums post covid. Comforts of home/so many games on tv vs. co$ts of attendance. We have had 8 to 12 FB season tickets for 50 plus years. Almost dropped from 8 to 2, before 6 family had change of heart. Hail State!

[MaroonFlounder]

It seems a lot of our fans want stadium capacity to go back to what it was in the Croom era, by installing premium booths, chairbacks, and what not. I guess that's fine if you aren't counting on the team ever being worth a damn again. I thought 62k squeezed in during the 2014 season was the perfect home field advantage for us. Why diminish that? I don't think we need to go below 60k, just in case. Unpopular opinion and weird I know, but we are already small, and I don't want to get much smaller.

We've gotta take some of that SEC/Bowl revenue and bowl in the South endzone.

That will piss off the "old hats" in the M Club, but we have to wipe that out and move on.

[Bothrops]

It takes a good product to put that many fans in stands and we ain't got that. This is our way to hide our poor product (and poor fan support) and gimic our way to some positive press. That is all this is. Again, I say props on one hand and it sucks on the other.

I agree, but don't think this gets us an ounce of positive press, or any press really.

[Leroy Jenkins]

I am 100% behind enclosing the south end zone. The problem is there is ZERO appetite for increased capacity. I would love to see something similar to T. Boone Pickens.

https://d1yllc564ye8is.cloudfront.net/images/2017/9/22/BoonePickensStadium1701_OSUAthletics.jpg?width=798&quality=80&format=jpg

[Offshore Dawg]

I would like to see or even hear some rummers on what will be done with the rest of the upper west side 200 & 300 sections, I think those are the right numbers. Also the press box was to be located on top of the west side.

[BuckyIsAB****]

It takes a good product to put that many fans in stands and we ain't got that. This is our way to hide our poor product (and poor fan support) and gimic our way to some positive press. That is all this is. Again, I say props on one hand and it sucks on the other.

Good Lord

[Extendedcab]

It seems a lot of our fans want stadium capacity to go back to what it was in the Croom era, by installing premium booths, chairbacks, and what not. I guess that's fine if you aren't counting on the team ever being worth a damn again. I thought 62k squeezed in during the 2014 season was the perfect home field advantage for us. Why diminish that? I don't think we need to go below 60k, just in case. Unpopular opinion and weird I know, but we are already small, and I don't want to get much smaller.

^^^This!

[Leroy Jenkins]

It seems a lot of our fans want stadium capacity to go back to what it was in the Croom era, by installing premium booths, chairbacks, and what not. I guess that's fine if you aren't counting on the team ever being worth a damn again. I thought 62k squeezed in during the 2014 season was the perfect home field advantage for us. Why diminish that? I don't think we need to go below 60k, just in case. Unpopular opinion and weird I know, but we are already small, and I don't want to get much smaller.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-attendance-declines-for-seventh-straight-season-to-lowest-average-since-1981/


It is not "our fans". Watching at home has just gotten so much better over the last several years.

"College football attendance declines for seventh straight season to lowest average since 1981"

[BrunswickDawg]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-attendance-declines-for-seventh-straight-season-to-lowest-average-since-1981/


College football attendance declines for seventh straight season to lowest average since 1981

The Ole Miss numbers in that article should be an alarming indicator for us. They had their best season since integration, and bumped attendance from their lowest average this century - 48,233 in '19 to 56,472. That is 8,000 people under capacity on average.
With a "Heisman Candidate" QB in a 10 win season they couldn't do better. 2021 we averaged 49,494 - our lowest since the Slytanic sailed these seas. So, our friends in Oxford are already showing us that even bouncing back to a 9-10 win season will still not get attendance back to it's heydays in the mid 2010s.

[Goldendawg]

The Ole Miss numbers in that article should be an alarming indicator for us. They had their best season since integration, and bumped attendance from their lowest average this century - 48,233 in '19 to 56,472. That is 8,000 people under capacity on average.
With a "Heisman Candidate" QB in a 10 win season they couldn't do better. 2021 we averaged 49,494 - our lowest since the Slytanic sailed these seas. So, our friends in Oxford are already showing us that even bouncing back to a 9-10 win season will still not get attendance back to it's heydays in the mid 2010s.

Sad, but true. Being a season ticket holder is not cheap. TV vs 11:00 games in early Sept doesn't help. We used to have AL fans buy our season tickets just to be able to see them play in person because their waiting list is so long. Heck, we can't even sell out that game anymore. Here, I'll fix it. Move baseball to DWS and FB to the Dude, sellouts if baseball rebuild works.***

[Maroonthirteen]

The problem is simple. Tv is cheap. Cost of attendance is expensive. The school is offering no luxury or amenities to compete with tv but yet raises prices over and over.

The schools have the largest revenues in their history. Yet they want $2700 donations for seats in the clouds for example. The answer is, schools will have to do massive upgrades to stadiums for the common fan to come back in great numbers. That means provide more amenities, cheap food and drink and in a comfortable environment at a cheaper price. I'm thinking something like the club level but available to everyone in the lower level.

[viverlibre]

The problem is simple. Tv is cheap. Cost of attendance is expensive. The school is offering no luxury or amenities to compete with tv but yet raises prices over and over.

The schools have the largest revenues in their history. Yet they want $2700 donations for seats in the clouds for example. The answer is, schools will have to do massive upgrades to stadiums for the common fan to come back in great numbers. That means provide more amenities, cheap food and drink and in a comfortable environment at a cheaper price. I'm thinking something like the club level but available to everyone in the lower level.

If we could just get stadium WiFi and/or cell tower boosters, it would be a start.

