Perception of Starkville

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

FYI: that's why I'm all in on brading ourselves as "State" on everything. It's the only chance we have to seperate ourselves as a brand from Ole Miss (because what we have done has obviously not worked).

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agree 100

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

1. A Cowbells sized bar in The District? Yes. A bar like Cowbells in The District? No.

2. A barcade could work, but I don't think it would work in The District. I think downtown or in between downtown and The District would be a great place.

3. I don't have a problem closing bars at 1. Oxford's bars close at 1 on Fridays and 12 on Saturdays and do completely fine.

4. Agree completely. I wish the The Graduate would've bought that land instead of the University. It's going to be really hard to make Muldrow two way now because of The Landing. Had the widened the road prior to putting it in, you probably could've done it. You might could widen it on the other side though.

5. Little Dooey's is throwing away money not having that back area open all year. They'd double their revenue with that because that could be a good nightlife place for people in their 40s and 50s to go and not have to fight the crowd in The District.

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1 - agreed and what I said - just not explicitly so good clarification.
2 - my vision is for university to just be walkable with bustling entertainment and stores all the way down the street from "downtown" to "the district". Not completely realistic, but a good goal to work towards the next 10 years.
3 - Preference I guess
4 - Agreed. Main point is we need a major hotel on University which allows people to walk easily
5 - They kept it open some last year, but they need to be consistent and it needs to be strictly Bar and no food. Just to build clientele. Also need to set up access from University. Walking all the way around is a PitA that people will ignore. Seeing the line on University breeds interest and makes it easier.

To expand on #2 - that damn cemetery where it is is unfortunately awful placement. So much could be done right there to make a massive change in bridging the gap.

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Originally Posted by Tater

1 - agreed and what I said - just not explicitly so good clarification.
2 - my vision is for university to just be walkable with bustling entertainment and stores all the way down the street from "downtown" to "the district". Not completely realistic, but a good goal to work towards the next 10 years.
3 - Preference I guess
4 - Agreed. Main point is we need a major hotel on University which allows people to walk easily
5 - They kept it open some last year, but they need to be consistent and it needs to be strictly Bar and no food. Just to build clientele. Also need to set up access from University. Walking all the way around is a PitA that people will ignore. Seeing the line on University breeds interest and makes it easier.

To expand on #2 - that damn cemetery where it is is unfortunately awful placement. So much could be done right there to make a massive change in bridging the gap.

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I just do not understand the placement of that thing. It ruins the flow of everything.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

I had a client from Indiana text me Friday night when Ole Miss was playing. He thought he was being nice congratulating me on how well Ole Miss was playing. It really does get old.

FYI: that's why I'm all in on brading ourselves as "State" on everything. It's the only chance we have to seperate ourselves as a brand from Ole Miss (because what we have done has obviously not worked).

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Yeah it is kind of generic but it is honestly the best thing we have going as far as Marketing.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

I just do not understand the placement of that thing. It ruins the flow of everything.

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Quick google search says that cemetery has been around since the 1800s , so who would have thought it wind up being in a main part of town. It was added to the National Historic places register in 1990 so I'm assuming there's virtually 0% chance it can be moved.

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

Yeah it is kind of generic but it is honestly the best thing we have going as far as Marketing.

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I saw a video the other day on Twitter from a news reel when we played in the 1937 Orange Bowl. Even in 1937 the news guy referred to us as "State" so there is a long history to just own it and brand it everywhere.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

I saw a video the other day on Twitter from a news reel when we played in the 1937 Orange Bowl. Even in 1937 the news guy referred to us as "State" so there is a long history to just own it and brand it everywhere.

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I agree. I was just saying that several schools could go by it. We need to push it hard and get it out there.

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Originally Posted by Tater

To expand on #2 - that damn cemetery where it is is unfortunately awful placement. So much could be done right there to make a massive change in bridging the gap.

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I've got an idea...**

https://y.yarn.co/334b8ee4-de59-4f14...71c42_text.gif

I'll add my two cents.

