Dear John Cohen
- Thread starter DAWG61
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6:00 PM & 8:00 PM Game Times suck if you have to travel from Jackson or a similar distance. Mid-Week 6:00 PM game time requires half a day out of the office and 8:00 PM game time means you get home after midnight and try to drag your *** to work the next morning. I live at the reservoir just off Highway, so I have the most convenient drive home of anyone in metro Jackson. I was there last night and I have made all but one home SEC game. It was much easier when the most of the mid-week games were at 7:00 on Wednesday. SEC Network $ are wonderful for our Athletic program but the Network had destroyed our mid-week atmosphere.
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Yep - Jackson is MSU basketball's primary market. 7 PM was the perfect start time for those living in Jackson. If the game starts at 6 - you have to take off by 3:30 if you want to be there for tip.
off the cuff, not sure about this, which teams are you talking about, are they 2.5hrs from their next biggest market? Not saying you are wrong, but what teams specifically.
That's a BINGO! Our (lack of) attendance is horrendous. It's embarrassing and something needs to be done LAST YEAR. I touched on this with Cohen years ago, and he stated they are working on a solution. If MSU athletics were a business, Cohen's lack of delivery of said solution would not be accepted as casually.
What time were the games when we used to fill the Hump every game?
I don't remember that mattering as much then, for whatever reason. I'm talking about 90's and 00's.
TV for every game hurts, I know, but it's only 10,000 people. Really only need 6k if 20% of the damn students would show up.
I literally can't imagine being a student and not going to a basketball game, especially while we are good.
I don't remember that mattering as much then, for whatever reason. I'm talking about 90's and 00's.
TV for every game hurts, I know, but it's only 10,000 people. Really only need 6k if 20% of the damn students would show up.
I literally can't imagine being a student and not going to a basketball game, especially while we are good.
In those days tip off was 7:00 or 7:05 to the best of my bad memory. I had no problem getting from Madison to games. Man, when I was a student we were so bad it didn't matter if alumni showed up or not, but there were students. I didn't miss but maybe two home games in my student years over all. We had pride in our school, in our big three, and did enjoy supporting our peers. We did have good baseball teams, but I was stuck with some shitastic football and basketball. But the students attended.
attendance and atmosphere have to be driven by the students. Plain and Simple. In the early to late 90's, the students set the tone.
As for the other empty seats, same solution as baseball chairbacks. Text and reply for season ticket holders.
As for the other empty seats, same solution as baseball chairbacks. Text and reply for season ticket holders.
Some of y'all and especially John Cohen need to attend a couple of games at other SEC arenas and see how those schools are able to fill up their stadiums no problem and it isn't filled with mostly students. Once again the way we sell so many season tickets to empty seats and then put general admissions in the rafters is the biggest reason for our ****** basketball atmosphere every single game. All the people that live within an hour of the Hump are not given the better seats. They are given the **** seats and have been for over a decade so they all stopped coming. MSU basketball has a Starkville area support problem and it's 100% to blame on MSU for creating it.
You change season tickets to seasonal tickets and those who bought the seats have up to 48 hours before tip to claim their seats. If they don't claim them they go back into the pool for GA to pick from. MSU ends up making more money when general admissions logs in and buys those seats within less than 48 hours from tip.
Yeah, back in my college days(the early 2000s), student attendance tended to ebb and flow depending on the opponent. However, I can't recall many games at all when the Rowdies weren't out in full force, and as long as we were playing a half decent opponent(Florida, Bama, OM, UT), you had to get there at least an hour ahead of game time to get a good seat.
I get the people that are choosing the SEC network over a 2+ hr drive during the middle of the week, but the issue with student attendance is puzzling me to me. There just seems to be almost zero interest
I get the people that are choosing the SEC network over a 2+ hr drive during the middle of the week, but the issue with student attendance is puzzling me to me. There just seems to be almost zero interest
I think thats a good idea. Its the same one floated for baseball. Pretty sure the univ cannot make the money on resell though. Not sure if they can act as a broker so you may have issues there logistically but it may be fine. I think all of the potential solutions are large logitical hurdles-moreso than we think
we need to try something. Right now we are just so small minded in a lot that we do
we need to try something. Right now we are just so small minded in a lot that we do
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I went to the Georgia game last week. Bought great seats the day before the game for $25 on SeatGeek. I couldn’t believe how many great seats were available for really decent prices.
Then I try to get lower bowl seats for State/South Carolina at the Hump and there are about six tickets for sale in the lower bowl and they were all $100 each. Seriously?
I tried Stubhub, Vivid, all of them. Wound up paying $30 for 2 seats halfway up the upper bowl and sat staring at 2,000 empty seats below me.
Ridiculous.
Then I try to get lower bowl seats for State/South Carolina at the Hump and there are about six tickets for sale in the lower bowl and they were all $100 each. Seriously?
I tried Stubhub, Vivid, all of them. Wound up paying $30 for 2 seats halfway up the upper bowl and sat staring at 2,000 empty seats below me.
Ridiculous.
Not even close.
Not counting students:
Tuscaloosa: 2016 census 96k; BHam-212k is not even an hr more like between 30-45.
Auburn: 60k largest city in eastern alabama, the Metro area including Opelika is 90k If you count columbus, GA- 30 min a way, another 200k.
