The Missouri Tigers are looking to step into the big boy league of the SEC by making a few changes to how they do business:
...Alden said MU will be raising football ticket prices “across the board” with the exception of faculty and students. How much Missouri will do so is unclear, but the letter states the prices will place Missouri in the middle of the pack of the SEC.The Mizzou Tigers will host the Georgia Bulldogs in their SEC home opener next season and there is already plenty of trash talking going on in various formers and on message boards surrounding just how the Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs will match up when they meet in what will be Georgia's SEC opener and Missouri first home SEC opener.
He also said the artificial turf surface at Memorial Stadium will be replaced this summer at a cost of $1.5 million. SEC logos will be added, the Tiger logo at midfield will be larger, and the diamonds in the endzones will read “Mizzou” instead of “Missouri.”
...Other changes are coming to Memorial Stadium. Alden said the MU band will move from the south end zone to the southeast corner of the student section and the school will increase visiting teams’ ticket allotment from 3,800 to 6,000. And because of SEC rules, Missouri fans will not be allowed to exit and re-enter during the game as they have been able to in years past.
Most feel the game will be a better contest than believed as the Tigers have an above-average passing attack—bolstered even more by the 2012 signing of wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham—and a fair amount of excitement, as well as plenty to prove, coming into next season and that game.
From the actions of athletic director Mike Alden, it's clear Missouri feels like the black sheep in the SEC's expansion deal because a majority of the SEC's fans doesn't feel the Tigers fit the mold of a traditional Southern football program. After all, Missouri is in the Midwest, not the South.
That fact alone will certainly make tailgating an interesting proposition come September as the distance between Athens, GA and Columbia, MO clocks in at just over 725 miles.
Tailgating in the Midwest in September? I'm sure that's going to be interesting.
