SWAC as FBS


#1 Jackson St.
Alot of people give Veterans Memorial Stadium flack but I don't see what for. The only 2 things that I see that could be done is a new pressbox and a better playing surface. I don't know if the field just look like that when they played Alcorn or it has been a problem all year. Jackson St. use to have the best looking field in the SWAC. Jackson St. has an athletic budget of $7.6 million. Something is not right about that budget. Looking at the budget it looks like one of the 3 things happened. (1) Jackson St. overstated their attendance. (2) Jackson St. had a lot of tickets that either given away for free or reduced greatly in price (3) Jackson St. is cooking the books. I say this because that there is no way Jackson St. should have an athletic budget similar to Alcorn when Jackson St. has more than twice the amount of students than Alcorn has and had more than twice the amount of attendance than Alcorn. Jackson St. has an enrollment of 7,709. That is barley below what I feel in needed for FBS. I believe that JSU enrollment will improve by atleast 3,000 by them being an urban university. Jackson St. had the best attendance in the SWAC, FCS, and better than 75% of the teams in G5.
Jackson St. Grade A

I like memorial as well. With the plan being to work towards getting an on campus stadium within the next 3 to 5 years there won't be anymore upgrades to memorial. The field at memorial was beautiful until the end of the year. It rained a lot and by that alcorn game the field was the worse I've ever seen it. The attendance is spot on. The budget is the budget. We have geniuses at THEE so every year our revenues equal expenses 😆. Im sure we will see a spike in enrollment overall with the addition of coach Prime.
 
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#2 Southern
Ace W. Mumford stadium is very unique stadium. Stadium is just the right size but I don't see where Southern would be able to expand for future growth. Southern has an athletic budget of $15 Million that would improve with an upgrade to their non-conference schedule. Southern has an enrollment of 7,001. That would need to improve by 1,000. I am hoping that Southern can get their enrollment back to where it use to be. With an attendance of 16,957, Southern beats what is needed for FBS. I see Southern attendance improving with those DII and NAIA programs coming off of the schedule for better opponents matching those already high ticket prices.
Southern Grade A
The south endzone can be expanded easily. Also a deck above the East and West sides can be done.
 
I include the law school, since it's on campus, now the different ag centers around the state I don't.
 
I like memorial as well. With the plan being to work towards getting an on campus stadium within the next 3 to 5 years there won't be anymore upgrades to memorial. The field at memorial was beautiful until the end of the year. It rained a lot and by that alcorn game the field was the worse I've ever seen it. The attendance is spot on. The budget is the budget. We have geniuses at THEE so every year our revenues equal expenses . Im sure we will see a spike in enrollment overall with the addition of coach Prime.

That field has been bad a few years now. The last 2 times I've been there it looked like it was done on purpose to slow fast teams down but as you walk around it and you can see they have not taken care of it the way it could be.
 
#2 Southern
Ace W. Mumford stadium is very unique stadium. Stadium is just the right size but I don't see where Southern would be able to expand for future growth. Southern has an athletic budget of $15 Million that would improve with an upgrade to their non-conference schedule. Southern has an enrollment of 7,001. That would need to improve by 1,000. I am hoping that Southern can get their enrollment back to where it use to be. With an attendance of 16,957, Southern beats what is needed for FBS. I see Southern attendance improving with those DII and NAIA programs coming off of the schedule for better opponents matching those already high ticket prices.
Southern Grade A

Enclosing the South Endzone and making Mumford out of a bowl set up with additional seating has long been a topic of conversation. It can certainly happen but not currently needed.
 
That field has been bad a few years now. The last 2 times I've been there it looked like it was done on purpose to slow fast teams down but as you walk around it and you can see they have not taken care of it the way it could be.


The field was fine until the end of last year. Actually for the past couple years it's like that. They need to maintain it throughout the season. The images below show the difference 2 weeks made from the pine bluff game to the su game.
 

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The field was fine until the end of last year. Actually for the past couple years it's like that. They need to maintain it throughout the season. The images below show the difference 2 weeks made from the pine bluff game to the su game.
I agree 100% and I'm pretty such it's being addressed!
 
I didn’t include su law school didn’t know if I was supposed to or not
The Southern University Law Center, with an enrollment of 841 students, is situated in the heart of the Baton Rouge Main campus and should be counted as a part of the total university enrollment. Southern has a unique situation. It has 5 campuses, each with its own chancellor. However, three of the five campuses are located right there in Baton Rouge on the same property (SUBR, SU Ag, SU Law) and all 3 constitute the university's total enrollment.. The total Fall 2020 enrollment currently stands at 7,922 but will exceed 8,000 students by the October 2020 cutoff date, when all tuition and fees must be paid. A portion of the Baton Rouge campus includes an Agricultural Plant, locatied just North of the main campus as well as a Medical Marijuana facility, located to the East of the Main campus. There is plenty of space for Mumford's expansion from its current configuration of 28,500 seats. There is enough room to more than double Mumford's seating capacity with upper decks on either the east or west sides or both as well as enclosure in the south endzone.
 
