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http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/SPORTS030104/807130337/1097/SPORTS HATTIESBURG — The first game is scheduled for Aug. 30, but Southern Miss officials hope to have enough construction finished for tenants to get a look at the M.M. Roberts south end zone expansion project on Aug. 23. Advertisement "Everybody is committed to making that happen," said Joel Lucero, major projects coordinator for the USM physical plant. "We're told there is no exception for not getting it done." A total of 34 luxury suites are included in the $31.5 million project, with two set aside for USM president Martha Saunders and athletic director Richard Giannini. The rest of the boxes have been leased to local companies and financial supporters of the athletic department. The suites come in three different sizes with the majority of them holding seating for 28. All of the boxes feature room for 10 or more seats inside, while chairback seating outside varies from 18 to 24 or 32. # The 18-seat suites are leased at $26,000 a year. # Suites with 24 outside chairs go for $28,000. # Luxury boxes with the largest number of outside seating of 32 are $31,000 a year. Five-, seven- and 10-year leases were sold for the luxury boxes while three-, five- and seven-year deals apply to club level seating. Tenants will pay the lease on a yearly basis. Four times a year, the luxury boxes will be available for the tenants to use outside the football season. The outside facade of the expansion is basically complete, with only the windows left to put in place. The majority of the work remaining is internal with the finishing of walls, doors and putting down the carpet. clarionledger 7/13/08

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/2008-07-10-gas-prices-attendance_N.htm Last fall, Reginald Bowens had plenty happening. Between an impending marriage and the good fortunes of the football team of his and his fiancée's alma mater, Jackson State, there were many reasons for the 200-mile drive from his Memphis home to Jackson, Miss. "This year, it'll probably be two road trips," Bowens said. "Just because of not really gas prices, but everything else around gas has went up, with food going up and that type of stuff." Therein lies a question athletic department administrators are asking: Will the recent economic downturn and spike in gas prices affect just how wide fans open their wallets to support their favorite schools, especially when football season starts next month? The national average for unleaded regular gasoline as of Thursday, according to the American Automobile Association, was $4.10 a gallon. For a car that gets 30 miles a gallon, that would put the cost of gas for a 350-mile round trip, such as one from Jackson to an Ole Miss football game in Oxford, at about $47. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Tennessee | Memphis | Mississippi State | Chattanooga | Oxford | Ole Miss | Houston Nutt | Jackson State | Starkville | Automobile Association Drive a 15-mpg SUV? Double that. Drive a recreational vehicle, the ones that make mini-communities at many schools for game weekends? Get out a calculator and take a deep breath. "For the first time, I'm researching places to leave my RV in Starkville rather than driving it back and forth during football season," Duff Sudduth of Madison, Miss., who regularly takes his RV to Mississippi State home games, wrote in an e-mail. Factor in the gas to run his generator through the weekend, and he's looking at $200 for fuel alone. But because of the fun of the football weekend with longtime friends, Sudduth said he doesn't plan on stopping. Mississippi is offering three, three-game ticket mini-packages, two of them costing $60 and another $50. The school didn't mince words as to why, citing "gas prices and a struggling economy" in the first sentence of a news release. USA Today 7/12/08

http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1215936908250310.xml&coll=2 Ten years ago, a face-value ticket to the Iron Bowl cost $30. Today, $30 can't get you into any Alabama or Auburn game, even against the nonconference bottom feeders. The price to watch college football has skyrocketed. The average SEC ticket price - including the minimum donations required for the right to purchase season tickets - has increased 80 percent since 1998, from $61.07 to $110.05, according to an analysis by The Birmingham News. Combined with escalating gas and food costs in a slumping economy, some fans and athletics administrators worry the average college football fan is being priced out of stadiums in favor of wealthier clientele. Others say higher ticket prices are simply the cost of doing business to produce a winning team. And they correctly point to a booming market in which rabid college football fans continue to pour into stadiums in record numbers. In the SEC, Alabama ($50.71) and Auburn ($50) have the most expensive average face-value tickets in 2008; a decade ago, they each averaged $27.14. LSU ($47.50 average), Tennessee ($45), Arkansas ($45) and Georgia ($40) are among SEC schools that raised 2008 prices. But it's not just the actual ticket that costs fans if they want to see the best games. Eight SEC schools require a minimum donation in order to purchase season tickets, up from six schools in 1998. These donations are college football's scaled-down version of the personal seat license in the NFL: You can buy season tickets, but before you do it, it will cost you. And the more you donate, the better your seat. For instance, Florida charges only $224 for season tickets because purchasing them requires a $4,200 minimum donation. That means Florida fans are paying at least $632 per game, tops in the SEC and a 183 percent increase from 1998. Alabama charges $355 for season tickets and requires at least a $130 donation. To sit in better seats, there are minimum donation levels at $260, $390, $600, $1,300 and $3,250. At the very minimum, a Crimson Tide fan who wants season tickets will pay $69.29 per game in 2008. That's up 67 percent from a decade ago. Birmingham News 7/13/08

