So… The visiting fan situation

[CaptainFalcon]

1. A lot of the damage was done before the season even started. We had poor season ticket sales and only recently found a burst of fan optimism, whereas their fans made plans to come to this game months ago. It was unfortunately inevitable a while ago.

2. The optics of the visiting fans taking over the hard camera facing side are very poor and it makes us look Vandy-ish. This did not start happening until after the 2014 stadium reseating/expansion. Visitors used to be more on the west side than they are now, and maybe it’s something to ponder going back to. It’s something we really really need to consider in the future. You can’t have the TV cameras showing the world plain as day that half your stadium has been taken over by the other team’s fan base.

3. I hate it for those that are truly loyal faculty attenders, but it’s time to either charge a huge premium for those seats or relocate them to the upper deck. We’ve got years of case studies on Section 21 being a major major problem.

4. We are not done seeing this happen in our stadium this year…. Texas burnt orange and Georgia red and black are coming, and at similar levels to what we saw today.

This is our first competitive football team since Selmon has been AD, I can see him maybe writing off attendance for the last two years being team performance related. I hope today was a wake up call that there’s more to it than that, still.

 

[dawgstudent]

It's going to be hard to sell those east side tickets that are directly in the sun until there is higher demand.

Also talked to a few faculty and staff - prices went up this offseason so they chose not to renew. Those tickets are now on the secondary market for anyone to buy. So technically - it's not the faculty/staff reselling them.

 

[Maroon13]

3. I have no idea why yall think this a F&S problem. How many times does this have to be explained? I mean really.

Our problem is not F&S. It isn't reseating. It isn't charging a premium. It is very simply people not showing up for games because they're tired or worried about losing.

Also another fact, State needs to lower PSL not raise it. Because section 19 ($150 per seat) sold more seats than 20 ($200). Also I can look across the stadium and see open seats in sec 2,3 and 4.

 

[CaptainFalcon]

It's going to be hard to sell those east side tickets that are directly in the sun.

Also talked to a few faculty and staff - prices went up this offseason so they chose not to renew. Those tickets are now on the secondary market for anyone to buy. So technically - it's not the faculty/staff reselling them.

Correct. I do think it’s more of an issue of more tickets being on the open market for visiting fans and shallow thinking to merely blame it all on the faculty section.

However, it’s no secret that those 19 to 21 sections have had issues going back years, even the late Mullen era when we were still good.

I don’t know how you fix the east side personally, it’s obviously got a lot of inherent flaws. The combo of the sun and a non-updated concourse objectively makes it a tough sell.

 

[TXDawg.sixpack]

1. A lot of the damage was done before the season even started. We had poor season ticket sales and only recently found a burst of fan optimism, whereas their fans made plans to come to this game months ago. It was unfortunately inevitable a while ago.

2. The optics of the visiting fans taking over the hard camera facing side are very poor and it makes us look Vandy-ish. This did not start happening until after the 2014 stadium reseating/expansion. Visitors used to be more on the west side than they are now, and maybe it’s something to ponder going back to. It’s something we really really need to consider in the future. You can’t have the TV cameras showing the world plain as day that half your stadium has been taken over by the other team’s fan base.

3. I hate it for those that are truly loyal faculty attenders, but it’s time to either charge a huge premium for those seats or relocate them to the upper deck. We’ve got years of case studies on Section 21 being a major major problem.

4. We are not done seeing this happen in our stadium this year…. Texas burnt orange and Georgia red and black are coming, and at similar levels to what we saw today.

This is our first competitive football team since Selmon has been AD, I can see him maybe writing off attendance for the last two years being team performance related. I hope today was a wake up call that there’s more to it than that, still.

Visitor seats have always been in the Southeast corner. Faculty have always had tickets in the center of the East Bowl.

The problem has always been that faculty sells their “free” tickets to the highest bidder (usually opposing fans).

Faculty needs to lose their ticket rights or have them moved somewhere other than premium seating.

 

[retire the banner]

It's going to be hard to sell those east side tickets that are directly in the sun until there is higher demand.

Also talked to a few faculty and staff - prices went up this offseason so they chose not to renew. Those tickets are now on the secondary market for anyone to buy. So technically - it's not the faculty/staff reselling them.

