Perception of Starkville

[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.

[Santiago]

My question for baseball is what type of recruiting does it take to get some Quad 1 and 2 wins. Heck, even Quad 3.

[Cowbeller]

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.

I can tell you we hit Atlanta, Nashville, and Birmingham hard. I don?t think the perception is because lack of out of state kids. It stems from the lack of bars which is rapidly changing.

When away fans/students come it?s their biggest complaint. If you know people you can have a great time in Starkvegas but if you don?t then I can see why you?d say it?s boring on a normal weekend.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I can tell you we hit Atlanta, Nashville, and Birmingham hard. I don?t think the perception is because lack of out of state kids. It stems from the lack of bars which is rapidly changing.

When away fans/students come it?s their biggest complaint. If you know people you can have a great time in Starkvegas but if you don?t then I can see why you?d say it?s boring on a normal weekend.

That's a very good point that I've never considered. If you don't really know where to go then you're going to go to Bulldog Burger or Little Dooey and your opinion will probably be Starkville sucks. I do think having The Landing right at the start of The District will help because I think it'll draw people in because it looks like a entertainment venue.

[Cooterpoot]

I'll say it: The District needs cleaning up (primarily the living areas), parking, AND more bars. Starkville needs expanded health care facilities/medical community, a few well paying industry jobs, & a nice outdoor mall (insert Target joke). Downtown construction needs to get finished up too. Needs more hotels as well.

[Cowbeller]

That's a very good point that I've never considered. If you don't really know where to go then you're going to go to Bulldog Burger or Little Dooey and your opinion will probably be Starkville sucks. I do think having The Landing right at the start of The District will help because I think it'll draw people in because it looks like a entertainment venue.

Yep I am originally from north GA so we would go to Athens for a good time. Tailgating is not close to the junction there but if they visited Stark on a baseball/basketball weekend they would complain about how crammed the district would become and preferred when we would hit house parties. Until you become in the know with the bartenders I see why people talk down on the town. Like anything it just comes down to preference because you do not get the community experience you get in Starkville in many college towns and it is tough to market that to rising high seniors especially athletes in the days of NIL.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I'll say it: The District needs cleaning up (primarily the living areas), parking, AND more bars. Starkville needs expanded health care facilities/medical community, a few well paying industry jobs, & a nice outdoor mall (insert Target joke). Downtown construction needs to get finished up too. Needs more hotels as well.

I don't disagree with any of that. I just don't know how you accomplish it. In theory, we need to tear down all those old buildings and bars and build new ones. If they could convince the Camps to sell those old buildings and demolish them then you might could have something really cool. A hotel where Mojo Maroons/Fountain Bar is would be an ideal place for one. You could rebuild The Bin and make it bigger and you could repurpose Klaasroom and Drifters and make those spaces bigger.

[EdwardDrayton]

It is what it is, and it's been droned ad nauseum, so work with what we have. There are more important things we can do something about right now. Like upgrading coaches and players.

Find the ones who want to come here, both coaches and players. That will work out better anyway.

[StarkVegasSteve]

It is what it is, and it's been droned ad nauseum, so work with what we have. There are more important things we can do something about right now. Like upgrading coaches and players.

Find the ones who want to come here, both coaches and players. That will work out better anyway.

But we're not talking about that in this thread. I literally created this thread because this talk permeated the hot board thread. There's 19 other threads to discuss that.

We're just talking about perception of Starkville here.

[Mjoelner34]

..... Needs more hotels as well.

Speaking of hotels:
1. I read a story last year where LINK, the Golden Triangle economic development council, said that Starkville was short 300 hotel rooms.
2. I believe I read where an 85 room hotel is going in behind Academy Sports.
3. What is the status of the hotel MSU was supposed to build on Col. Muldrow in the Cotton District?


Actually, 1 and 2 are from the same article:
https://cdispatch.com/news/link-10m-...on-incentives/

From The Dispatch:
"The 85-room hotel would take about $10 million to build, Higgins said. It would sit on a vacant lot between Academy Sports and Hollywood Premier Cinema.

If built, it would knock a dent in what the LINK estimates is a 300-room shortage in Starkville’s hotel capacity. That is most notable on Mississippi State University football game days, Higgins said, but those are far from the only days hotels are full."

