Wednesday Bulldog Update - 5/26/10
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bulldog-club@athletics.msstate.edu
SEASON TICKET SALES SOARING, TOP DOG NEARLY GONE
We are now approaching 37,000 football season ticket sales for the 2010 season, a number that includes the 11,000 season tickets we have allocated for students, and are just over 4,000 short of the school-record number of season tickets we sold last season.
The big news from the athletic ticket office this week is that we only have about 280 Top Dog season tickets, the discounted, full-priced East side upper level season tickets, available for purchase. The ticket office is suspecting that those will be gone before seating is assigned in June.
We sold 40,901 season tickets last year, a total that included a sold-out student section. With a substantial increase in student enrollment this fall, it is anticipated that our students will easily reach that 11,000 figure again this year.
In addition to the Top Dog season ticket, we are also offering a flex plan season ticket for just $75. That three-game package includes a ticket for SEC opponent Georgia, as well as one for in-state rival Alcorn State, and then you pick one from season-opener Memphis, homecoming opponent UAB, or SEC foes Kentucky and Arkansas. Flex plan season tickets are not counted in our season ticket number.
Call 1-888-GO-DAWGS or log on to MStateAthletics.com/tickets to order your tickets today.
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CLUB LEVEL CHANGES AFFECT CURRENT, FUTURE FANS
We recently sent a letter to all Club Level seat holders at Davis Wade Stadium detailing a couple of changes we have made to that particular seating area. One deals with the here and now, the other will only affect new fans wishing to acquire Club Level seats. This remains a high demand area for us with little, if any, inventory available after the renewal period.
If you are a Club Level seat holder, you know that we have approximately 120 stools at the glass bar facing the field inside the Club Level. Those seats have always been available on a first-come, first-served basis for those Club Level seat ticket holders in that area of the stadium. Essentially, those ticket holders in the outer area of the Club Level had access to the stools, but they were never considered by us to be permanent seating areas. Designating them as such, however, allows us to make maximum use of the space we have.
In an area that commands such demand from our folks, however, we have inventory that is going unused. Therefore, beginning with the 2010 football season, those stools will now be ticketed seats, much like the outer chairback seating area.
In order to fairly assign those seats, we will first allow current Club Level seat holders the opportunity to relocate some, or all, of their seats inside. Requests will be addressed in priority rank based upon availability. Current Club Level seat holders may not increase their current number of seats at this time, but only request that their seats be moved inside, if they so desire.
After all requests are addressed, available seats inside, or outside, in the Club Level will be offered to Bulldog Club members in priority rank, with a maximum of four seats available for purchase per account. This is where the new wrinkle for future fans comes into play. From this point forward, seats will require a commitment to the athletic facilities initiative of $12,500 per seat (payable over five years) in addition to the required annual $1,250 per-seat donation.
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BULLDOG ATHLETES SET ACADEMIC RECORD - AGAIN
Our male and female athletes finished this spring semester with an aggregate 2.93 grade point average which, coupled with the 2.99 GPA achieved this past fall, is the highest combined mark (2.96) for Bulldog student-athletes in school history.
State's men's sport programs posted a 2.70 GPA for the term, while the women's program averaged a 3.23 classroom mark, its third-highest average in school history.
Men's tennis and softball recorded the highest male and female team sport GPAs with 3.75 and 3.54 average grades, respectively. For tennis, it was its second-highest mark ever; softball broke its previous all-time record, set last fall.
Additionally, volleyball established a sport best with a 3.49 GPA, while women's sports basketball (3.02), golf (3.41), soccer (3.22) and tennis (3.52) all surpassed the 3.0 mark and improved their team GPA from last fall.
Overall, 72 scholarship student-athletes made either the Dean's Scholar (3.5) or President's Scholar (3.8) list. In addition, 137 of the 275 scholarship student-athletes (50 percent) recorded a 3.0 GPA or better during the fall.
Our athletic academic office began tracking scholarship student-athlete grades for comparative purposes in 1993.
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EVEN MORE CONGRATULATIONS FOR CHELSEA
Chelsea Bramlett has added another piece of hardware to her incredible trophy case. Our softball catcher was named the 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year for the University Division by College Sports Information Directors of America.
Chelsea earned Academic All-America honors for the third-straight year while garnering her second first-team selection. She earned the distinction after posting a 3.61 GPA in teaching and coaching, while hitting a school- and SEC-record .536.
She is also a Top 10 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year and the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.
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NO WEEKLY COLUMN NEXT WEEK
We will be in Destin, Fla., next week for the Southeastern Conference spring meetings and will not communicate via this weekly column. We will return in two weeks with what will be our final regularly scheduled column of the spring, one that will be chock full of information from the SEC meetings, as well as some ticket info, etc. We do reserve the right, however, to get back in touch with you over the summer on an infrequent basis, however, as the need arises.
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FRIDAY IS A DAY FOR MAROON...
Are you in the maroon?
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We appreciate what you do for Mississippi State Athletics and want to encourage you to get others involved. There are three things you can do to help the athletic department at Mississippi State reach its desired goals -
1. Buy Season Tickets
2. Financially Support the Bulldog Club
3. Get Others To Do The Same
Thanks for taking the time to read this Update.
Go Dawgs!
Scott Stricklin