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Momentum for Southern Miss Athletics Continues to Build

11/10/2022 3:00:00 PM | Baseball, Football, General

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – With the announcement that the Golden Eagle football team will play its third nationally televised game of the 2022 season next Saturday at home against South Alabama (NFL Network), Southern Miss Athletics continues to demonstrate the department's forward progress as part of its ToTheTop25 Strategic Plan. Southern Miss plays at Coastal Carolina this Saturday at 6:30 pm CST on ESPNU and defeated reigning Sun Belt Conference champion Louisiana 39-24 on Thursday, October 27, in front of a national audience on ESPN2.

Increased national exposure has been a theme for Southern Miss as excitement for athletics continues to rise. The #15 ranked Southern Miss baseball team captured the hearts of the nation this past spring as Southern Miss became just the fourth NCAA Division I institution to host a conference tournament, an NCAA Regional Tournament, and an NCAA Super Regional tournament in the same season. Each game of the three tournaments was featured on the ESPN family of networks. Attendance ballooned to an all-time high in 2022, as 182,810 fans attended Golden Eagle baseball games at Pete Taylor Park for an average of 4,687 fans per contest. Southern Miss baseball also set an all-time high in season ticket sales with 2,677 season passes sold.

Attendance continues to rise in football as Southern Miss is averaging 25,351 fans per game at The Rock in the 2022 season, which is the highest average attendance since the 2016 campaign, and more than 10,000 football season tickets were sold for the 2022 season, which is also the most since 2016. Helping spur increased attendance is the advent of a modern Priority Points System and per-seat donataion model to promote growth and reward commitment among donors and fans. The Southern Miss Eagle Club set a new annual membership record with a total of 2,802 contributors which led to setting an all-time annual giving mark of $2,189,126. Enhanced fan excitement extends to the marketplace as licensing sales from Southern Miss branded merchandise total $1,496,931 to date in 2022 which signals a 28% increase over last year. 

Additional momentum includes a boost in total fundraising. Fiscal year 2022 saw the department's Circle of Champions membership grow by 17 new supporters, which is a single year record. Donors joining the Circle of Champions commit a minimum of $125,000 to help the growth of Golden Eagle sports programs. Also, overall fundraising generated $8,236,557 in 2022, which is the 3rd highest total in the history of the Southern Miss Athletics Foundation.

SouthernMiss.com is the primary source for fans to learn more about Golden Eagle Athletics. Upcoming home athletics events include a men's basketball game vs. Loyola New Orleans on Monday, November 14, at 7 pm, a women's basketball contest vs. North Alabama on Friday, November 18, at 6 pm, and the football home finale vs. South Alabama on Saturday, November 19, at 2:30 pm.