If we are talking about perception then it all comes down to lived experience and people seeing it with their own eyes. Starkville is hard to get to and expensive to stay. There are rarely reasons to visit (conferences, concerts, etc.) outside of sports and sports weekends are the most expensive. The end result is the people with a bad perception don't go see the changes everyone is referencing.

I drive through Tuscaloosa on the way to the coast. Auburn is on the way to ATL. Baton Rouge is on I-10. Fayetteville is on I-49. Nashville is Nashville. Columbia is at the intersection of 3 interstates. And so on and so forth. Oxford and Starkville are only serviced by HWYs and Oxford is relatively close to I-20 and 55 on the way to Memphis.

We can't change the geography but maybe we can give more reasons for it to be a destination with academic conferences and professional events but those are typically held in bigger cities with more hotel rooms and things for attendees to do.

Here's a list of teams/schools that recruit Atlanta harder than State (academic, baseball and football):
All in-state Georgia teams
Bama
Auburn
UAB
Troy
West Virginia
Tennessee
Vandy
NC State
Milsaps
Ole Miss
Florida
Miami-OH
Princeton
Penn
UConn
Boston College
Baylor
Tulane
UT Martin

and that's off the top of my head.

If you don't tell people about Starkville/State, Ole Miss fans and other SEC competitors will.

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Originally Posted by dparker

I'll add my two cents.

If we are talking about perception then it all comes down to lived experience and people seeing it with their own eyes. Starkville is hard to get to and expensive to stay. There are rarely reasons to visit (conferences, concerts, etc.) outside of sports and sports weekends are the most expensive. The end result is the people with a bad perception don't go see the changes everyone is referencing.

I drive through Tuscaloosa on the way to the coast. Auburn is on the way to ATL. Baton Rouge is on I-10. Fayetteville is on I-49. Nashville is Nashville. Columbia is at the intersection of 3 interstates. And so on and so forth. Oxford and Starkville are only serviced by HWYs and Oxford is relatively close to I-20 and 55 on the way to Memphis.

We can't change the geography but maybe we can give more reasons for it to be a destination with academic conferences and professional events but those are typically held in bigger cities with more hotel rooms and things for attendees to do.

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Hotels shortage is one of the main problems. Because as you said, we could attract more professional events and conferences because we actually do have the space for that between the university and The Mill. Also some other things holding back Starkville is, like you said not serviced by a major hwy. There are not many high paying jobs in Starkville unless you're a lawyer, doctor, or are high up at Mississippi State, and lack of entertainment options on a non ballgame weekend(this one isn't a huge one but is something to mention nonetheless)

What's the latest on the sale of OCH? What I have heard is hearsay, but I've heard that NMMC really wants to expand their footprint in the area.

Google Maps hasn't updated the Starkville area in like 7 or 8 years. The old Dude is still on the map.

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Originally Posted by dparker

I'll add my two cents.

If we are talking about perception then it all comes down to lived experience and people seeing it with their own eyes. Starkville is hard to get to and expensive to stay. There are rarely reasons to visit (conferences, concerts, etc.) outside of sports and sports weekends are the most expensive. The end result is the people with a bad perception don't go see the changes everyone is referencing.

I drive through Tuscaloosa on the way to the coast. Auburn is on the way to ATL. Baton Rouge is on I-10. Fayetteville is on I-49. Nashville is Nashville. Columbia is at the intersection of 3 interstates. And so on and so forth. Oxford and Starkville are only serviced by HWYs and Oxford is relatively close to I-20 and 55 on the way to Memphis.

We can't change the geography but maybe we can give more reasons for it to be a destination with academic conferences and professional events but those are typically held in bigger cities with more hotel rooms and things for attendees to do.

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It's a great point. I'm told Oxford has a lot of youth baseball (and maybe softball) tournaments? I know a lot of Memphis families that have gone down there for the weekend, stayed in hotels and did the youth baseball thing. After while I guess it grows on them and naturally it's great for the local economy. I thought I recall Starkville was going to do something similar or am I dreaming that up?

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Originally Posted by KB21

What's the latest on the sale of OCH? What I have heard is hearsay, but I've heard that NMMC really wants to expand their footprint in the area.

