Editor’s Note: The student ticket resolution is solely the product of the MSU Student Association. In Tuesday’s edition of The Reflector, the article “Student football tickets: Going up?” said off-campus Senator Justin Ammon would present the legislation to the Senate “alongside” Mississippi State University athletic director Greg Byrne. The Reflector would like to clarify the athletic department, specifically Byrne, had no direct involvement in presenting the proposal to the SA Senate.
The Student Association’s approval Tuesday of a resolution to increase students’ football ticket prices was reasonable, and we hope any increase in prices will indeed help Mississippi State athletics move forward.
Students may have to pay $5 for football tickets next semester, a $2 increase from previous years, but the extra revenue for the university from this relatively small increase has many potential benefits if used properly by the athletic department.
As the resolution’s proponents, like off-campus Sen. Justin Ammon and MSU Athletic Director Greg Byrne, have pointed out, MSU athletics is last place in the SEC with regard to funding, and a ticket price increase could result in $150,000 in extra revenue. While this is not much considering the millions of dollars that go in to athletics, every dollar matters in SEC sports.
That being said, the revenue should go strictly toward athletics, such as improvements to the stadium and specifically a student Bulldog Club. This club would allow students to transfer points for going to athletic events into a monetary donation to the Bulldog Club after they graduate.
A student version of the Bulldog Club would directly benefit students and potentially spur interest in sports that receive little attention, like volleyball and women’s soccer. In other words, the extra revenue of increased tickets could improve many aspects of MSU athletics.
Another improvement in athletics we think could be nice would be a paperless entry into football games for students, who could just have their MSU identification cards scanned as with basketball.
However, we are not consenting to athletics raising the ticket prices arbitrarily to amounts comparable to Auburn University or the University of Tennessee, whose football ticket prices are $13.57 and $15, respectively. As of now, there are concrete ideas of how the extra funds could be spent.
At $5, we would still tie with the lowest ticket price in the SEC, that of the University of Kentucky, which isn’t too shabby and certainly nothing to complain about.
The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Matt Watson, news editor Lawrence Simmons, assistant news editor Josh Starr, sports editor Brandon Wright, entertainment editor Bailey Singletary, photo editor Bud Sorey, copy editors Aubra Whitten and Carl Smith, online editor Adam Kazery, managing editor Kyle Wrather and editor in chief Erin Kourkounis.