Mississippi State Receives $12 Million Gift For Football Operations Facility

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University announced the largest single donation in its athletic department’s history Wednesday, a gift that could start a building campaign that could top $100 million.

 A $12 million donation from the Seal Family Foundation of Gulfport, which is believed to be the largest athletics donation ever to a Mississippi university, bumped MSU’s fundraising total to more than $17 million for a new football operations facility. 

 Construction on the complex, estimated to cost between $20 million and $25 million, will not start until the end of the year at the earliest, athletic director Scott Stricklin said, and that’s “aggressively speaking.”

Also on the horizon: Possible expansion of the school’s football stadium, Scott Field, a topic discussed often by Stricklin and coach Dan Mullen over the last year.

Although Stricklin said the school hasn’t “really started soliciting any direct gifts for stadium expansion,” he has met with architects to discuss the project and has an idea of what it will cost.

Total costs for the separate projects “on parallel paths” could exceed $100 million, Stricklin said.

At 55,082 seats, Scott Field ranks 11th in size in the 12-team Southeastern Conference.

Last season, however, the Bulldogs sold more than 42,000 season tickets, a school record.

“I’ve been a big proponent of it and I know a lot of people are excited about stadium expansion, but I’m a big proponent of our fan base dictating stadium expansion,” Mullen said, reiterating Stricklin’s calls for patience and support.

Stricklin hopes to add 5,000 to 7,000 seats and also renovate concessions and the concourses at the stadium, although ticket sales and private donations will dictate just how fast State moves forward with those plans.

“I can promise you this, if we hit the 10,000 mark on the waiting list for season tickets, we’re going to start expanding the stadium,” Mullen said. “I’ll start pounding the fists to get that done.”

Stricklin said season ticket renewals are “about 2,000 tickets” ahead of last year’s pace.

MSU has sold out the last 10 games at Scott Field.

For now, MSU officials are concentrating on the football complex.

The building will be about 80,000-square feet and house a weight room, locker room, team meeting rooms and offices for coaches. It will be funded by donations collected by the Bulldog Club, the private fund-raising arm of the athletic department.

The $12 million donation came from twin brothers Lee and Leo Seal, the sons of Leo Seal Jr., the former president of Hancock Bank, who until his death in 2008 was a long-time contributor to MSU’s athletic department.

In artist renderings, the complex is referred to as the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex. State has worked with HNTB Architecture Inc. of Kansas City to draw up plans for the facility.

More than 35 families, Stricklin said, have donated money toward the project.

“If someone walked in tomorrow and cut a nice check for us, we might be ready by 2012,” he said.

Flanked by artist’s renderings of the two-level building, Mullen called it “the premier football facility in the Southeastern Conference,” during a news conference on the MSU campus.

The third-year coach said the complex had been discussed for the better part of two years.

“For us, we want to build off of the foundation and continue the growth and the path toward success that we’ve been on,” said Mullen, whose team capped last year’s nine-win season with a 52-14 victory over Michigan in the Gator Bowl. “And I think this certainly helps us to take that next step to being a consistent winner.”

The complex is expected to be built behind the Palmeiro Center, MSU’s indoor practice facility, and adjacent to the outdoor practice fields, which will also receive upgrades.