Ah, the sun. That’s the problem.

 

[CaptainFalcon]

Visitor seats have always been in the Southeast corner. Faculty have always had tickets in the center of the East Bowl.

The problem has always been that faculty sells their “free” tickets to the highest bidder (usually opposing fans).

Faculty needs to lose their ticket rights or have them moved somewhere other than premium seating.

This is a seating map from the mid 2000‘s. It used to be a good bit different. Notice all the west side visitor seating at that point. Now obviously there used to be a lot more east side student seating, so expansion changed some things. Also it was a smaller stadium at that point. But point remains, the visitors taking over the East side has only really become a big thing in the last decade.

And like I mentioned, the bigger issue is that the hard TV camera picks up all of the visiting colors.

 

[dawgstudent]

Ah, the sun. That’s the problem.

Well the section used to belong to faculty and staff as I mentioned but this year - a lot of them didn't renew due to increased prices. So - as I said - they are now on the secondary market for anyone to buy.

And until we get more demand for season tickets and you just need a seat no matter where it is - for the lower bowl - those in the sun are the worst lower level tickets. I would take west side over east side every day of the week.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

It looked like a neutral stadium, maybe even a bowl. Lacking our crowd shots, it looked even worse.

 

[retire the banner]

Well the section used to belong to faculty and staff as I mentioned but this year - a lot of them didn't renew due to increased prices. So - as I said - they are now on the secondary market for anyone to buy.

And until we get more demand for season tickets and you just need a seat no matter where it is - for the lower bowl - those in the sun are the worst lower level tickets. I would take west side over east side every day of the week.

Our fans are giant pussies. We don’t commit. Just call it what it is.

When Mullen took over in 2009 he asked us to show up and the wins will come. We have done the opposite. We have a very soft fanbase now. I talked to multiple “fans” today that said this is the first game they’ve been to in years. We have a huge problem. I’ve been saying it since 2021 and told it was COVID

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Ah, the sun. That’s the problem.

I’m convinced you’re a paid shill.

 

[Mjoelner]

It looked like a neutral stadium, maybe even a bowl. Lacking our crowd shots, it looked even worse.

At the game where you could see the entire stadium, it looked exactly like a bowl game.

 

[retire the banner]

I’m convinced you’re a paid shill.

It’s clear you weren’t there today. What a surprise

 

[dawgstudent]

At the game where you could see the entire stadium, it looked exactly like a bowl game.

You think it was a 50/50 split? It did not appear that way to me at all. Maybe 75/25.

 

[Villagedawg]

2. The optics of the visiting fans taking over the hard camera facing side are very poor and it makes us look Vandy-ish. T

We are the most Vandy-ish school in the conference outside of …. well Vandy. I wish it was because of academics, but it’s not.

 

[Mjoelner]

You think it was a 50/50 split? It did not appear that way to me at all. Maybe 75/25.

I would say the upper east side was at least 80% UT and the lower east side minus the students and band was 70%

 

[retire the banner]

I would say the upper east side was at least 80% UT and the lower east side minus the students and band was 70%

Accurate. It was embarrassing

 

[Anon1749038494]

I was told they expected 10,000 Tennessee fans there today based on ticket sales trends leading up to the game. In reality it was closer to 15,000 there

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

There’s no doubt we are moving in the right direction. We’ve played well at home against Arizona State and now Tennessee. But our last home SEC win was in October 2022 against Auburn. And there aren’t many likely SEC wins on the home slate anytime soon. It’s going to take some consistency and a couple more legit wins to really turn the tide on filling the stadium week in and week out.

 

[L4Dawg]

Nobody here or at the athletic department wants to hear this but we have priced a lot of our most loyal local fans out of going. I’m talking about people who will buy tickets and show up through thick or thin. That also means we have absolutely priced out the casual locals who would cheer for us. When you get more than an hour or two away, people aren't going to turn up through the thin. Our local population is the smallest in the SEC.

 

[retire the banner]

Nobody here or at the athletic department wants to hear this but we have priced a lot of our most loyal local fans out of going. I’m talking about people who will buy tickets and show up through thick or thin. That also means we have absolutely priced out the casual locals who would cheer for us. When you get more than an hour or two away, people aren't going to turn up through the thin. Our local population is the smallest in the SEC.

