Interesting research spurred on by a T&L discussion

[mcdawg22]

Hadad was talking about our scheduling back in the 80’s so I was curious and went to go look at some. 40 years ago we had 4 games in Starkville. Ark St, UGA, AU, and LSU. The craziest year I saw was 79. We had TWO games in Starkville USM and Marshall. It’s crazy to think that we probably had more people visit Starkville for the 14 AU game than all of 1979. I don’t think Sherrill gets enough credit for getting these games back to campus. I can’t imagine the difference in spending in Starkville from 1979 to now from visitors. For the older alumni, did season tickets include the Jackson games?

 

[DAWGS1.sixpack]

Most games were played in Jackson during that time. Bigger stadium maybe was the main reason??
Ole Miss played quite a few there as well.
Univ of Arkansas comes to mind as they played a lot of games in Little Rock v Fayetteville.
Not sure if season tks included JAX games or not. That would be for the even older than me to have to answer.

 

[Smoked Toag]

Hadad was talking about our scheduling back in the 80’s so I was curious and went to go look at some. 40 years ago we had 4 games in Starkville. Ark St, UGA, AU, and LSU. The craziest year I saw was 79. We had TWO games in Starkville USM and Marshall. It’s crazy to think that we probably had more people visit Starkville for the 14 AU game than all of 1979. I don’t think Sherrill gets enough credit for getting these games back to campus. I can’t imagine the difference in spending in Starkville from 1979 to now from visitors. For the older alumni, did season tickets include the Jackson games?

I don't think it's really unique. Check out Alabama's 1979 national title team schedule:

https://rolltide.com/sports/2016/6/10/sports-m-footbl-archive-m-footbl-archive-1979-html.aspx?id=199

4 games in Tuscaloosa, 3 in Birmingham. Of course, we're MSU so we let ourselves get slightly more screwed over than most teams (especially Alabama) when it comes to overall schedule, but that was the trend in them days.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

Alabama was playing in Birmingham into the early 2000s. Of course, Arkansas still plays in Little Rock but that has been reduced significantly in recent years.

 

[PirateDawg]

I'm happy we don't play in Jackson anymore! If I recall correctly Jackson tickets were not included in student ticket packages.

 

[mcdawg22]

Yeah, you are right. Ole Miss only played 2 in Oxford that year.

 

[mcdawg22]

I'm happy we don't play in Jackson anymore! If I recall correctly Jackson tickets were not included in student ticket packages.

I’m glad we don’t either. Even if we are talking about 1979 Jackson not 2022 Jackson. One thing that always gets used against us is Starkville, and we all know how much the city has improved over the last 30 years. I have to imagine 300,000 visitors in Fall does a lot for the growth.

 

[RocketDawg]

Most games were played in Jackson during that time. Bigger stadium maybe was the main reason??
Ole Miss played quite a few there as well.
Univ of Arkansas comes to mind as they played a lot of games in Little Rock v Fayetteville.
Not sure if season tks included JAX games or not. That would be for the even older than me to have to answer.

Don't know about season tickets, but students had to pay for the Jackson games. Tickets were about $5 in the '60s. Students got in Scott Field with their ID cards, but had to pay an activities fee when registering for the semester that covered all sports. If I recall correctly, only had 2 home football games and they were not very good games. No idea why games were in Jackson - most likely political.

 

[NWADawg]

Hadad was talking about our scheduling back in the 80’s so I was curious and went to go look at some. 40 years ago we had 4 games in Starkville. Ark St, UGA, AU, and LSU. The craziest year I saw was 79. We had TWO games in Starkville USM and Marshall. It’s crazy to think that we probably had more people visit Starkville for the 14 AU game than all of 1979. I don’t think Sherrill gets enough credit for getting these games back to campus. I can’t imagine the difference in spending in Starkville from 1979 to now from visitors. For the older alumni, did season tickets include the Jackson games?

State played UF in Florida every year from 1987 - 1991. If I remember correctly, we sold our home games to Florida because we made more money that way. Thanks LT.

But, it was a fun day when the gators finally made their way to Starkvegas in '92.

 

[was21]

One time Templeton moved a State home game against Florida to Tampa FL

 

[PirateDawg]

If I'm correct it was Orlando and Rodney Stowers had his leg broken

One time Templeton moved a State home game against Florida to Tampa FL

We were living in Florida at the time. Rodney threw a PE and passed away a couple of days later.

 

[mcdawg22]

We were living in Florida at the time. Rodney threw a PE and passed away a couple of days later.

89 was Tampa, 91 was Orlando. Made 500,000 off of Tampa and 1 million off of Orlando.

 

[Smoked Toag]

No idea why games were in Jackson - most likely political.