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Another 17 up by the city/county.....not letting it sale in 2017 to whoever it was that wanted to buy it.


To answer your question. I know NMHS(North Mississippi Health Services) out of Tupelo and Baptist were interested in bidding. The first round of bids were due the first week of March and they didn't release who actually placed bids. My guess is those two placed bids and maybe NMMC as well. I know Oschner was sniffing around for a while about possibly bidding but don't know if that ever came into fruition.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

It's a great point. I'm told Oxford has a lot of youth baseball (and maybe softball) tournaments? I know a lot of Memphis families that have gone down there for the weekend, stayed in hotels and did the youth baseball thing. After while I guess it grows on them and naturally it's great for the local economy. I thought I recall Starkville was going to do something similar or am I dreaming that up?

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Oxford gets a lot of weekend visitors throughout the year. Sporting events just bring in more. Starkville, on the other hand, is quiet when no big games are being played.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

It's a great point. I'm told Oxford has a lot of youth baseball (and maybe softball) tournaments? I know a lot of Memphis families that have gone down there for the weekend, stayed in hotels and did the youth baseball thing. After while I guess it grows on them and naturally it's great for the local economy. I thought I recall Starkville was going to do something similar or am I dreaming that up?

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We did it. Starkville has those ballfields. Cornerstone Sports Complex right off 25. Same number of fields as m Trade in Oxford. I think Oxford is just a more desirable location for that because Oxford has 3x the amount of hotels as Starkville, plenty of AirBNBs, Batesville has plenty of hotels and is 20 minutes away, and Memphis is an hour away

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Originally Posted by Bothrops

Oxford gets a lot of weekend visitors throughout the year. Sporting events just bring in more. Starkville, on the other hand, is quiet when no big games are being played.

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And that's what Starkville has to figure out how to change. Like go to Oxford in June/July and the square is going to be pretty packed. Go to Starkville in June/July and The District will be quiet. Like I said, I think one of the big things is figuring out how to connect The District and the downtown area. Oxford has bars,restaurants, and boutique stores all right on The Square. Starkville has bars in one area, stores in one area, and restaurants in another area. There's no fluidity and flow.

Also, WE GOTTA FIGURE OUT THE PARKING. There's like 50 spots total in The District. People might come and stay a while if they had a damn place to park.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

We did it. Starkville has those ballfields. Cornerstone Sports Complex right off 25. Same number of fields as m Trade in Oxford. I think Oxford is just a more desirable location for that because Oxford has 3x the amount of hotels as Starkville, plenty of AirBNBs, Batesville has plenty of hotels and is 20 minutes away, and Memphis is an hour away

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Interesting. I'm a big believer in sports tourism, but yeah, Starkville would need more hotels and other reasons to attract people for the weekend other than a State game.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

Also, WE GOTTA FIGURE OUT THE PARKING. There's like 50 spots total in The District. People might come and stay a while if they had a damn place to park.

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No doubt. This is a huge problem and one that keeps me out for the most part.

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Originally Posted by State82

No doubt. This is a huge problem and one that keeps me out for the most part.

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I'm lucky that my condo is right down the hill from Uno Mas. But if I didn't I really don't know where I'd park.

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Originally Posted by Bothrops

Oxford gets a lot of weekend visitors throughout the year. Sporting events just bring in more. Starkville, on the other hand, is quiet when no big games are being played.

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I lived in Oxford for about a decade after State. They were still pretty sleepy during the summer. When I was there they tried to attract people by having events (BBQ competition, youth sports, cultural events at the Ford Center, etc.) to bring people in. I think some of the smartest things they did was to build a conference center, parking decks around the square so it was easier for people to go and to (eventually) break the monopoly of the square by having another whole area for restaurants/bars/entertainment to go. For years, growth was choked by having everything confined to the square.

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Originally Posted by Duckdog

I teach in La. Over the years Ive had old students tell me how much they enjoy going to starkville of baton rouge. WE ALL KNOW BR IS A SH!THOLE! I grew up in BR and its a ghetto compared to years ago.

