Average distance traveled.....

[Maroonthirteen]

I agree Oxford and Starkville are similar sized towns in similar sized counties. However, Memphis and Desoto County are huge, HUGE for OM's enrollment and attendance to ball games. I know of many poeple from the Mem burbs and Desoto county that attend OM games that are not OM fans....just tagging along with their friends who are OM ticket holders.

We have Columbus and West Point. OM has Batesville and New Albany. HOWEVER, again, advantage OM. Tuscaloosa isn't 60 miles from Batesville. The proximity of Tuscaloosa to Columbus and all of east MS, makes a big negative effect on our attendance.

The fact MSU is in such a small state, ruraly located, with another large in-state-school and OH by the way next door to the most successful college football program in history..........it is remarkable we have a 60,000 seat stadium.

 

[MedDawg]

Yeah, but the difference is, everybody wants to go to Oxford.

Sure they do...

View attachment 823

 

[EurekaDog]

One small tweak: Hwy 6 (btw Batesville & Oxford) wasn't 4-laned until the 70's,

but, the ~20 year period between that and 4-laning 82 & 25 put MSU at a disadvantage

 

[PineGroveBully]

I'm just amazed the SEC keeps us in the conference honestly. It would be so easy for them to kick us out and put somebody with a big TV market like Houston or Memphis in our place. I guess we should suck that titty till its dry.

No offense but this may be one of the most assinine posts ever on SPS. First of all, it wouldn't be "so easy" to kick us out, we are a charter member. It would be easier to add UCLA to the SEC than it'd be to remove State. Plus do you really think there are enough Memphis football fans to even make that battle worth fighting? In a city with a metro of well over 1 million they can't put 40k people in the stands unless the opposing team brings 15-20k. Starkville with maybe 35k metro finds a way to get 50k+ vs directional Louisiana. Not to mention the baseball angle, which is possibly more important to the SEC than basketball. Tossing out one of the top 15 baseball schools in the national for Memphis baseball, about as intellegient as the original post. Again, no offense, just saying.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

WHen was 82 4 laned between Columbus and Starkville? Same time frame as Oxford to Batesville would be my guess. Regardless, That had to be early 70s because I remember it being 4 laned my entire life? The state 4 laned 82 from Columbus to Starkville because of all the travel between the two Universities (State and W). So, it wasn't like they were ignoring MSU completely. I think the bigger grip is how dangerous 25 was for years.

Highway 82 just isn't a major highway. To this day is 2 lane through most of Arkansas. AS you know, Alabama was behind us on 4 laning 82 to Tuscaloosa. 82 is still two lane for sections between Tuscaloosa and Montgomery. It is mostly 2 laned through Georgia.

 

[fieldcorporal]

82 was 2-lane when I started in 1971, and 4-laned before I finished in 1975. I think it was late 72/early 73 when it was completed.

 

[BiloxiDawg]

536 miles round trip for me and I don't miss a home game...

I have made many day trips... and the drive never gets easier - it sucks. Lack of accomodations kills us.

The thread about TV and other things eroding college football game attendance triggered this thought. Does anyone know if there is data anywhere that estimates the average distance the home fans from each SEC school travel to attend a football game?

That would be interesting information. Just getting at this indirectly based on the sheer population within a 50 or 100 mile radius it makes sense that MSU would top the list. Looking at this statistic one sees:

Population within radius of 50 miles & 100 miles
Starkville 319K 1.4M
Columbia MO 460K 1.9M (I was surprised at this one)
Oxford 584K 2.5M

These are the bottom three and they don't even consider the proximity to state lines and overlap with competing fanbases which makes our numbers even worse