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The Southern University Law Center, with an enrollment of 841 students, is situated in the heart of the Baton Rouge Main campus and should be counted as a part of the total university enrollment. Southern has a unique situation. It has 5 campuses, each with its own chancellor. However, three of the five campuses are located right there in Baton Rouge on the same property (SUBR, SU Ag, SU Law) and all 3 constitute the university's total enrollment.. The total Fall 2020 enrollment currently stands at 7,922 but will exceed 8,000 students by the October 2020 cutoff date, when all tuition and fees must be paid. A portion of the Baton Rouge campus includes an Agricultureal Plant, locatied just North of the main campus as well as a Medical Marijuana facility, located to the East of the Main campus. There is plenty of space for Mumford's expansion from its current configuration of 28,500. There is enough room to more than doube Mumford's seating capacity with either upper decks on the east and west sides as well as enclosure in the north endzone.

(South endzone)
 
The field was fine until the end of last year. Actually for the past couple years it's like that. They need to maintain it throughout the season. The images below show the difference 2 weeks made from the pine bluff game to the su game.

I'm guessing transitioning to field turf at a time where new stadium talks are heating up is out of the question, right?
 
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#2 Southern
Ace W. Mumford stadium is very unique stadium. Stadium is just the right size but I don't see where Southern would be able to expand for future growth. Southern has an athletic budget of $15 Million that would improve with an upgrade to their non-conference schedule. Southern has an enrollment of 7,001. That would need to improve by 1,000. I am hoping that Southern can get their enrollment back to where it use to be. With an attendance of 16,957, Southern beats what is needed for FBS. I see Southern attendance improving with those DII and NAIA programs coming off of the schedule for better opponents matching those already high ticket prices.
Southern Grade A

Actually, Mumford stadium has plenty of room to expand, such as close in the south endzone or build a deck over the east side of the stadium. From what I'm hearing, SU is looking at expanding the pressbox/luxury box suites over the west side first, which would give us a few thousand (1,500 - 2,000) more high price tickets. Once that's completed, they could build a deck over the pressbox. Mumford Stadium is far from being landlocked. The most landlocked stadium I can think of is probably Georgia Tech's stadium, but I'm sure they have enough funds to relocate things in case they desire to sxpand.
 
I believe you should have included ticket revenue per game in your assessment. Large crowds are fine, but what counts the most is the revenue generated from attendance. It's like comparing quantity versus quality.
 
The design of the press box/suites on the West side make that a little difficult.

Not really. Most deck structures these days are cantilevered structures, which means the support columns are built beyond the existing structure while the expanded seating area extends over the existing structure. The 7.1 m/23.4 ft portion below cantilevers over the lower seats.

1602111010361.png
 
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Not really. Most deck structures these days are cantilevered structures, which means the support columns are built beyond the existing structure while the expanded seating area is built over the existing structure.

OK. I was told years ago the double-decker design of the press box/suites would make it difficult to expand on the West side.
Would the university expand the suites on the West side to the 20 yard lines?
 
I also did the attendance of all G5 schools and included the SWAC, Bethune-Cookman, and FAMU in it.
There are 73 total teams

(5) Jackson St. 33,762
Highest rated game vs. Southern 40,085

40. Alabama St. 17,899
Highest rated game vs. Tuskegee 27,828

47. Southern 16,957
Highest rated game vs. AAMU 20,344

49. FAMU 16,537
Highest rated game vs. Southern 27,191

61. Alcorn 13,196
Highest rated game vs. Southern 22,465

64. Grambling 10,396
Highest rated game vs. Texas Southern 14,562

67. Texas Southern 9,204
Highest rated game vs. Prairie View 16,407

69. AAMU 8,952
Highest rated game vs. Texas Southern 14,626

70. UAPB 7,191
Highest rated game vs. Langston 9,613

71. Bethune-Cookman 6,660
Highest rated game vs. South Carolina St. 12,204

72. Prairie View 6,364
Highest rated game vs. Virginia-Lynchburg 13,626

73. MVSU 4,416
Highest rated game vs. Jackson St. 9,093

Also ULM had its highest attendance vs. Grambling
USM had its highest attendance vs. Alcorn
UAB had its highest attendance vs. Alabama St.
 
OK. I was told years ago the double-decker design of the press box/suites would make it difficult to expand on the West side.
Would the university expand the suites on the West side to the 20 yard lines?

From what I'm hearing, it's already setup for future expansion on both sides. From the 20 yard line to the 20 yard line is basically where the pressbox extends now (approximately 60 yards/180 ft). The expanded pressbox would extend to the limits of Mumford Stadium when it was first built or just beyond endzone to endzone or where the black fence guard stops in the picture below.

Also, a deck would be more costly, but not impossible. The high price press box/luxury box suites would probably be the most economically feasible plan due to the high price of tickets.

1602111990347.png
 
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