Each game day weekend, Ole Miss fans from near and far pour into Oxford, The Grove and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to support the Rebels. While some may complain about the long lines at bars and restaurants and the horrendous traffic, this influx of fans puts significantly more money into the pockets of local Oxford businesses.
“College football impacts Oxford in several ways. If we think about home football weekends in Oxford, a full stadium seats more than 60,000 people,” Chair of the Department of Economics Joshua Robert Hendrickson said. “Yet, the city of Oxford only has a population of around 26,000 or 27,000 people. Even including the student population that isn’t considered as part of the year-round population, this means that the number of people in Oxford more than doubles on these weekends.”
For many, the doubled population on game days makes navigating Oxford’s streets and finding parking an extreme sport. Kenny Ferris, executive director of Visit Oxford, echoed Hendrickson’s thoughts.
“The city and university population is just under 50,000 each day, but we estimate that number grows by an additional 200,000 on game weekends,” Ferris said. “Our overall Oxford hotel occupancy was 91% for the weekend of the LSU game, and our food/beverage operators saw an increase in reservations and guests.”
That increase in business activity extends beyond hotels and restaurants.
“People who make the trip are also likely to visit local grocery stores, shops on the Square and other retailers,” Henrickson said.
Lauren Grimes, general manager of Big Bad Breakfast, noted a significant increase in sales from both food and merchandise.
“We definitely see larger crowds during home games,” Grimes said. “100+ more with significant boost in our sales not only from guests dining with us but guests enjoying drinks/coffee and purchasing merchandise while they are on our waitlist.”
Hudson McGhee, owner of Oxford Creamery located on the Square, agrees: “Football game weekends are some of the biggest weekends of the year for us as a business on the Square. It is a fun experience for us to get to meet a lot of new people that come into the creamery, but we also get to serve our out-of-town regulars who always come see us every time they are in town for games.”
McGhee explained that business is typically slow during the actual game day, but the general increase in foot traffic throughout the weekend has a major impact on their business.
“Ice cream is often an impulse buy, so having the vast majority of people that come into town walking around the Square helps us in a big way,” McGhee said. “Everyone has a plan to go to the Grove and the game, and the Square is almost completely abandoned during game time. So we see Friday and Sunday being the biggest days for us by far.”
Lyn Roberts, general manager of Square Books, agreed that game day weekends increase the number of customers.
“We definitely see a bigger crowd of people come into the store on big event weekends, especially football games,” Roberts said. “They love to come by, grab a coffee, chat a bit and usually walk out with a book or two.”
Businesses in nearby towns also enjoy a boost in business on home game weekends.
Leighton McCool, owner of Lost Dog Coffee, located 20 minutes from Oxford in Taylor, Miss., noted that the entire Plein Air neighborhood benefits.
“It really is a game-changer for us,” McCool said. “It brings the entire family of the students to check out our coffee shop and the Plein Air neighborhood. While they’re out here, sometimes they’ll even buy a house.”
Not only do football weekends have an immediate economic impact on the Oxford community, they also have a powerful long-term effect.
“Football weekends are a significant economic driver to our community in dollars and cents but also as an advertising tool on a nationally televised game, which encourages new visitors and repeat visitors,” Ferris said.