What are you talking about? The stadium has been 70% full for years when you can walk in for $5

 

[dawgstudent]

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

It looked like a neutral stadium, maybe even a bowl. Lacking our crowd shots, it looked even worse.

Reminded me of playing Ole miss and southern miss in Jackson in the 80s.

 

[Maroon13]

Nobody here or at the athletic department wants to hear this but we have priced a lot of our most loyal local fans out of going. I’m talking about people who will buy tickets and show up through thick or thin. That also means we have absolutely priced out the casual locals who would cheer for us. When you get more than an hour or two away, people aren't going to turn up through the thin. Our local population is the smallest in the SEC.

Bingo.

Unfortunately State is located in a small
Populated area with few reasonable priced hotels. That makes it extremely difficult for people to come back. It isn't an excuse but just facts.

Then when the team doesn't win, people don't even try to come back. Because it is easier to watch on tv.

 

[Maroon13]

What's the point of your photo Dawgstudent?

Everyone has seen it.

 

[Maroon13]

Also another thing that State fans aren't mentioning, half the damn population of east ms roots for Alabama.

All those people sit at home and watch them instead us.

I am just frustrated as hell. I was so sick of paying damn good money and sitting with a bunch of ********...

 

[The Peeper]

OK Captain America, why do you even bring the faculty into this conversation when it looked like this? Show us the little rectangle where the faculty caused this sea of orange? That is the worst and most overused excuse ever. Faculty paid a seat premium fee just like everybody else this year so they can do whatever the rest of the stadium does with their tickets. The fact we have sucked for many seasons in a row causes this, and no, I'm definitely not a faculty member that buys faculty tickets as witnessed by the photo

 

[Fritz!]

Bingo.

Unfortunately State is located in a small
Populated area with few reasonable priced hotels. That makes it extremely difficult for people to come back. It isn't an excuse but just facts.

Then when the team doesn't win, people don't even try to come back. Because it is easier to watch on tv.

So, stay at the casino **

 

[Villagedawg]

Nobody here or at the athletic department wants to hear this but we have priced a lot of our most loyal local fans out of going. I’m talking about people who will buy tickets and show up through thick or thin. That also means we have absolutely priced out the casual locals who would cheer for us. When you get more than an hour or two away, people aren't going to turn up through the thin. Our local population is the smallest in the SEC.

Raising my hand as one priced out. Former long time season ticket holder even when I was 700 miles away.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

It looked like a neutral stadium, maybe even a bowl. Lacking our crowd shots, it looked even worse.

At the game where you could see the entire stadium, it looked exactly like a bowl game.

You think it was a 50/50 split? It did not appear that way to me at all. Maybe 75/25.

The east side looked bad but the West side where I sat was 95 percent State fans. Honestly was a bit surprised at how not loud that contingent of UT fans was on the east side.

It did not look like a bowl game. That’s a bit of hyperbole.

 

[CaptainFalcon]

Ultimately, I’d guess our season ticket holder base mostly consists of the following:

1. People with season tickets on the west side or club levels

2. People with east side season tickets who would move to the west side or club level if given the chance.

The east side naturally has more season ticket turnover than other sections, I’d imagine, which lends itself to more of those seats hitting the open market. Combine that with a big traveling fan base like UT and low season ticket sales from us, and you get today.

The faculty are part of the problem. But not the whole problem, no.

 

[Villagedawg]

Growing up we went to almost every State and/or Ole Miss home game whether in Starkville, Oxford, or Jackson. A few times both on the same day. I can count on one hand the number of times we stayed in a hotel. We almost always drove the one to 3.5 hours back home. There was no tailgating anywhere other than homecoming when we had a sandwich or maybe a bucket of KFC. Since then college football has gone corporate and gotten a lot more expensive. Opposing fans often find it easier to buy our tickets than their home game ones. Not saying that’s good or bad. Just totally different.

 

[HotMop]

It's going to be hard to sell those east side tickets that are directly in the sun until there is higher demand.

Also talked to a few faculty and staff - prices went up this offseason so they chose not to renew. Those tickets are now on the secondary market for anyone to buy. So technically - it's not the faculty/staff reselling them.