Starkville: 2016 census population: 49k. Could not find a metro area. So include columbus: 24k
Not even close.
I assume that does not count students. So Starkville is 75k. Starkville/Columbus is 100k
Out of 100k I would hope we could get 10% though.
I haven't been to the Hump since 1996 and I don't watch that many basketball games, but every time I tune in I never see actual students. Reaction shots during the broadcast are always of 50-60 year white dudes.
What percentage of the lower bowl is students?
What percentage of the lower bowl is students?
Starkville Population without students is 25K. 49K is all of OKT county so that is the "metro"
This is not a terrible idea. I want to play more baseball games there and Biloxi. Problem is, weekday games are the ones with attendance problems, and you'd have to shuttle the players there to miss classes.
I would definitely like to play MORE basketball games during the holidays at Jackson (or Tupelo, Southaven, Biloxi), since school is out. And maybe play a weekend series at Biloxi, along with the typical Governor's Cup game in Pearl. Problem is, you really want to play as many games as possible at DNF, especially if you're going to play in a tournament like the one in Frisco.
Maybe we could host a neutral site tournament in Biloxi? I actually think that would be a great idea. Great venue and location.
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I was late for the 6:00 PM tip last night and I was coming from West Point. Jackson would have been a no go.
^^^ this.
It's all too easy to just turn on the TV now that every single game is available through streaming.
It's all too easy to just turn on the TV now that every single game is available through streaming.
Not a great excuse I know, and probably wouldn't matter if we had more fans really invested in basketball, but almost all the other schools you are talking about have a much bigger population base right near the school to draw from. Hard to convince people to drive 2 hours on a worknight/schoolnight and pay for tickets, gas and food when you can flip on the TV or you app and watch every game from start to finish for free. If I was within 30 minutes driving distance I would try to be there most every game but I, like a the vast majority of MSU fans and alumni are not. Of course I don't understand why we have so many season ticketholders that don't even seem to come to games on the weekends. Seems we have a lot of fans or corporations that buy basketball season tickets just for the purpose of getting Bulldog Club points toward football.
Agree that to fix the problem it will require more locals being invested in wanting to come to games. They are in the women's team and that is why the attendance is so much better with them on average. But season tickets are much easier to get and less costly for the women's team than the men's.
We just spent $68M on to remodel DNF and you want to play home games somewhere else? That doesn't really compute.
Neither does your comprehension. I addressed this specifically in my post (that you quoted).
The benefits for playing some games in Jackson and Biloxi are many. I would hope I don't need to spell them all out.
BHM Metro is like 1.2 mil dude. Sorry, pet peeve when people use city limits only.
I think we limit the total number of lower level season tickets to 4 per person and it must be in a persons name not a corporate name. I think this would increase the number of people with access to the lower level which would be the right start. The students just suck. We would wait in line for hours on Monday morning to get tickets for that weeks games, then wait in line for hours on game day to sit in the lower level. Now they want court side for free and no effort. I have zero sympathy for them. If they don't show up, cut there allotment in half and sell it to families at a discounted rate.
The year we were a 5 seed in around '04 or so... I had to quit going to games b/c if you didn't get in line by about 6 am you wouldn't get a ticket. Every student ticket was gone for every SEC game. This year we are on a similar path as that year and nobody goes.
I think the athletic department is trying to fix the problem as you guys see it.
http://hailstatemarketing.com/ticket-sales/
I actually prefer the upper level, so long as the seats are near center court. The problem for me is parking. Spending half an hour driving around looking for a place and winding up walking to the Hump through whatever weather with no left knee and kid in tow only to get there and see the lots around the Hump 3/4 empty is incredibly frustrating. Makes for a crappy experience for all involved. And they can get rid of all that truly ****** "entertainment" they offer at every time out and half time and replace it with nothing. Maybe its because I am an old fart, but I can actually entertain myself in breaks by talking with friends.
http://hailstatemarketing.com/ticket-sales/
I actually prefer the upper level, so long as the seats are near center court. The problem for me is parking. Spending half an hour driving around looking for a place and winding up walking to the Hump through whatever weather with no left knee and kid in tow only to get there and see the lots around the Hump 3/4 empty is incredibly frustrating. Makes for a crappy experience for all involved. And they can get rid of all that truly ****** "entertainment" they offer at every time out and half time and replace it with nothing. Maybe its because I am an old fart, but I can actually entertain myself in breaks by talking with friends.
I don't see anything addressing baseball benefits, other than you think it would be a good idea to play more games elsewhere. You mention playing basketball at other locations during holidays or when school is not in session, but not baseball. And that's reasonable.
Even Ole Miss does better. They have a pretty full house tonight with lots of students. Of course, they're playing the #7 team, but I think their attendance is better in general.
UAT has almost twice as many students as MSU does and Auburn is about 40% larger. That makes a difference. But it still doesn't accunt for the fact that the Hump used to be full, and now it's not.
Playing in Biloxi would help the fans down there who can't easily get up to Starkville. There's always a lot of young basketball players at the Christmas break game in Jackson, and I'm sure that would be the case if we played a baseball game in Biloxi every year too. And with 40 or so home games, it's not like it would hurt to move one of them.