It's quite simple. The Vet's capacity was 60K. Ours in Starkville was under 40K at the time. I don't think there was anything political about it.

 

[Reunion Dog]

Yes. Jackson was in season tickets. But remember Jackson stadium was increased during 1980…. And it only sat 48k prior to that. There use to be double headers. Ole Miss would play in the afternoon and State would play the nite game. This didn’t happen all the time but some games it did. Alcorn and Valley State played on a Sunday after we had played Mississippi Southern the day earlier. Their game was PACKED and I was there watching it. The Corn with Issac Holt beat Valley with Jerry Rice & Willie Totten. That was in 1986.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

I'd like to know how many fans went to Jackson only or Starkville only games?

Dad and I went to nearly all Starkville games in the 1980s. Scott field was 20 minutes away. I went to two games in Jackson total, 1981 Egg Bowl and 1988 v USM.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

LT was the worst…. MSU needs to get away from the MSU Family Tree when hiring AD’s. ….

 

[Cooterpoot]

LT was the worst…. MSU needs to get away from the MSU Family Tree when hiring AD’s. ….

This is a fact

 

[thatsbaseball]

Sherrill was also very active in the lobbying efforts to get the highway infrastructure into Starkville improved. That was perhaps the biggest key of all to getting bigger crowds to come to Vegas for ball games.

 

[mcdawg22]

Sherrill was also very active in the lobbying efforts to get the highway infrastructure into Starkville improved. That was perhaps the biggest key of all to getting bigger crowds to come to Vegas for ball games.

No doubt. Of course I miss stopping at the Hitching Rail in Carthage.

 

[Bill Shankly]

I'm happy we don't play in Jackson anymore! If I recall correctly Jackson tickets were not included in student ticket packages.

They were included, at least in the early 80s.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

State played UF in Florida every year from 1987 - 1991. If I remember correctly, we sold our home games to Florida because we made more money that way. Thanks LT.

But, it was a fun day when the gators finally made their way to Starkvegas in '92.

I was at that 92 game. I went to a LSU game in Jackson just before we started playing at Starkville with my brother. When we drove by the Starkville stadium on the way home to NE Mississippi my brother asked why MSU didn't play there because it would have held the crowd that attended the Jackson game.

We started expanding the stadium in the early 90's and I was lucky enough to see some great games on campus when I started as a student in 1994 and stayed in town going to games until Croom drove me out in the early 2000's. Tenn, Bama, Ole miss...

Speaking of UM and Jackson, I was at the last Egg Bowl in Jackson. It was a great atmosphere. Too bad our play wasn't.

 

[Mobile Bay]

Sherrill was also very active in the lobbying efforts to get the highway infrastructure into Starkville improved. That was perhaps the biggest key of all to getting bigger crowds to come to Vegas for ball games.

That might explain why Hwy 82 was such **** on the Alabama side for so long.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

RIP Bud’s!

 

[philduckworth]

Sherrill was also very active in the lobbying efforts to get the highway infrastructure into Starkville improved. That was perhaps the biggest key of all to getting bigger crowds to come to Vegas for ball games.

we need a West Point bypass.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

we need a West Point bypass.

I've said that for years but it will never happen. It would actually help WP in the long run but it'll never happen

 

[mcdawg22]

That might explain why Hwy 82 was such **** on the Alabama side for so long.

It’s like that for all 3 ways into Alabama that I used to and currently go. 98,49, and 82. As soon as you hit MS it changes to 4 lane.

 

[RocketDawg]

When I was a student, I went to virtually all the home games and only a couple of Jackson games. Of course, there were only a couple of home games so you'd go when you had the opportunity. Don't know about non-student fans, but it seemed like there were more at the Jackson games than there were in Starkville. That could be because of the poor opponents (like the Richmond Spiders) - all the "good" games were in Jackson - or the lack of hotels in Starkville. The hotel situation didn't change much until the '90s. Scott Field didn't have lights either, which might have affected scheduling.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

That might explain why Hwy 82 was such **** on the Alabama side for so long.

Im not sure where exactly you are referring to.... but 82 from Columbus to Starkville got 4 lanes in the 70s. Only After a few to many fatal accidents between the towns.


Edit to add: Oh I got cha. 78s 4 laned died in alabama for a long long time as well. I don't think Alabama wanted us Mississippians over there.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

we need a West Point bypass.

For realz. That would get my drive down to an easy 2 hours.

 

[notoriousD_O_G]

From 1931 through 1970 we played LSU every season except 1943. We played twice in Monroe LA, three times in Jackson, and 34 times in Baton Rouge.

 

[PirateDawg]

Met him once and he was a jerk. He had his cirlce of donors that he kissed a$$ and if you weren't one of them you were just a lowly fan.