They stopped buying them because they thought we'd suck and not be able to resell them for a profit.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

We are the most Vandy-ish school in the conference outside of …. well Vandy. I wish it was because of academics, but it’s not.

Goat is our whistler.

 

[L4Dawg]

What are you talking about? The stadium has been 70% full for years when you can walk in for $5

It's not just ticket prices.

 

[irondog]

1. A lot of the damage was done before the season even started. We had poor season ticket sales and only recently found a burst of fan optimism, whereas their fans made plans to come to this game months ago. It was unfortunately inevitable a while ago.

2. The optics of the visiting fans taking over the hard camera facing side are very poor and it makes us look Vandy-ish. This did not start happening until after the 2014 stadium reseating/expansion. Visitors used to be more on the west side than they are now, and maybe it’s something to ponder going back to. It’s something we really really need to consider in the future. You can’t have the TV cameras showing the world plain as day that half your stadium has been taken over by the other team’s fan base.

3. I hate it for those that are truly loyal faculty attenders, but it’s time to either charge a huge premium for those seats or relocate them to the upper deck. We’ve got years of case studies on Section 21 being a major major problem.

4. We are not done seeing this happen in our stadium this year…. Texas burnt orange and Georgia red and black are coming, and at similar levels to what we saw today.

This is our first competitive football team since Selmon has been AD, I can see him maybe writing off attendance for the last two years being team performance related. I hope today was a wake up call that there’s more to it than that, still.

FYI... Faculty lost half the season ticket contribution job perk this year and all of it next year. We now pay the seat premium just like everyone else. It's a significant amount of money from my pay check. But hey... I still an get and email inviting me faculty appreciation day to watch a football practice..... That's almost as good as money, right? In the past, I always gave my un-used tickets to a state fan. But, I'll go straight to stub hub now. I don't care who buys it . Could have just required me to show an MSU ID at the gate instead. Also FYI... once you are in the stadium, you can move to another empty seat.... like to sit on the 50 yard line in section 21. Yeah, visitors do that too, Captain A-hole.

 

[retire the banner]

It's not just ticket prices.

So it’s too hot and we’re too poor. Got it

 

[Anon2444666666]

Drop the staff ****. That was all over the east side. They told staff they had to pay premium 1 laughable day before season tickets went on sale. That was an employee benefit. Staff said kiss my grits.

 

[Allday.sixpack]

1. A lot of the damage was done before the season even started. We had poor season ticket sales and only recently found a burst of fan optimism, whereas their fans made plans to come to this game months ago. It was unfortunately inevitable a while ago.

2. The optics of the visiting fans taking over the hard camera facing side are very poor and it makes us look Vandy-ish. This did not start happening until after the 2014 stadium reseating/expansion. Visitors used to be more on the west side than they are now, and maybe it’s something to ponder going back to. It’s something we really really need to consider in the future. You can’t have the TV cameras showing the world plain as day that half your stadium has been taken over by the other team’s fan base.

3. I hate it for those that are truly loyal faculty attenders, but it’s time to either charge a huge premium for those seats or relocate them to the upper deck. We’ve got years of case studies on Section 21 being a major major problem.

4. We are not done seeing this happen in our stadium this year…. Texas burnt orange and Georgia red and black are coming, and at similar levels to what we saw today.

This is our first competitive football team since Selmon has been AD, I can see him maybe writing off attendance for the last two years being team performance related. I hope today was a wake up call that there’s more to it than that, still.

If you know what the crowd hard camera angle looks like on TV. Then you’re part of the problem.

 

[CaptainFalcon]

Look we do have a certain core group of loyal staff & faculty fans, I know several of these types. And I’ve felt for you guys for years. I’ve lived the east side life before as someone who once had tickets in Section 20. It sucks to show up and be surrounded by people in different colored shirts for every big game. And clearly you’re not the problem if you’re one of the ones reliably showing up for us.

S&F are not the whole problem, but it’s certainly part of the overall east side conundrum. And I honestly don’t have a great solution for how to fix it. But these issues didn’t just start happening because we went 2-10 last year or they raised prices on staff tickets. This has been going on for a while. Maybe those two factors made it worse this year, but I was surrounded by Bama fans in section 20 at the 2017 Bama game. I was surrounded by freaking Kansas State fans in 2019. It’s been an issue for years in that vicinity.