[Bothrops]

The Ole Miss numbers in that article should be an alarming indicator for us. They had their best season since integration, and bumped attendance from their lowest average this century - 48,233 in '19 to 56,472. That is 8,000 people under capacity on average.
With a "Heisman Candidate" QB in a 10 win season they couldn't do better. 2021 we averaged 49,494 - our lowest since the Slytanic sailed these seas. So, our friends in Oxford are already showing us that even bouncing back to a 9-10 win season will still not get attendance back to it's heydays in the mid 2010s.

Who were their home P5 games last year? What was the average attendance to those? Ole Miss only expanded capacity to jump ahead of us, not that they needed to.

[EdwardDrayton]

Or just watch the JumboTron, which is what a lot of people do anyway.

More and more folks are watching the ?JumboTrons? in their living rooms. And for a fraction of the cost.

[viverlibre]

More and more folks are watching the ?JumboTrons? in their living rooms. And for a fraction of the cost.

Yuup, I'm basically paying $5,000 (not counting travel expenses) for three people to mostly watch the Jumbotron.

[DawgNamedScuba]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WjnO2Ba7N4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WjnO2Ba7N4

Educational video

[IMissJack]

The biggest problem is cost of hotel or equivalent accommodations in Starkville for those of us traveling. More and more our student body is made up of out of state students and alumni. The prices are ridiculous on game weekends. Secondly, I would say in a normal season (not a magical year or terrible year) our attendance can fluctuate 5,000 or more in average depending on game times. Since we are normally not a contender we get fewer prime time games, and get more 11:00 and Thursday games than anyone, along with Vandy and OM. Those game times really affect my ability or desire to travel for a game.

[bulldawg28]

If we start winning the fans will come. Our offense is boring and the only personality in the team is the head coach. Fans need entertainment.

[BrunswickDawg]

Just announced that the Balconies are sold out.

So now instead of 2 empty upper deck sections, we made more money and add a unique feature no one else has. But Cohen and Co. are just idiots who know nothing.***

https://twitter.com/hailstatefb/status/1542981455067873283?s=21&t=Tjk0jk4O_zcTHFyqhVD6yg

[Maroonthirteen]

Tip of the cap to Cohen. He must have gauged interest before announcing these for them to sell this fast.

Im definitely limited to my world view on things. No way I would pay that to stand or sit, cheaper beer or not. But thank you to those that do. Well done.

[TheLostDawg]

Tip of the cap to Cohen. He must have gauged interest before announcing these for them to sell this fast.

Im definitely limited to my world view on things. No way I would pay that to stand or sit, cheaper beer or not. But thank you to those that do. Well done.

I thought it was interesting they announced this after season tickets were reselected

[99jc]

If we start winning the fans will come. Our offense is boring and the only personality in the team is the head coach. Fans need entertainment.

you are a 17ing idiot. the only thing boring is you go root for the rebs

[99jc]

i did not get one but was told they may add more.

[BrunswickDawg]

I thought it was interesting they announced this after season tickets were reselected

They probably wanted to gauge how many season ticket holders they might displace before they pulled the trigger.

[bulldawg28]

you are a 17ing idiot. the only thing boring is you go root for the rebs

Ahhhh.....I'm hurt.

[Leroy Jenkins]

https://twitter.com/HailState/status/1563923033844334592?s=20&t=1nKRRTsiY1GjrBaMwLxP9g

[KOdawg1]

The balconies are a good idea. Tickets up there weren't selling anyway. Might as well make a profit out of the area

[R2Dawg]

If it is basically a tailgate in the upper deck that is honestly pretty badass

When attendance is going down, this is a great idea by admin if it works. Guess we'll see if there is a market. If we don't fill them up, we'll draw attention to a dumb idea on every TV broadcast. If it works it will look cool.

Have said before, win and there isn't a ticket or seating shortfall. But all college sports are seeing a decrease so like that we are aggressive.

[Goldendawg]

It's sold out so I hope it's a great success and spreads as part of a new South endzone.

[RiverCityDawg]

When attendance is going down, this is a great idea by admin if it works. Guess we'll see if there is a market. If we don't fill them up, we'll draw attention to a dumb idea on every TV broadcast. If it works it will look cool.

Have said before, win and there isn't a ticket or seating shortfall. But all college sports are seeing a decrease so like that we are aggressive.

They sold out in less than two days, so it definitely worked.

[TUSK]

what? no PVC pipe and duct tape?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDqwCb8X4AIaaen?format=jpg&name=900x900

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Our fans need to stop caring about baseball so much first, for that to happen...

I'm pretty sure you know the reason for this problem....winning. Baseball has a NATTY, football nothing. Winning is the great equalizer.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

What happens if a couple of people buy balcony tickets and crash your party because the balcony is being under utilized. Has Cohen given any thought to resolving this kind of situation. And if one of the party crashers is a HS football coach, warch out!

[Maroonthirteen]

Chain link fencing. Ask Larry Templeton, chain link fence keeps the lower class out.***

[R2Dawg]

what? no PVC pipe and duct tape?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDqwCb8X4AIaaen?format=jpg&name=900x900

Nice one Tusk. I guess MSU didn't invent upper level tailgating after all.

[Homedawg]

What happens if a couple of people buy balcony tickets and crash your party because the balcony is being under utilized. Has Cohen given any thought to resolving this kind of situation. And if one of the party crashers is a HS football coach, warch out!

I don't think they can just crash anyones party.

[Offshore Dawg]

I don't think they can just crash anyones party.

riff Raf everywhere