Ole Miss' athletics department has "achieved record-high revenue totals over the last two years largely thanks to big spikes in ticket sales and rights/licensing fees," according to Riley Blevins of the Jackson CLARION-LEDGER. Ole Miss "brought in nearly $17.3M in ticket sales last year and "netted roughly" $31.5M via licensing fees. Both are "record highs for the school by a wide margin." It is a "major jump from nearly 10 years ago, when Ole Miss reported ticket sales profits" of $8.9M and around $10M from licensing. Ole Miss Senior Associate AD/Communications & Marketing Michael Thompson at the end of last season said that the school "saw 430,829 fans attend home football games and sold out" 100% of its season tickets last year, which has "only happened five times in school history." Ole Miss in all "brought in $75,849,000 in revenue" in '14. That figure is another "all-time high in school history and up nearly" $2M from its '13 total despite bringing in nearly $2M "less in contributions" (Jackson CLARION-LEDGER, 5/27).
RETURN TEAM: Ole Miss AD Ross Bjork yesterday appeared on the "Paul Finebaum Show" and said that he and Mississippi State AD Scott Stricklin "are in talks about possibly moving the Egg Bowl to Thanksgiving this year." Mississippi-based WJTV-CBS' TJ Werre noted the Egg Bowl two years ago "was played on Thanksgiving for the first time" since '03. There have been "21 all-time meetings" between the schools on Thanksgiving (WJTV.com, 5/26).
