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Nugget's Ghostbuster (1627)

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From: U.S. Department of Interior

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 5,767

How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Move half of our home games to a new multi purpose indoor facility on the coast.

Partner with the coast on a campaign to replace the Coliseum with a new indoor field house event center with an estimated price tag around $80 million. New event center can host high school football, graduations, conventions, NCAA tournaments, concerts, etc....sell the naming rights for additional annual recurring revenue. Seating configuration for football will max out at 20K.

USM can schedule one annual neutral game on the coast against regional opponent like South Alabama, Tulane or ULL and hosts two CUSA opponents on the coast each season.

Similar to the MAC hosting their football championship at Ford Field in a Detroit, get CUSA to agree to host the football championship at this venue as a neutral site.

The Rock goes from trying to sell/fill 6 games down to 3 home games in Hattiesburg. One non conf and two CUSA games. One per month if you can get the schedule to work.

Do the same with USM basketball and track and field. Split between the coast and Hattiesburg.

Probably could get a bowl game sponsorship or bid for the FCS championship at this venue as well.

Since the town of Hattiesburg doesn’t support the Eagles enough for 6 home games, take it out of their hands and widen our reach for half of our schedule.

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"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

AndreWhere (1252)

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From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Couldn't agree more with the plan or the rationale. It would be nice to have a higher capacity than that, since I think we could get 30,000+ in there for games against schools like ULL or USA. But I'd sure take 20,000 just to get games on the Coast on a regular basis.

I'd actually suggested hosting games at the Superdome or Ladd-Peebles years ago. It's not like Hattiesburg has done anything to lock in 6 games per year.

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AndreWhere (1252)

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From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

I think the FCS championships are hosted by FCS institutions, though.

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Nugget's Ghostbuster (1627)

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From: U.S. Department of Interior

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 5,767

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Agree you could sell more than 20K for a USM Tulane game on the coast in a new state of the art venue but creating demand and marketing it well “might” carry over to the other 2 coast home games ticket sales so I think 20k is appropriate.

If you did this you really could tarp off part of the upper deck of The Rock and make it a 25K stadium. Honestly they should do that now regardless. That’s all we have actually needed since CUSA 2.0 started. Just remove the tarps when State come to visit.

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"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

Nugget's Ghostbuster (1627)

Member

From: U.S. Department of Interior

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 5,767

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

I think the FCS championships are hosted by FCS institutions, though.

Just referring to the FCS championship game which is currently held at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX....and it seats 20K. Always a sellout and a great game to see in person usually.

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"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

AndreWhere (1252)

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From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Agree you could sell more than 20K for a USM Tulane game on the coast in a new state of the art venue but creating demand and marketing it well “might” carry over to the other 2 coast home games ticket sales so I think 20k is appropriate.

If you did this you really could tarp off part of the upper deck of The Rock and make it a 25K stadium. Honestly they should do that now regardless. That’s all we have actually needed since CUSA 2.0 started. Just remove the tarps when State come to visit.

Maybe it's because I'm old, but I have a different philosophy. I think you should build to accommodate the biggest crowd you can reasonably imagine. This notion of thinking empty seats are a big problem, of building tiny stadiums in the hopes of filling them reliably, and of even tarping over seats seems silly to me. Games vary widely in their attractiveness to fans. If the stadium's *always* 100% full, you're creating "atmosphere" but you're also leaving money on the table.

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AndreWhere (1252)

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From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

I think the FCS championships are hosted by FCS institutions, though.

Just referring to the FCS championship game which is currently held at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX....and it seats 20K. Always a sellout and a great game to see in person usually.

Oh... I got confused and thought that game I watched today was the final. It's not. There are two other teams facing off for a bid against NDSU.

FCS is not my area of expertise... yet.

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Black Diamond Reb (418)

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From: Palmers Crossing, Mississippi

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 1,302

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Welcome aboard Mr. Ghostbuster .. Enjoy your flight.

