Spring game scrimmages have become tune-ups not only for college football players and coaches, but for game-day operations staffs - a sort of highest-bidding "coaches."
But we had never heard of a school hosting a post-game concert in the same venue as its spring game until April 21, when Mississippi State surrendered 35 yards of Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field to the staging, lighting and sound equipment of country music act Sugarland. That left the Bulldogs 65 yards and one end zone to show some 18,500 fans who paid between $25 and $60 (student tickets were priced at $15) a preview of the 2012 team. "It moved more toward concert than football game," admits MSU senior associate athletic director Mike Nemeth, who estimates that 95 percent of the audience was in place for the game, with an opening concert act, Canaan Smith, hitting the stage a mere 10 minutes after it ended.
The lone casualty of a shortened field: punts. But if the concert encroachment concerned the coaching staff, it wasn't letting on. "Dan Mullen is kind of an edgy guy," Nemeth says of the MSU head coach. "He likes to approach and do different things differently. He was totally for it. In fact, he promoted it big time leading up to the event."
It was the first time in years that Mississippi State had charged admission to its spring game, the focal point of Super Bulldog Weekend, a 26-year tradition that this year featured home baseball and softball games, as well as the SEC men's tennis tournament. "We term it a homecoming in the spring," says Nemeth, adding that revenue was not the motivation for the in-venue concert. "It was never intended to be a moneymaker for the department. We were just trying to cover our expenses and provide something different - a new and great experience for our fans."
