The Mississippi State University Student Association announced Friday it will be holding a giveaway for students at the Maroon-White spring football scrimmage taking place this Saturday as a part of Super Bulldog Weekend festivities.
The event, sponsored in conjunction with the MSU Athletic Department, gives students who swipe their student IDs at one of the designated check-in points the opportunity to win one of several prizes, including a semester of free in-state tuition, a semester of free books, a free iPad 2, an iPod Touch and an autographed football.
SA president Rhett Hobart, who spearheaded the planning for the giveaway with MSU Director of Athletic Marketing Chad Thomas, said one of his goals as president is to encourage student participation in athletics, and he said he and Thomas felt this was a good opportunity.
“We started looking at ways to encourage people to attend more events, and then we started looking at things coming up,” Hobart said. “We looked at the spring game and started analyzing ways in which we thought we could increase student participation in the event. A lot of times, students come, but we want to make sure students are excited about coming and have some great benefits while being there.”
Hobart said the MSU Internal Technology Services department helped them find a way to coordinate the drawing. To be entered, students have their IDs swiped at one of four check-in locations at gates 2, 10, 12 and 20, the four corners of Davis-Wade stadium.
Names will be randomly selected and announced during breaks in the game. To claim their prizes students are asked to report to the bronze Bulldog statue on the 50-yard line.
Hobart said the athletic department will foot the bill for the giveaway, and the SA will do all of the legwork.
MSU athletic director Scott Stricklin said the support of the student body is valuable both to MSU and the football team.
“I’d love to see them come and pack the student section just like they do in the fall,” he said. “They’ve done a pretty good job the last couple years of showing up. The response from the students the last two years with football has been unbelievable. The students mean a lot to the energy that’s been created in that stadium, and this is another opportunity that we can come together and get them involved and let the rest of our visitors see the spirit our student body brings.”
It is natural for an athletic department to seek student support. However, universities do not profit greatly from students. They buy tickets at a discounted price, and most do not donate to the athletic department. So why would the athletic department pay such a bill for the support of a group which is generally supportive on its own?
“Coach [Dan] Mullen says it over and over,” Hobart said. “He says, ‘A lot of people say that when you start winning, people start coming, but it’s more important for everyone to be there, and then we win.’ I’ve said before, when I was doing the election, that I was looking into doing these pep rallies. For us to be able to expect our team to win, we have to do our part. We can’t expect our team to go out and work hard and play hard for us if we’re not doing our part.”
Mullen said the benefit of a strong crowd is more than monetary in type. Super Bulldog Weekend is one of the biggest weekends of the year for football recruiting. Mullen and his staff bring in a great deal of high school juniors whom they hope will choose to attend and play football at MSU.
Mullen also said it is really football’s only chance in the spring, unlike the fall when he has seven or eight home football games to show off his program.
“For us, it’s kind of a celebration,” Mullen said. “We get one shot of it in the springtime. [Super Bulldog Weekend] is kind of a celebration weekend, and we’re out here playing football to, hopefully, kind of top that off. It’s big for our players, it’s big for our recruits and it’s big to set us with the mindset of getting ready to go the season with all the students here. Our students have done an unbelievable job of supporting this program, and we just want to keep that going.”
Thomas said the idea for the giveaway was actually inspired by promotions other schools have done, and it is different from things the athletic department plans to do in the fall.
“When we get back into the season we’ll do things like the punt, pass and kick again, student fan of the game where we give away money, things like that,” Thomas said. “Those are sponsored elements, but this is just one of those things where it’s fun and laid back. That’s the whole thing; it’s just getting students to come out and create that atmosphere that we have at home Saturday’s in the fall.”
The Maroon-White game starts at 5 p.m. Saturday, and scanning of IDs begins when the gates open at 3 p.m. and ends at 5 p.m.