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Missouri State visibly changing ahead of joining Conference USA
SPRINGFIELD–The Missouri State Athletic Department has been hard at work getting major upgrades and changes underway and finished in preparation to join Conference USA on July 1.
Between new field turf, lights, and fiber optics at Plaster Stadium to new court designs and logos at Great Southern Bank Arena and the Hammons Student Center BIG changes are visible across the campus of Missouri State. And those are just a few MAJOR things you can see, for now.
There's still plenty of heavy lifting for the Bears brass to do before July 1, but most outsiders will notice there's a different look and feel around Springfield because of the changes.
The athletic budget for MSU last year was $34.3 million, but will bump up closer to $40 million. That increase will put it on the same operating level as soon-to-be conference rivals Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, and Florida International.
The travel budget will also see an uptick in cost. Last year, the school budgeted nearly $3 million, but this coming athletic year, that figure will rise to almost $6 million.
The football team will, like usual, provide most of the funding for the other 16 school sports. By joinging Conference USA, the university will be featured in 5 nationally televised games this fall, adding a major source of revenue for the school thanks to selling that inventory and earning media money from being a member of C-USA.
Bears Athletic Director, Patrick Ransdell spoke about the transcendant time earlier this week.
'Sales should see a bump up because now we're having national broadcast inventory,' said Ransdell. 'Going from just ESPN plus broadcast to 5 nationally televised games is a pretty big deal. To be on ESPN2 or ESPNU or CBS Sports Network those are opportunities that don't come along very often and we need to be able to take advantage when we can.'
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