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This ain't no lie

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Originally Posted by Ranchdawg

I have family in Ft Worth. Husband and wife and 3 grown kids. Husband/wife both MSU graduates. They have been in Ft.Worth since the left MSU. One of their kids having been coming to Starkville for several years for baseball games. He sez that Starkville is really small but loves the people, loves no traffic, loves rural openness and feels safe.

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I spend more time than I care for in DFW and Starkville along with several towns in south Mississippi make me want to move back.

We could always build a “Gilleys” like Houston/Pasadena. It was a cheap galvanized steel building that could hold a few thousand “patrons”. Woo hoo, urban cowboy II. ***

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

Also, WE GOTTA FIGURE OUT THE PARKING. There's like 50 spots total in The District. People might come and stay a while if they had a damn place to park.

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Someone (maybe you??) said one time a new parking garage in the District that funds NIL - that was a genious idea.

Concerts at The Dude and Davis Wade in the summer would help generate traffic

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Originally Posted by BeardoMSU

I've got an idea...**

https://y.yarn.co/334b8ee4-de59-4f14...71c42_text.gif

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Just build a parking garage with the first floor remaining the cemetery *****

Never gonna have rain **** up a funeral there again *****

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Originally Posted by Tater

Just build a parking garage with the first floor remaining the cemetery *****

Never gonna have rain **** up a funeral there again *****

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Genius!

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Originally Posted by BeardoMSU

Genius!

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Everybody wins! It would be a massive boon to the district while letting fans experience the true State fan experience - being a part of something built on a burial ground.

While we're at it - let's turn St. Joe's into the Pon- I mean a Non-alcoholic dance club.

Do folks like the food at Uno Mas?

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Originally Posted by Cooterpoot

Concerts at The Dude and Davis Wade in the summer would help generate traffic

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Think so too. A lot of us went to concerts on campus back in the day. I know I would go.

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Originally Posted by gtowndawg

Someone (maybe you??) said one time a new parking garage in the District that funds NIL - that was a genious idea.

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Yea it was me. I doubt they will ever do that. Makes too much sense

Whats holding Starkville back is its general location.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

HoopsDawg didn't want us to clutter the Hot Board with this discussion and I do agree with him so I'll move it.

What are the reasons that Starkville struggles so much with perception? Because we do. Outside of our fanbase, Starkville is looked at as a boring town. That's not my opinion, but ask other SEC fanbases and they will tell you that. Is it truly just that Ole Miss has spent 50 years telling everyone it's a two stoplight town and their alumni reach is bigger? And if so, how do we change it?

I think the answer is pretty simple, out of state recruiting. We need to hit this as hard as possible for the next 5-10 years. 85-90% of your in state kids know where they are going from the time they are in Jr. High. We need to somehow start making in roads in these big metroplexes and big cities in the South. I don't mean you have to go all out for out of state kids and start taking everyone like OM does, but we need to figure out a way to bring more kids to the university from out of state and start changing the national perception. Because once you start getting the regular students, you start making in roads in these schools and can start picking up the athletes.

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I have lived in Starkville since 2001, with a short break of 2006-2014. Listen, the town intself is fine. It has glaring issues that is hard to look past. I will list them below...

1. The change since 2001-2025 has been great, but really it should have happened from 1970-2001 at that same pace. HWY 12 is a disaster. Just terrible planning or lack thereof. Lack of commercial investment hurts too.
People expect a Target. People expect a Fresh Market. We just don't have the higher level of commercial stores in Starkville, mostly due to our terrible location. No major interstates anywhere nearby. No major population centers, anywhere nearby.
2. Larger areas like DeSoto and the Coast have vastly more things for families to do. Hell Starkville doesn't even have a body of water around to visit worth a crap.
3. Housing is an issue.

Mostly, Starkville is a great small town. Lack of things to do, things to be involved in, and just its terrible first impression drives a lot of the sentiment. I see why every other college campus in the SEC is better than ours. Every college town is better than ours. Name me one college town in the SEC that doesn't have a Target or Fresh Market. It sounds dumb, but that is just the tip of the iceburg for things lacking in Starkvegas.

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Originally Posted by Duckdog

Whats holding Starkville back is its general location.

