Scott Stricklin chat transcript

[Homedawg]

And we sold them out 1.5 years before completion. WAY.TOO.CHEAP.


How so? Because poor ole MSU is refusing to be a big boy in the one sport where it ACTUALLY is a big boy? Nevermind the corporations moving in nearby in West Point and Columbus that we could/should really capitalize on...

I think somewhere in the argument u lost the fact that I want a nice DNF, I WANT a lfl. And yes there is money left on the table- at this point. And I won't argue we sold skyboxes too cheap. But it's still not equal to lsu and to say it is, is really nuts.

[Tbonewannabe]

I agree with this. Everyone arguing that the grandstand is ok has not sat in the bleachers. There is a reason people only sit in them for big games. Either you get a crick in your neck or you sit completely sideways.

My wife and I live in Jackson and we might buy season tickets but there are no chairbacks available.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I think that when we renovate there will be a more family friendly elevated seating area that doesn't include bleachers. Therefore no crick as you put it.

Again, the bad sightlines have nothing to do with the fact that the bleachers are there, it is all about the current angle of the grandstand. Even IF they somehow elevated the seating above the current grandstand, it would look terribly goofy and half-ass. Do you really want to go half way on this or do you want to have the nicest park in America? And before you say "Oh boo hoo, facts are, we just can't afford it," I'm not saying we can afford it RIGHT NOW, but given a couple of years of creative fundraising, the new SEC Network money, and then maybe borrowing the rest, we WILL have enough. Look beyond today and see what we will have in a couple of years if we jump into this thing headfirst. Hell, it's not like this thing won't pay for itself multiple times over anyway.

How it ends up isn't known but it will be better I feel certain. Ultimately that will bring more people I hope.

Wow, do you really want to settle for "a little better" when we could take a little longer, push a little harder, and have the "best?" Your defeatist attitude is truly a breathe of fresh air. Thanks for that Mr. Templeton. UM and A&M spent $20 mil. and $27 mil. respectively renovating outdated structures while USCe spent $35 mil. building a great new stadium that is only paralleled by LSU and maybe Arkansas. I'm sick of people wanting to go halfway on this when it will only cost a fraction more to go all out.

But truly winning is the only thing that will pack TE place and we have done that before every w bad sight lines.

We packed "TE" place before IN SPITE of the bad sightlines, and the only reason we could was because we were the only show in town and that was the only way to see it. Why in the hell would anyone want to go sit in the bleachers now when they could just stay at home and watch on HSTV?

Hell people still go to wrigley field and Cameron indoor stadium and those two places have the crappiest seats and-or sight lines in America. And the cubs suck. At least duke is good in hoops!

I hate to break it to you, but the grandstand at DNF isn't even in the same stratosphere as Wrigley in any way. DNF was built 25 years ago; Wrigley is over 100 years old. DNF has unfixable sightline issues (that have nothing to do with the bleachers); Wrigley's problems at least were/are fixable. Wrigley tops DNF in every possible way (allure, design, etc.). Please do yourself a favor and never compare the two again. You just look stupid when you do.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I agree with this. Everyone arguing that the grandstand is ok has not sat in the bleachers. There is a reason people only sit in them for big games. Either you get a crick in your neck or you sit completely sideways.

My wife and I live in Jackson and we might buy season tickets but there are no chairbacks available.

There are more people like you than many realize. The demand is here for an investment in a new stadium, and it's an investment that would see the baseball program and University HUGE dividends down the road. People just need to wake the **** up and drop the defeatist attitudes. We CAN do this. There is a demand for it.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Here's what's wrong w you, I present some facts along with some opinions and I'm sandman. Wtf ever. If you don't like debate leave the thread. Because u can't present any facts to dispute one thing I've said. Not one.

Are you blind? I have given facts is all of my posts in response to you.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I never said we were reducing capicity. I said we were removing the bleachers And truly we don't need to add to capacity. If you've been to a regional, which i know you have, it's packed. Well since I'm so dense, clearly I need to explain because u don't get it. One would think the "crick" is occurring because the bleachers are facing towards centerfield, therefore, the person is turned sideways watching causing it. Wo them one could, would be sitting facing more towards home plate, thus no crick.....all this I would be there but, just win and they will be there, I've seen it....as for wrigley, well maybe they have some 7 figure donars to improve the sight lines.

This isn't a very coherent sentence, but I'm assuming you're saying that all the people down the lines should totally turn their entire bodies perpendicular to the actual seat just to see the game and that would solve the problem? Honestly, do you want something done right or do you want to half ass it? Because how you are suggesting people sit is the direct product of a half ass design.

Again, people aren't going to show up these days to sit in a shitty, outdated stadium when they could watch it on their computers at home for $100/year. People in 1989 would show up because A) They had no other way to see the game, and B) They had nothing else to do. Quit living in the past and realize that we have to have nice seating and creative marketing to attract a new audience in this day and age. You can't say "Here's a good baseball team, so come watch them" these days if they are playing in a shitty park that doesn't even allow the fan to see the game without turning their body perpendicular to the seat (as you suggested) or having to visit the chiropractor in the morning.

[engie]

I never said we were reducing capicity. I said we were removing the bleachers And truly we don't need to add to capacity

Make this reasoning make sense to me. Because it doesn't. Those bleachers hold 1500 people each.

The fact that you think our 6000 season tickets are the most we could ever sell -- while OM sells 7k+ -- tells me all I need to know about your thoughts on this...

[Esmerelda Villalobos]

Ive been to more baseball stadiums (college included) than probably this whole message board combined. I also have had 5 chairbacks since they were built and have a lifetime contract.

DNF needs to be bulldozed and we need to start from scratch on the grandstand. Im not sure how else to say it. Id give up my seats in a heartbeat. Id just re-buy them. It is the same type of folks that bitch about social security and then dont want to take cuts because of what they were promised or paid in. Meanwhile, they are also for less govt spending. How about we do what is best for the university?

[slickdawg]

Has DNF become the Astrodome? Once upon a time, 8th wonder of the world - today an outdated eyesore that makeup won't fix ?

[Coach34]

anybody that argues that the grandstand doesnt need to be changed is clueless, stupid, or never been there. The bleachers cost us 6 figures in revenue every season.

We need to rebuild the grandstand and add chairbacks down each line.
We need to up the ante for LFL spots a little- those wont go to waste. Go to pay to play these days
You can add a family friendly-area over in the LF corner area somewhere.
Add a bleacher area/student section in RF- even if it takes moving the road back there or whatever.

We can have one of the nicest stadiums in college baseball. We have got to stop with the LT way of thinking

[berr6728]

If not incorrect SCarolina does not have field level seats. They and Ark. both have same type of stadium, as well as LSWho with no field level seats except on foul line where we have to sit at LSU.

Darryl Berryhill
Class of 1963/65
Box 13 DNF/PDS
berr6728@bellsouth.net
1-225-205-1499

[berr6728]

I live 30 miles from Baton Rouge. LSWho sells many season tickets partly because a number of them are purchased by large cooperations in Baton Rouge and New Orleans and other large Cites. These tickets are given away each week to fans or employees of the cooperation. Even sold out they still have large # of empty seats. I have a couple of friends who do not buy season tickets but never miss a game because they work for a cooperation that has them and they sit directly behind home plate in the gold section. We at MSU do not have that pleasure of large companies buying season tickets and giving them away. Some of their Cooperations are Coco Cola-McDonalds-Budweiser-and cosinos and other smaller cos.

Darryl Berryhill
Class of 1963/65
Box 13 DNF/PDS
berr6728@bellsouth.net
1-225-205-1499