Bulldog fans streaming into Davis Wade Stadium this Saturday will be met at the gates by new faces – and potentially new scrutiny. Event Operations Group, a national event management company and security provider based in Pelham, Ala., will be working the gate instead of members of the Shriners who staffed it in the past. Cowbell-carrying fans, beware.
That is not to definitively say that cowbells will be targeted by security, but the diligence of the event staff at spotting the traditional noisemakers may change.
In the past, a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy has been used, where visitors were not frisked or checked other than at a glance. If event staff saw a cowbell in possession, they would ask the person to take it back to their vehicle.
Athletic director Greg Byrne said the new company will continue the same gate procedures that MSU has always used and which adheres to the SEC rules.
“Cowbells are still illegal,” Byrne said. “But our new management group will be handling the gates and cowbells the same as has been done before.”
Director of media relations Mike Nemeth said it was time to make a change.
“The local civic organization that did it previously did a fine job. We don’t want it to appear that they didn’t,” Nemeth said. “We just felt like we wanted to move in a different direction.”
That direction is to a more professionally-managed security staff.
The company has regional offices throughout the Southeast and manages up to 1,000 events a year at each office, according to its Web site – eventoperationsgroup.com.
The Starkville office provides security, guest services, ushers, ticket takers and parking management staff to Mississippi State for all athletic events.
Could the new security sound the death knell for the clang of the cowbell, a tradition at Scott Field?
Artificial noisemakers are banned by the Southeastern Conference during sporting events, but some say the rule unfairly targets MSU.
Davis Wade Stadium is smaller and more open than other stadiums around the SEC, which are better able to contain and focus crowd noise onto the field, a home field advantage MSU does not have. Fans have long used the cowbell to make up for that deficiency.
At an autograph-signing event last year, former MSU head coach Jackie Sherrill said of Neyland Stadium in Knoxville: “You go to Tennessee and when you can hear the band play Rocky Top over 104,000 people, don’t tell me that music isn’t piped in. If that’s not artificial noise, I don’t know what is.”
The NCAA dropped its crowd noise penalty prior to the 2006 season, but the SEC asked for and received the right to continue enforcing its own artificial noise policy.
The noise rule, which can incur a penalty on the home team, has been in place since 2002, when the SEC member schools voted 11-1 to assess a penalty. Then MSU interim president Charles Lee cast the lone dissenting vote.
Officials with EOG said they have been swamped this week with planning for not only MSU’s game, but other SEC schools as well, and could not at this time offer many details about their procedures. But MSU event management officials seemed impressed by the organization.
“[EOG] is very much on top of things, and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen of them,” said coordinator of events and facilities Brent Frey. “They’ll ask customers to open up oversized bags, but won’t go through their personal belongings. We’re trying to be very, very fan-friendly.”
However, fans arriving at the stadium with cowbells in hand would be wise to tuck them carefully away and leave time for the walk back to the car, just in case.