Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State are "in the midst of major fundraising campaigns that will make possible upgrades designed to keep them at the forefront of luxury and recruiting in the ultracompetitive SEC," according to Michael Cohen of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. Reps from both schools said that the "increased revenue and exposure of the SEC has coincided with a significant boost in donations." The newfound success for both football programs "is merely another catalyst." Ole Miss Senior Associate AD/Development Keith Carter said, "I wish you could kind of put some tangible metrics on what one football win means for fundraising." Cohen notes Ole Miss' "Forward Together" campaign began in '11 "to finance the construction of a new basketball arena, the expansion of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and a few smaller facility improvements." The project "sought to raise" $150M and as of Sept. 22 had "a little more" than $116M. Carter: "You look at the other facilities in our league and really we're probably sitting close to the end or maybe right at the end of all those facilities (in basketball). ... Our coaches never really had that bullet in their gun to say, ‘Hey, come and look at our world-class arena.' And now they will." Meanwhile, MSU "celebrated a renovation to its football stadium by breaking the attendance record in the season opener." The school "began a fundraising campaign of their own" in '10 called the "Today. Tomorrow. Forever." MSU Senior Associate AD/Development Bo Hemphill said that the project "has raised more than" $60M. He said that part of the reason for MSU's fundraising success "was a shift in focus toward major gifts that began roughly five years ago." He explained that the program "has put a 'significant effort' into encouraging donors to contribute amounts above and beyond ticket priority level" (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 9/26).