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"I don't think being in the 6th best conference is too bad."
"Look for Crickets Robertson to be one of the first 64 players chosen in the draft."
"Went to Starkville and came within one bad throw of taking the series."

Nugget's Ghostbuster (1627)

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From: U.S. Department of Interior

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 5,767

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Falcons stadium is like 3 hours old, cost 1.2 billion and was half empty on Thursday night. Lots of reasons why but reality is that as technology improves and evolves, less people will attend sporting events. The younger fan wants to be connected to a device and doesn’t want to commit to 3 plus hours on a concrete bench.
Building smaller venues improves the game experience and creates a demand due to limited access. I wish USM would accept who we are and tarp our logo in the upper deck for a better stadium appearance when our games are shown on Twitter and FB.....

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"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

AndreWhere (1252)

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From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Welcome aboard Mr. Ghostbuster .. Enjoy your flight.

I know, it seems pie-in-the-sky.

The Carrier Dome probably did, too... as did NDSU's dome... as did Idaho State's dome... as did No. Iowa's dome.

Green Bay people probably hated that the Packers played in Milwaukee every year.

Tuscaloosa people probably hated driving to Birmingham for games.

Those teams made this sort of thing work because it expanded their paying, attending fan base into larger markets.

Oui're not too good at that "making it work" thing, though.

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Bring back Reed V. "Pie" TurkPalmer Eustachy.

AndreWhere (1252)

Member

From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Falcons stadium is like 3 hours old, cost 1.2 billion and was half empty on Thursday night. Lots of reasons why but reality is that as technology improves and evolves, less people will attend sporting events. The younger fan wants to be connected to a device and doesn’t want to commit to 3 plus hours on a concrete bench.
Building smaller venues improves the game experience and creates a demand due to limited access. I wish USM would accept who we are and tarp our logo in the upper deck for a better stadium appearance when our games are shown on Twitter and FB.....

This is from about 4:00 (per the game clock, not my Rolex) into the 3rd quarter of that Falcons game:

I kept waiting for people to get back to their seats from the concession stands. They never did.

There are a lot of reasons people don't want to go sit in a stadium anymore. It's not about tickets anymore, it's about TV.

When it comes to your Coastdome fantasy, the other side of the coin is thus building an independent network of regional TV affiliates and a regional base of TV fans.

Screw ESPN, screw CBSSN, screw CUSA; get *our* games on *our* TV channels (WXXV, WDAM, etcetera). Use those Coast games to build a Coast fan base and sell the whole season to WXXV.

Trying to sell tickets is tantamount to trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip at this point. Play games in big TV markets, sell tickets on the cheap just to get people involved, and then slowly build a TV presence.

Augment with copious money games in SEC stadiums.

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Bring back Reed V. "Pie" TurkPalmer Eustachy.

Black Diamond Reb (418)

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From: Palmers Crossing, Mississippi

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 1,302

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

I wish USM would accept who we are.

Many have, reference the upper decks you mentioned.

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"I don't think being in the 6th best conference is too bad."
"Look for Crickets Robertson to be one of the first 64 players chosen in the draft."
"Went to Starkville and came within one bad throw of taking the series."

AndreWhere (1252)

Member

From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

Tarps over seats are the definition of accepting mediocrity. Falls under the rubric of what I call "AAA baseball thinking."

And if we "accept who we are," there's no playing games on the Coast. That's not who we are, that's who we ought to want to be.

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Black Diamond Reb (418)

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From: Palmers Crossing, Mississippi

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 1,302

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

And if we "accept who we are," there's no playing games on the Coast. That's not who we are.

The current situation actually is "who we are", not "who we were or could be with enough if, hope, and maybe." 

The first step to recovery is an honest assessment, and in spite of Gobbler's rambling e mails and diversification program no one with the capability or responsibility to do that out there has the incentive nor interest to do so. So embrace SUNWACUSA laden flounder stew or don't, but don't expect it to change or even see a realistic effort to make it happen anytime soon.

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"I don't think being in the 6th best conference is too bad."
"Look for Crickets Robertson to be one of the first 64 players chosen in the draft."
"Went to Starkville and came within one bad throw of taking the series."