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/37152-college-football-conference-power-rankings-bcs-conferences With the season fast approaching, here is my look at how the conferences rank at the start of the season: 1. SEC: The numbers can do the talking for the SEC. The league has won three of the last five national championships, and in hindsight should have had another shot when Auburn was shut out of the BCS title game in 2004. Plus, the SEC has won all four of its BCS games the past two seasons by a combined score of 161-62. There is no shift in power going into this season as Florida and Georgia are on the short list of National Title contenders. LSU, Auburn, and Tennessee all have a good chance to win the conference as well. Top to bottom, it has the best coaches and is the deepest in terms of talent. No conference game in the SEC will be an easy out this year. 2. Big XII: The best quarterbacks are here this year. Five quarterbacks in the conference have a chance to be All-America: Sam Bradford, Chase Daniel, Colt McCoy, Todd Ressing, and Graham Harrell. Cody Hawkins and Zac Robinson aren't too bad either. A funny thing happened while Oklahoma and Texas were waiting for Nebraska and Texas A&M to get better. Missouri and Kansas surprised everyone last year and will make noise this year as well. Also, keep an eye on Texas Tech and Oklahoma State as both have the offense to make some noise. 3. Pac-10: For years, USC has been king of the mountain with everyone else looking up. However, last year Stanford and Oregon gave them a good shove but could not knock them down as the Trojans were back in the Rose Bowl beating up on another Big Ten team. This year Arizona State, with Rudy Carpenter at QB are the biggest threat to the Trojan throne and can make some noise on the national scene if they can knock of the Georgia Bulldogs on September 20. Oregon should have the best defense in the conference outside of USC and will be solid again, UCLA will only get better under Rick Neuheisel, and California and Oregon State are tough outs. 4. Big Ten: This year it is Ohio State and then everyone else. The Buckeyes are loaded and have another great chance of making it to another BCS title game. They can cement their position by taking out Southern Cal on September 13. Wisconsin is the next best team if they can find a suitable replacement at quarterback. Illinois will get better with QB Juice Williams and Ron Zook's recruiting. Penn State has some exciting playmakers and could be a contender if they can survive a tough road slate. Michigan will be fine under Rich Rodriguez, but won't challenge for the title this year. bleacherreport 7/12/08

http://www.eog.com/news/full-article.aspx?id=38384 Ever since he announced his retirement speculation has swirled regarding whether Brett Favre would actually stay retired. Fans and experts alike found it hard to believe given the sheer joy he played the game with and the fact that he had a remarkable year last season. With speculation and drama surrounding Favre's future at an all time high due to the fact that he supposedly expressed interest in playing again, the largest most successful sportsbook on the web, BetUS.com posted odds on the QB's future. "Brett Favre may well be the third greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL, and as such he will be missed dearly" stated BetUS.com spokesman Reed Richards. "Our expert oddsmakers felt it necessary to provide fans with a sense of closure, and some idea as to what he will be up to next." Oddsmakers at BetUS.com posted the following odds on Brett Favre's future: What will Brett Favre do next? eye on gambling 7/13/08

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8335678/Sources:-Favre-flip-flopped-before-draft It seems that Brett Favre isn't getting his way in Green Bay anymore. In the latest chapter of Favre's retirement/comeback saga, the Green Bay Packers legend asked the team for his unconditional release on Friday, but FOXSports.com has learned that the organization has no intention of granting that request. If anything, sources say, the team would be prepared to welcome Favre back as a backup to quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Why the hard line from the Packers? Because this is not the first time Favre has waffled on the issue, and the last time he did, the quarterback's uncertainty threw the Packers' draft preparation into turmoil. Here's how it went down: # Back in late March during the NFL owners meeting, Favre informed the Packers that he wanted to play again, multiple sources have told FOXSports.com. Not only did he insist he was returning, both head coach Mike McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson agreed that Favre still had something left to offer and they would welcome him back. Despite the fact that those close to Favre have stated Thompson did not want Favre back, Thompson's was the deciding vote in agreeing it was not too late to have him un-retire at that time and start for the Packers in 2008. # In fact, team brass went as far as chartering a jet to fly to Mississippi to make it official later that week. The agreement was that the NFL's all-time leading passer would return for the year but would play an active role in making the situation easier on Rodgers, who would now be pushed back an extra year before taking over. # The group was set for this huge move when Favre suddenly phoned the team two days before the meeting was to take place and informed McCarthy that he had changed his mind yet again and was staying retired. # While team officials were stunned by Favre's reversal, they made the decision to move on and draft his replacement, a move that Favre indicated he understood at the time. The Packers selected two quarterbacks in April's draft, Louisville's Brian Brohm in the second round and LSU's Matt Flynn in the seventh round. Foxsports.net 7/11/08