Clay Jackson: Economic Impact Sports Have on Starkville

 

Every city experiences economic impacts that affect it in a positive or negative way. For the positive side those impacts include things such as weather, sports, or the city’s location along with other impacts as well. The city of Starkville is no different from those cities. Over the past decade Starkville has seen significant positive increase to its economy. But what is a major cause to Starkville’s economic increase? Is it just as simple as more people are visiting year around? Or is there a deeper reasoning to why the city has seen the impact it has seen?  I believe one major reason for this trend is because of Mississippi State sports. I do not think anyone would be surprised if you told them during the season’s sports are played that those months see the highest economic increase.

The chart above is from total sales in Starkville over the past three years. As you can see in the chart is from the months that Starkville pulls in the most amount of money consistently is months September-November. Except for a good January last year. Then the next months with the highest sales are April-May. It is not a coincidence those months make the most money. September-November is during football season which means many visitors come into the city. During those months on average, they bring in $117,603.33 a month to the city of Starkville. October brings in the most on average over the three years bringing in $121,909 to the city of Starkville. With September being next at $116,310 and November at third bringing in an average of $114,591 into the city.
                

  April and May also play a huge part in the city’s economy. During the heart of college baseball season within a city who is crazy about college baseball, this kind of positive impact may not be seen in other cities around the state. April has brought in $121,659 on average the past three years. With May bringing in $114,149 over the same time frame. This is clear as to how important not just Mississippi State is to its community but sports are to the community as well.
                 

Now let’s take a look into two different industries and see how they are affected by Mississippi State sports. The two industries we will take a look at are the hotel and restaurant industries. These are two major parts of any small town, and Starkville is definitely no different. You will see a similar impact in these next two charts as you saw in the previous chart. The first one we will look at is the restaurant industry.

As you can see for the restaurant industry mirror what the first chart is telling us. One thing different about this chart is December. It is one of the busiest months of the year for Starkville’s restaurant industry. While there are sports in December, most of Mississippi State’s students go out of town during this time. That brings the question as to how is December’s numbers so high? An idea I had for this is that although students are leaving town, people are coming home to spend time with family during the holidays, which are making the numbers high. Now let us take a look at the hotel numbers over the same period of time.

As you can see in the chart, the overall numbers are down across the board. However, with the exception of April 2021, the trend continues with April and May being busy times along with September-November. Another month though spiked and is one of the higher months for the past three years, that month being July.

While the numbers during those months are significant, it is important to remember what else the city of Starkville is during those weeks. It takes much to prepare the for a weekend of games whether it be just one game a week with football or a three game series with baseball. The effects of these weekends have a massive impact on how the city is doing financially.
I sat down with the Starkville’s mayor, Mayor Spruill, to get her thoughts on how sports weekends effect her city as a whole.

For a city like Starkville to be prepared and be able to continue to have busy weekends, it is important to have people like Mayor Spruill ready for anything. She realizes the impact it has on the economy and is continuing to do things to try to draw in more visitors into Starkville. The impact of sports can be felt on many levels by many people. The amount of attention it brings to cities like Starkville all over Mississippi and the country will continue to provide more than enough for cities like Starkville to be able handle the uptick in business. While it would be nice for those months to be extended into the other months, citizens of cities realize how special these months are and will continue to support their team and most importantly the city.

Email me at cmj313@msstate.edu with any questions

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