An eye opener about where we are with money in the SEC

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Originally Posted by Cooterpoot

No idea, but not a ton. Look, our licensing group hurts us, our poor support hurts us, our negligence a few years ago by our AD hurts us, our leadership at the top of the university hurts us, location hurts us, the IHL hurts us, terrible marketing hurts us. They hurt us this year with a terrible ticket plan and a bad schedule by the SEC. If football dies, this university dies.

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Jesus this is bleak.

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Originally Posted by cheewgumm

You?re just in the same boat you?ve been in since the beginning of time.

Unable to compete with big boys because of money.

No big deal. No change.

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Same thing it?s always been.

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Originally Posted by Goldendawg

Concerning update on season ticket sales. Just talked to my hardcore Mississippi State fan "multiple season tickets in football, basketball, and baseball". He participated in the reseating option for 4 of his 8 football season tickets. He said the amount of seats available in section 4 is very alarming and adjacent seats available in sections 3 and 5 is even much worse. It is bad, but with our perhaps "Maroon colored glasses" he felt that we have reached the bottom this year and with Lebby continuing to improve our roster and a more favorable schedule in 2027 with fewer blue bloods there is hope.

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The football schedule definitely screws us without question.

It's crazy because you mention 2027 and that season we have the Egg Bowl, Alabama, and LSU all at home I think. Those are all games that should draw well and I think getting the Egg Bowl off of Thanksgiving will help the attendance there. But to your point about bluebloods we have Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and South Carolina on the schedule that year- ironically just like 1998-1999. Lebby should have that season circled for sure and we should go all in at that point.

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Originally Posted by Santiago

Since every million counts.... how much do we additionally generate if 1-2 additional condo buildings (at least 25 units) are built at the baseball field and also leased out during football season , and basketball season.

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Considering the millions it would cost to build- it would be at least 7-8 years before we started turning a profit on building more

Thats our problem in baseball now- we used to turn a profit but now with the new stadium we are paying off- we are losing money

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Originally Posted by cheewgumm

I think the long term answer is

1) Starkville population has to grow

2) Only way that happens is if jobs are brought to the area

50k population in Starkville should be the immediate goal.

Dont think University can change this much, though they could help in promoting economic activity etc to draw more jobs.

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The direct flights to Columbus at least help out some. Or should, if we can win some games.

Let's face it, we are not an SEC school when it comes to money. We just aren't. Fans thinking we can compete year in and year out in NIL or paying $10,000,000 coaches has not been paying attention.

We are last and it's not close. Don't even look at Vandy, they got so much $$$, they don't need to generate anything. It's just whether they care or not about sports and they don't care enough to spend a lot.

Mississippi State... where it just means less cause we have less so we are forced into apathy whether we like it or not. I have seen Mississippi State be good, maybe we can find our way back to at least respectability. I think all three major sports have the ability to field competitive teams but it will not be easy.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Considering the millions it would cost to build- it would be at least 7-8 years before we started turning a profit on building more

Thats our problem in baseball now- we used to turn a profit but now with the new stadium we are paying off- we are losing money

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Who cares if we turn a profit if the loss is due to interest expense and depreciation. That will shake out.

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Originally Posted by Santiago

The direct flights to Columbus at least help out some. Or should, if we can win some games.

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Living in Dallas, the direct flight from Love to GTR is huge. Although I usually just fly into Memphis and have someone come get me, I will probably start to use that flight a bit more.

The right football coach makes the entire university better. We have had 2 good ones since 2003. Im sorry to the academia people, but it?s just the way it is. Math tests dont sell tickets. As soon as we get the right football coach things will look brighter around here. I personally do not think Lebby is it but this off-season and spring was a lot better than his last one.

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Originally Posted by Santiago

Since every million counts.... how much do we additionally generate if 1-2 additional condo buildings (at least 25 units) are built at the baseball field and also leased out during football season , and basketball season.

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They are leased by the year.

I think Lebby wins 5 games this year if we stay healthy and with a lot of luck, we could win 6. But we all know, luck hates us and our QB is made of glass and we'll all have to drink heavily to survive September.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

Living in Dallas, the direct flight from Love to GTR is huge. Although I usually just fly into Memphis and have someone come get me, I will probably start to use that flight a bit more.

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The flight from Dallas to gtr yesterday was $247 round trip

Just to make sure I'm not overthinking this, we came in last for football revenue in the same year we came in last in the actual standings (and had the worst season on record in 30 years). And this is a surprise somehow?

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Originally Posted by Homedawg

The flight from Dallas to gtr yesterday was $247 round trip

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Wow! That is dirt cheap. I may have to start flying out of the gtr to Dallas to make my connecting flights.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

Just to make sure I'm not overthinking this, we came in last for football revenue in the same year we came in last in the actual standings (and had the worst season on record in 30 years). And this is a surprise somehow?

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The surprise is how wide the gap is getting. We actually had 3MM more revenue last season over 2023 even with the bad season. Mississippi bringing in $30MM more in revenue than us means that the programs are no longer about equal

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Originally Posted by Homedawg

The flight from Dallas to gtr yesterday was $247 round trip

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Daily flights from DFW to Tupelo as well.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

The surprise is how wide the gap is getting. We actually had 3MM more revenue last season over 2023 even with the bad season. Mississippi bringing in $30MM more in revenue than us means that the programs are no longer about equal

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I agree the gap between us and Ole Miss is concerning. That's scary and it's a reflection on leadership on many levels. The gap between us and Texas and Bama is just whatever to me. They are totally out of our league in every way and always have been. But again, to your point, the gap between us and Ole Miss is frightening since we've been on the same level for decades until recently.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

I agree the gap between us and Ole Miss is concerning. That's scary and it's a reflection on leadership on many levels. The gap between us and Texas and Bama is just whatever to me. They are totally out of our league in every way and always have been. But again, to your point, the gap between us and Ole Miss is frightening since we've been on the same level for decades until recently.

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That's the one that is inexcusable. It also just shows how aligned they are from the President's office all the way down to the $5 fan.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

That's the one that is inexcusable. It also just shows how aligned they are from the President's office all the way down to the $5 fan.

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We are paying the inevitable price for infighting and the hiring of an unqualified AD and it's not over yet.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

Just to make sure I'm not overthinking this, we came in last for football revenue in the same year we came in last in the actual standings (and had the worst season on record in 30 years). And this is a surprise somehow?

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On the job training AD (again), who hires on the job training HC (again), who hires on the job training DC. Most people on this board could take the millions being spent and win 2 OOC games and go 0-8 in the SEC. Only successful asst coaches that we have hired to be HC in my 70 year lifetime are Tyler and Mullen. Our hiring decisions from the "Powers that Be" is pitiful, yet we keep doing it expecting different results No wonder we have been a losing, hard to watch program much of my life. Hoping '25 is competitive, interesting to watch and we win our share.