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Going to MSU Football Games on a Budget

By Josh Barnhill

Nov 14, 2015; Starkville, MS, USA; Fans tailgate before the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium. Alabama won 31-6. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 14, 2015; Starkville, MS, USA; Fans tailgate before the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium. Alabama won 31-6. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports /
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Attending MSU football games can get expensive, so how can you make it to Starkville when the budget is tight?

Being on a “budget” gets a bad rap from many Americans. But the truth is, most people who are successful with money are on a budget.

Personally, my wife and I have been adhering to a monthly budget since we graduated from college and got married nine years ago. Even though our income has increased substantially over that time, budgeting has been an important part of staying away from debt and ensuring we spend less than we make.

So maybe you don’t think you need to attend MSU football games on a budget, but perhaps you should. Or maybe you feel like going to MSU football games is something that’s too expensive for your family. Let’s see if we can fix that.

I estimate that a weekend trip to Starkville to see the Dawgs play a SEC opponent can easily cost a family of four roughly $1,000:

  • Hotels: $450 (two nights at the spiked rate for a football weekend)
  • Gas: $50
  • Meals: $150
  • Misc. spending: $50 (nachos, t-shirt, program, etc.)
  • Game tickets: $300 (4 x $75 per)

If you live within two hours of Starkville, chances are your expenditures are much less. You simply drive back home after the game to avoid the hotel and meal costs. These are most of the people holding season tickets. Even though they aren’t paying hotels, gas + food + spending cash + tickets can still add up to $500 each game – do that a handful of times in a three month period and your wallet takes a hit.

For folks who live beyond Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis or Greenville, it can be a daunting task to avoid hotel rooms….so typically those people tend to make a weekend of it one or two times per year. But how can we make it cheaper?

1. The first place to start is hotel rooms. Starkville hotels fill up fast, and charge outrageous rates for game weekends. Any decent hotel room in the Golden Triangle is going to cost you at least $200 per night. That’s a non-starter.

For folks who live close by hotels aren’t the issue. But if you live further away they are, and you have three options:

  • Find a hotel that is over an hour away from Starkville – creating a fair price – and commute from there to Starkville before and after the game.
  • Pick either Friday or Saturday night to stay in Starkville / Golden Triangle and spend the other night in your own bed.
  • Get up early and get home late, avoiding hotels entirely. Make sure you have plenty of coffee / energy drinks because you’ll need them.

I’ve tried all of these options. They are all better than paying $4-500 in hotels for two nights.

2. There’s not much you can do about gas, it is what it is, but you can take your most fuel efficient car. I’ve got a truck that seats four my family could take, but it gets 14 miles per gallon so it’s much better to take my wife’s SUV which gets 23.

3. Meals – this one is hard but if you buy in it can be such an easy way to save money. I know you want to stop by The Little Dooey, Oby’s, Mugshots, The Veranda, Restaurant Tyler, etc. All the places you can’t get at home but love about Starkville. Well, you’re on a budget so you can’t do that.

Pack your food. This becomes easier when you’re avoiding hotel bills like the plague because you’re pretty much only in town for the game. But make some sandwiches and throw them in a cooler, and/or bring your grill and tailgate on campus. Restaurants are great, but what you pay is no where near the cost of the food, so you’ll get huge savings here.

4. Don’t spend your money on junk. You don’t need to stop by the Lodge just because you’re in Starkville. You don’t need that $5 Dr. Pepper at the concession stand. Your child does not need a $10 foam finger. I just put $50 back in your bank account.

5. The cost of tickets has soared tremendously. $75 per game! Ouch. That’s why you’ll just have to settle for watching SEC games on TV…or from the tailgate. If you decide you just have to see MSU vs. Auburn live, but your spouse and one of your kids aren’t as enthused, maybe they can watch from the tailgate instead of paying $150 for both to get in.

The cheapest alternative, however, is to attend a non-conference game. Those tickets are extremely easy to find. You can either purchase them from another fan for $5-10 or from the MSU athletic department – most of the time for no more than $15.

You don’t have to sit on the 50 yard line. You don’t even have to sit in the lower deck. The nose bleed section isn’t ideal, but there are plenty of other really good seats in the upper deck. You can experience the game atmosphere without breaking the bank.

Conclusion

A weekend trip to watch MSU football can really snowball your money, in one direction or the other. If you stay at a hotel, you’ll eat at restaurants and if you’ve already spent $700 you might as well get the best tickets too, right? But if you go in with a plan – that you won’t spend more than “X” amount of money because that’s what you can comfortably afford, you’ll be able to enjoy the weekend with financial peace of mind.

In the end, only you know what’s best for your family. If you can afford more, do more. But don’t needlessly spend money on a weekend in Starkville when your budget can’t handle it. If the Bulldogs lose you’ll be even more frustrated with yourself than ever. And whatever you do, do not go into debt to watch MSU play live – gain a firm financial footing before making the trip.

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