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Ole Miss unveils student party decks for Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
By SDS Staff
Published:
While everyone is talking about how to combat falling attendance, Ole Miss is doing something about it.
The Rebels revealed Friday evening they are testing new party decks for students at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The university says the decks were installed “to provide more in-game social opportunities for the student body.”
The 2019 season will feature eight temporary party decks — four on each side of the scoreboard, and the decks will feature pub tables, shade, charging stations and TVs. Each platform has a capacity of 100 students.
“As we have all seen firsthand at The Pavilion and Swayze Field, as well as throughout our fan research, the ability to socialize with friends is crucial to our students’ gameday experience, and the new party decks will provide a similar environment to those other venues,” said Keith Carter, Ole Miss interim athletics director in a statement. “There is no question that our students are absolutely critical to creating a home field advantage at the Vaught, and we look forward to giving them an experience that makes them want to get there early and stay until the end.”
The university says two of the decks will be general admission for the first 200 fans. The remaining decks will be handled through a weekly lottery.
Will this solve falling attendance problems? No, but it may help. Giving fans — in this case students — a better in-game experience will help attendance. Winning also increases attendance, but even Alabama isn’t immune to students not coming to games.
The university shared photos of the party decks on its football twitter account:
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