AndreWhere (1252)

Member

From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

And if we "accept who we are," there's no playing games on the Coast. That's not who we are.

The current situation actually is "who we are", not "who we were or could be with enough if, hope, and maybe." 

The first step to recovery is an honest assessment, and in spite of Gobbler's rambling e mails and diversification program no one with the capability or responsibility to do that out there has the incentive nor interest to do so. So embrace SUNWACUSA laden flounder stew or don't, but don't expect it to change or even see a realistic effort to make it happen anytime soon.

I will continue to observe but will never embrace. CUSA has been a mistake from day one. I said it in 1996... maybe 1995. Can't remember.

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Bring back Reed V. "Pie" TurkPalmer Eustachy.

Black Diamond Reb (418)

Member

From: Palmers Crossing, Mississippi

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 1,302

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

I will continue to observe.

Some will, but a coast facility hosting a basketball program that is only a few years from hosting (and losing) a tournament in a high school gym is akin to Joker making the Final Four here.

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"I don't think being in the 6th best conference is too bad."
"Look for Crickets Robertson to be one of the first 64 players chosen in the draft."
"Went to Starkville and came within one bad throw of taking the series."

AndreWhere (1252)

Member

From: Decatur, GA

Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 8,746

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

I will continue to observe.

Some will, but a coast facility hosting a basketball program that is only a few years from hosting (and losing) a tournament in a high school gym is akin to Joker making the Final Four here.

Isn't that kind of the point, though? Things suck now, so we need to do something different.

We're "a few years removed" from some good things, too. Take what you have and double down on it. If it blows up, so be it. Some of us still want to try, though, even if trying implies the possibility of failing.

What USM needs is not "another Jeff Bowers," it's a Howard Schnellenberger, or another Fedora. We need someone to believe in us and to tell us to believe in ourselves.

There's nothing inherent to USM that guarantees failure, other than continuing to pay some people to disagree with me and write bullshit about diversity and to force his employees to join the Eagle Club.

That guy needs to be gone yesterday. I've got my little megaphone and I'm going to shout it.

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Bring back Reed V. "Pie" TurkPalmer Eustachy.

99beers (303)

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From: Uranus

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 1,365

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

We are going to be just fine!

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Georgia Tech SwagFag can eat zombie feces...loser. #PoundSand

Black Diamond Reb (418)

Member

From: Palmers Crossing, Mississippi

Registered: 2017-08-25

Posts: 1,302

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

There's nothing inherent to USM that guarantees failure.

Nor success.

And the sooner one realizes the "we" and "us" are Flamingo Boy, Goblet, whoever the designated e mail recipient of the week is, and the rest of the self appointed hierarchy of the institution the easier it is to say to hell with it. And no matter how loud megaphone screamers are, they're only masses to buy flamingo hats and Poydras Bowl tickets to support the kingdom of mediocrity.

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"I don't think being in the 6th best conference is too bad."
"Look for Crickets Robertson to be one of the first 64 players chosen in the draft."
"Went to Starkville and came within one bad throw of taking the series."

admin (289)

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Registered: 2017-08-24

Posts: 2,244

Re: How to Fix Southern Miss Attendance in Hattiesburg

There's nothing inherent to USM that guarantees failure.

Nor success.

And the sooner one realizes the "we" and "us" are Flamingo Boy, Goblet, whoever the designated e mail recipient of the week is, and the rest of the self appointed hierarchy of the institution the easier it is to say to hell with it. And no matter how loud megaphone screamers are, they're only masses to buy flamingo hats and Poydras Bowl tickets to support the kingdom of mediocrity.

I did say "to Hell with it" for a long time. I got criticized for it by the gdunns of the world. "Aren't you 'all in?'," they asked.

My answer was "well, I'm not a kamikaze pilot, if that's what you mean."

That said, I will fly a few helicopter missions in support of the people trapped on the embassy roof.

This is not "ILoveUSMAthletics.com" and it never will be.