The music, sports and tailgating for Super Bulldog Weekend brings in thousands of students annually, and this year is no exception.
Chad Thomas, assistant athletic director for marketing, said Mississippi State University is trying something new this year by combining the concert with the spring game, and they are expecting a huge response.
“I think this year we expect anywhere from 20 to 25,000 people,” he said.
However, the turnout might not be quite as large as past years when MSU did not charge for entry.
“It’s the first time in a few years we’re charging because of the concert,” Thomas said. “The past couple of years when it’s been free, we’ve had 30 to 35,000 for the spring game.”
The tickets for the spring game and Sugarland concert are still for sale online at hailstate.com/tickets, at the baseball game and at the stadium.
“It’s a huge deal,” he said. “The typical Sugarland ticket price for the upper deck nosebleeds is $59.50, and our most expensive is $50 for field level. A ticket in the grandstand is only $25.”
Brice Lambert, student director of Music Maker Productions, said putting the production together was not an easy process.
“We’re trying to please all the different groups within the Bulldog nation. Like them or not, in terms of the world, Sugarland is among those top touring acts in the world,” he said. “It was a challenge to get them here, but one thing that works in our favor is that with country music, they actually want to play in an SEC stadium in Mississippi. They were immediately receptive to the idea, but it took months of negotiation.”
There have been mixed feelings toward the concert and event, as some are only interested in watching the game and others only want to see the concert, but Lambert said their main goal was to accomplish something new and different with this combination event.
“I think the whole vision for this is to have something unique and different that no one’s ever been to before,” he said. “It’s going to be a quick transition (less than 30 minutes) between the game and the show. It’s really going to draw attention to the conference.”
Lambert said he hopes everything goes according to plan, but with any new event such as this, it is difficult to know exactly what to expect.
“We’ve been planning constantly and trying to make things run as smoothly as possible, but we’ve never held a concert in this venue before and athletics has never helped us produce a concert,” he said. “We want people to bear with us; we don’t know exactly how things are going to work.”
Thomas said they are also expecting over 10,000 at Saturday’s baseball game, 7,000 to 9,000 for Friday’s game and about 6,000 on Thursday.
“We’re hoping the weather doesn’t scare anyone away,” he said. “We really want as many students as possible to come out and support.”
Lambert said Music Maker Productions is also very concerned about the weather over the weekend.
“If it rains, everyone would get a refund minus the processing fee,” he said. “We have all the email addresses. If we do have to cancel, every ticket would receive an email with instructions of how to get money back.”
Student Association President Shelby Balius said for about 30 years now, attending the games and events at Super Bulldog Weekend has been a great way for alumni, students and supporters to celebrate being a part of MSU.
“Super Bulldog Weekend is an MSU tradition that opens the door for past and present bulldogs to relive and celebrate their enjoyment of Mississippi State, while welcoming new bulldogs into our family,” Balius said.
A full schedule of the events can be found at hailstate.com/gameday.