[StarkVegasSteve]

Speaking of hotels:
1. I read a story last year where LINK, the Golden Triangle economic development council, said that Starkville was short 300 hotel rooms.
2. I believe I read where an 85 room hotel is going in behind Academy Sports.
3. What is the status of the hotel MSU was supposed to build on Col. Muldrow in the Cotton District?


Actually, 1 and 2 are from the same article:
https://cdispatch.com/news/link-10m-...on-incentives/

From The Dispatch:
"The 85-room hotel would take about $10 million to build, Higgins said. It would sit on a vacant lot between Academy Sports and Hollywood Premier Cinema.

If built, it would knock a dent in what the LINK estimates is a 300-room shortage in Starkville’s hotel capacity. That is most notable on Mississippi State University football game days, Higgins said, but those are far from the only days hotels are full."

1. That is correct and I think that is a conservative amount.

2. I love that they're putting that space to use but while they're at it they need to tear down that eyesore by the CVS.

3. I have no clue what the hold up is. I don't know if it's a space issue, zoning issue, the art dept is throwing a fit, etc but we need to start on it. It could be a Graduate type hotel for Mississippi State and The District could really use something like that. I really wish Ben Weprin would come in and buy that building in The District that houses apartments and Mojo Maroons and Fountain Bar and put an actual Graduate Hotel there. But I don't know if Starkville has the clientele for a Graduate.

[EdwardDrayton]

But we're not talking about that in this thread. I literally created this thread because this talk permeated the hot board thread. There's 19 other threads to discuss that.

We're just talking about perception of Starkville here.

That was not lost on me.

[MStateDawg]

The Landing right at the start of The District will help because I think it'll draw people in because it looks like a entertainment venue.

The Landing reminds me of The Houndstooth in Tuscaloosa. Large open bar with indoor and outdoor seating, just off campus an easily walkable distance from the stadium. It should do well on football Saturdays.

[BeardoMSU]

I think one of the biggest problems is most people outside of Starkville/MSU peeps still think it's the same city it was in 2000. We don't do a good enough job to really emphasize just HOW MUCH Starkville has improved.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I think one of the biggest problems is most people outside of Starkville/MSU peeps still think it's the same city it was in 2000. We don't do a good enough job to really emphasize just HOW MUCH Starkville has improved.

BINGO. And we don't have a large out of state alumni presence that is able to spread that message. Unfortunately, a lot of the out of state people leave on graduation day and never come back. This is one thing Ole Miss does extremely well and we don't. They make it a huge deal for their young alumni to come back in the fall and the spring and it makes them start coming back early and so they continue to come back and when they start making money they buy a condo in Oxford.

[EdwardDrayton]

I think one of the biggest problems is most people outside of Starkville/MSU peeps still think it's the same city it was in 2000. We don't do a good enough job to really emphasize just HOW MUCH Starkville has improved.

Absolutely true. It has improved exponentially.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Absolutely true. It has improved exponentially.

But that's where we fall flat. That message doesn't make it past the state line in any direction unless you're like me and live in Dallas and go back a bunch. I tell people how much better it is and show them and they're all genuinely shocked. Hell I ran into two alumni who work for an energy company out here and they had no clue how much Starkville had grown. That's our own damn people.

[parabrave]

I can tell you we hit Atlanta, Nashville, and Birmingham hard. I don?t think the perception is because lack of out of state kids. It stems from the lack of bars which is rapidly changing.

When away fans/students come it?s their biggest complaint. If you know people you can have a great time in Starkvegas but if you don?t then I can see why you?d say it?s boring on a normal weekend.

jackie hit Georgia very hard. It seemed that most of his players were from the ATL.

[DawgFromOxford]

To change the perception you need to work the media. Start pumping advertising dollars towards groups like Barstool to promote media that makes Starkville look like an awesome place to go to college. Pay someone like Sabrina Carpenter to come to a baseball game and post about it on her social media accounts

[BrunswickDawg]

I think one of the biggest problems is most people outside of Starkville/MSU peeps still think it's the same city it was in 2000. We don't do a good enough job to really emphasize just HOW MUCH Starkville has improved.

I had this exact conversation with the radio guys at UGA this weekend. They complimented Starkville and said it was a top-half city in the SEC. They raved about how much better the city is then 25-30 years ago "but no one knows it".