A Letter From Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell: Onward Now, You Cardinals!

Cardinal fans,

In approximately 48 hours from now, in what appears destined to be a PERFECT afternoon for football at Scheumann Stadium, I look forward to celebrating the start of our 100th football season. With a forecast of sunny skies and a high temperature of 68 degrees, our season opener will be the place to be on Saturday as we cheer on our Cardinals!

Sponsored by Army ROTC, Saturday's game at Scheumann will be the site of our enhanced gameday experience. In addition to tailgating, fans of all ages can enjoy a festive CharlieTown complete with the sounds of DJ Swan, a pep rally, interactive games, bounce houses, glitter tattoo artists, numerous photo opportunities for social media posts, and delicious food and beverage options! Food trucks from Neighborhood Pizza, The Food Vault, Ohana Donuts and Ice Cream, The Guardian Brewing Co., and The Clubhouse Muncie highlight the Mid-American Conference's best football pregame party.

Also new this year is CharlieTown Live, an on-site radio program on WMUN 92.5 FM from noon to 1 pm which will amplify coverage of gameday and will immediately precede our game broadcast.

And don't forget Cardinal Walk to greet the 2024 Ball State football team as they make their way to the stadium. Fans will enjoy the vibrant sounds of the Pride of Mid-America Marching Band to get primed and ready for kickoff while giving good luck high fives and fist bumps to the players and coaches!

But wait! There's more!

Revamped concessions inside the stadium await fans. An authentic gameday menu will be available at all concessions stands, and fans can now grab snacks and beer and alcohol at a single point-of-sale! No more will you have to stand in two lines for a hot dog and a beer. Clear signage will point you to the closest concession stand, and just wait until you see what we have in store in terms of food trucks inside the stadium!

In the southeast endzone, an oasis of portable food vendors will create a unique experience for fans to eat and drink and cheer on the Cardinals as fans can encourage the players and coaches as they take the field to start the game. Food trucks inside the stadium include Los Amores, Pappies Smokehouse, Payne's Fish and Chips, The Frozen Boulder/Dippin' Dots, and the new Ball State Beverage Truck. And then there's Parlor Doughnuts for fans who desire the perfect complement to the sweet taste of victory!

With the anticipation of the beginning of football season and with all our fall sports now underway, I must say the Ball State campus is full of spirit and camaraderie. To suggest I am excited to embark on our 2024-25 season is an understatement.

While our Cardinal teams compete, I am grateful for and proud of our progress over the last 18 months and am enthusiastic about our future growth. I am pleased to report that in this time frame we have invested more than $3.3 million in facility improvements that have made a positive impact on 12 of our sports. New playing surfaces and updated graphics across multiple venues and upgraded seating for an improved fan experience in Worthen Arena highlight some of the advancements we have made.

Looking ahead, we are within months of breaking ground on the $8 million Eric Foss Championship Performance Center, which will enhance our Worthen Arena venue in terms of modern design and functionality and will serve as a sparkling new laboratory for power and speed for our student-athletes to improve their strength and conditioning training.

We are re-making our track for our excellent track-and-field program, which has earned MAC and NCAA recognition the past three years. Similarly, we unveiled a new Taraflex playing surface for our championship caliber men's and women's volleyball teams in late August. The total cost for those projects equals approximately 2 million dollars.

We are making progress due in large part because we are operating from a position of strength as an institution. This is a positive position from which to compete as higher education and intercollegiate athletics undergo a period of significant change. As we encourage our talented student-athletes to get bigger, faster, and stronger, we must also reach higher, further, and become more efficient as a respected institution of higher learning and as a successful Division-I FBS athletics department.

From the grassroots, widespread fundraising support on One Ball State Day each spring to gifts for individual facility projects to general pride in Ball State Athletics, our programs and student-athletes truly benefit from one the best campus environments in the Mid-American Conference. Our campus is beautiful. Our athletics venues are tremendous. Our network of support - from collaborative campus partners to our generous donors – is vast by most MAC comparisons, and our successes reflect it.

As we start this new season, I am grateful for your support of Ball State and its athletics program. I invite you to join us as often as you can at home events and on the road and please help us in our mission to develop winners and leaders. Please buy season tickets, attend games, give generously to the Cardinal Varsity Club, and invite other alumni, friends, and fans to do the same. We are an athletics program that is easy to cheer for and one that makes you proud.

Onward now, you Cardinals. Let's have a great year ahead!

Chirp! Chirp!

Jeff

JEFF MITCHELL
Director of Athletics
Ball State University

A Letter From Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell: Onward Now, You Cardinals!

Related Videos