Mississippi State for this football season will lower concession prices "in some cases by more than half," according to Brett Hudson of the Columbus COMMERCIAL DISPATCH. MSU AD John Cohen noted the school negotiated the deal with concessionaire Aramark, and he said the price cuts are "probably going to hurt our bottom line," but "I don't care." Cohen: "I want to meet our fans halfway." He said, "Fan experience is really important to all of us. If it's lowering a hot dog from 5 dollars to 2 dollars, if it's giving away free water at some of our early games when it's really hot, if it's providing more transportation from our parking lots to our stadium, as long as it's servicing our fans, that's of importance to me." Hudson noted it "remains to be seen whether that move has a positive or negative impact on MSU's revenue," which recently exceeded the $100M mark for the first time. MSU is one of 31 schools to have revenue in the nine figures, and MSU Deputy AD & CFO Jared Benko "sees nothing in his projections that suggests MSU will dip beyond that threshold in the coming years." MSU has "seen its athletic department revenue rise consistently," going from $62.2M in '14 to $100.6M in '17 (Columbus COMMERCIAL DISPATCH, 7/17).
SMU ALSO GETS IN ON THE ACTION: Dallas-area KXAS-NBC's Charles Nichelson noted SMU also announced plans for a "new menu of reduced-price concessions at select stands" at football games as a way to "enhance the gameday experience." The school, in conjunction with Aramark, "will offer $2 sodas and waters, $3 hot dogs and $5 beers." Higher-end food and beverage choices "will be available at other stands and food trucks" (NBCDFW.com, 7/17).
