Missouri State grapples with falling athletic revenues

The scoreboard at JQH Arena has not been flashing dollar signs, prompting Missouri State University athletics department officials to seek a new coach for its Lady Bears basketball team.

After six seasons of steadily declining home-game attendance and season ticket sales, MSU last month terminated the contract of women’s basketball coach Nyla Milleson.

In her second season, the Lady Bears moved into the $30 million, 11,000-seat JQH Arena, a facility constructed with the hopes of hosting NCAA women’s basketball tournament games. Despite the fancy new arena, attendance and season ticket sales dropped each year during Milleson’s tenure.

MSU Athletics Director Kyle Moats said the decision to fire Milleson was based on four factors and each related to the basketball brand the school is selling: winning percentage; attendance and season ticket sales; player development; and team chemistry.

While the Lady Bears won 55 percent of the games under Milleson, season ticket revenues dropped to $278,121 this season from $720,365 in 2007–08, a decline of 61 percent. Fewer than 1,500 season tickets sold in the 2012–13 season, down from sales of 3,500 season tickets in the 2007–08 season for the program that lays claim to two NCAA Final Four appearances, most recently in 2001.

Average home game attendance also dropped every year under Milleson. In 14 home games in 2008, MSU recorded an average attendance of 5,086. In 14 home games this season, average attendance was 2,606, a 49 percent drop.

Just two seasons ago, Milleson returned the Lady Bears to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference in the regular season, but a loss in MVC post-season play cost the squad an NCAA tournament bid. The team finished the 2011–12 season 24-9, matching the school’s ninth-best single-season win total in the program’s 44-year history. In her final season, the Lady Bears were 14-17, and Milleson’s career record at MSU was 105-87.

Before coaching MSU, the Goodland, Kan., native served seven-year stints as head coach of Drury University and Glendale High School. Milleson recorded six 20-win seasons at both schools.

Considering the five-year contract extension Milleson signed with MSU in 2010, the school offered a $140,000 buyout for the remaining two years. Milleson had earned a $140,000 annual salary, with a potential ceiling of $417,500 via victory and attendance benchmarks.

Moats said the school is searching for candidates nationwide, but he declined to say whether the school had any finalists or provide a timeframe for making a decision.

“Your product has to be a good one,” Moats said, citing the four areas in which Milleson was evaluated as hiring criteria. “That’s first and foremost because if your product is not good, it is going to be awfully hard to promote and price things like season tickets. It is all intertwined. The first thing you have to have is a good product.”[[In-content Ad]]