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Bingo. General Location, Population, and lack of vision 3 decades ago.

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Originally Posted by Lord McBuckethead

I have lived in Starkville since 2001, with a short break of 2006-2014. Listen, the town intself is fine. It has glaring issues that is hard to look past. I will list them below...

1. The change since 2001-2025 has been great, but really it should have happened from 1970-2001 at that same pace. HWY 12 is a disaster. Just terrible planning or lack thereof. Lack of commercial investment hurts too.
People expect a Target. People expect a Fresh Market. We just don't have the higher level of commercial stores in Starkville, mostly due to our terrible location. No major interstates anywhere nearby. No major population centers, anywhere nearby.
2. Larger areas like DeSoto and the Coast have vastly more things for families to do. Hell Starkville doesn't even have a body of water around to visit worth a crap.
3. Housing is an issue.

Mostly, Starkville is a great small town. Lack of things to do, things to be involved in, and just its terrible first impression drives a lot of the sentiment. I see why every other college campus in the SEC is better than ours. Every college town is better than ours. Name me one college town in the SEC that doesn't have a Target or Fresh Market. It sounds dumb, but that is just the tip of the iceburg for things lacking in Starkvegas.

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All of this is correct. And like you said, the recent growth and development is great but we started 30 years late.

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Originally Posted by Cooterpoot

Concerts at The Dude and Davis Wade in the summer would help generate traffic

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Hardy should do a music festival in DW once a year. He could bring in a BUNCH of known musical acts. Not just country but some rock too.

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Originally Posted by Lord McBuckethead

I have lived in Starkville since 2001, with a short break of 2006-2014. Listen, the town intself is fine. It has glaring issues that is hard to look past. I will list them below...

1. The change since 2001-2025 has been great, but really it should have happened from 1970-2001 at that same pace. HWY 12 is a disaster. Just terrible planning or lack thereof. Lack of commercial investment hurts too.
People expect a Target. People expect a Fresh Market. We just don't have the higher level of commercial stores in Starkville, mostly due to our terrible location. No major interstates anywhere nearby. No major population centers, anywhere nearby.
2. Larger areas like DeSoto and the Coast have vastly more things for families to do. Hell Starkville doesn't even have a body of water around to visit worth a crap.
3. Housing is an issue.

Mostly, Starkville is a great small town. Lack of things to do, things to be involved in, and just its terrible first impression drives a lot of the sentiment. I see why every other college campus in the SEC is better than ours. Every college town is better than ours. Name me one college town in the SEC that doesn't have a Target or Fresh Market. It sounds dumb, but that is just the tip of the iceburg for things lacking in Starkvegas.

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highway 12 is a crime against humanity. like honestly the medians are awful. they make driving it awful. they make everything a pain in the ass to get to and really is some of the worst infrastructure ive ever seen a city implement and standby. whoever cooked than up should be ashamed of themselves. ive never seen this anywhere else, not saying it doesnt exists other places but man.

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Originally Posted by Lord McBuckethead

I have lived in Starkville since 2001, with a short break of 2006-2014. Listen, the town intself is fine. It has glaring issues that is hard to look past. I will list them below...

1. The change since 2001-2025 has been great, but really it should have happened from 1970-2001 at that same pace. HWY 12 is a disaster. Just terrible planning or lack thereof. Lack of commercial investment hurts too.
People expect a Target. People expect a Fresh Market. We just don't have the higher level of commercial stores in Starkville, mostly due to our terrible location. No major interstates anywhere nearby. No major population centers, anywhere nearby.
2. Larger areas like DeSoto and the Coast have vastly more things for families to do. Hell Starkville doesn't even have a body of water around to visit worth a crap.
3. Housing is an issue.

Mostly, Starkville is a great small town. Lack of things to do, things to be involved in, and just its terrible first impression drives a lot of the sentiment. I see why every other college campus in the SEC is better than ours. Every college town is better than ours. Name me one college town in the SEC that doesn't have a Target or Fresh Market. It sounds dumb, but that is just the tip of the iceburg for things lacking in Starkvegas.

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Yeah, this is a good summation.