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Curt Crissey, the owner of Rosey Baby and numerous convenience stores in Starkville, is offering the Mississippi State University Student Association his Cotton District business' parking space for Bulldog Bash spillover in an attempt to avoid a proposed move of the annual music festival to campus.

Crissey confirmed he offered space around Coconuts, his University Drive gas station, to MSUSA after the student government group announced earlier this month that it would move the iconic fall event to the university's amphitheater.

Crissey, along with university representatives and students, met at the business Monday and discussed how to fit a stage along the area, he said.

A preliminary logistics plan, he said, would place a stage at the intersection of University Drive and Nash Street and run the structure along the parking area in front of his store.

Bulldog Bash planners, he said, were open to the idea of locating the event at the property and will "provide a map of where the stage and equipment will go and how it will mesh with" his business and the intersection.

Crissey said the plan "was agreed to in principle" by Bulldog Bash organizers, but MSUSA President Roxanne Raven declined to comment on the offer Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, though, MSUSA issued a press release alluding to the agreement with Crissey as "unsubstantiated media reports."

"The (Student Association) is negotiating in good faith with city officials and the private sector to reach a mutually beneficial decision about the future of Bulldog Bash," the release states. "...When all parties are united and ready to move forward together, the MSUSA will make an announcement about this important student-driven event that is of such tremendous benefit to both the university and the community."

'It sounded like a done deal'

"They were very excited, and I'm definitely good with it. It sounded like a done deal unless they change their mind," Crissey said. "If it takes my property to keep the bash in town, I'm willing to do it. How it will affect my business? I don't know. It's a good festival and needs to happen in the Cotton District. I've been out of town, and this all came to me very quickly. The talk about moving it to campus? I said, 'No way if I can help out.'"

A final decision on the bash's location could be announced late this week or by Tuesday's board of aldermen meeting. That decision rests with Raven-led MSUSA, which uses a portion of Starkville's 2 percent food and beverage tax receipts to fund the event.

Agreements to use Cotton District space for VIP areas and staging grounds fell through because of issues with new development, she previously told The Dispatch, and alternate sites on Russell Street and in the downtown corridor could not accommodate a larger stage and other logistical demands.

Moving the event to the amphitheater, she previously said, would allow MSUSA to utilize a larger stage and attract a high-profile band.

"We had to make the decision between going after the biggest artist we can have and amping up the atmosphere or downsizing," she said earlier this month. "We were out there with measuring tape and experts for days trying to find the perfect location. If there was a way to make it work (in the Cotton District), I would have made it work."

Raven campaigned on moving Bash

Campaign material obtained by The Dispatch Tuesday from the last MSUSA election cycle show Raven's platform included "relocating Bulldog Bash to a larger venue."

A Feb. 2 letter written by Raven and published by The Reflector, MSU's student-run newspaper, also shows the then-candidate campaigned on "fighting to keep Bulldog Bash in a student-friendly location."

A budget approved by Starkville aldermen last summer shows the city projected a $358,000 allotment from 2 percent food and beverage tax to MSUSA for Fiscal Year 2016. The total increased to $390,000 when combined with $32,000 in surplus 2 percent funds from FY 2015.

Approximately $145,000 was earmarked then for Bulldog Bash, the approved budget states, while another $150,000 would go toward Music Maker Productions, a student group that procures bands for campus festivals and other performances.

Moving the annual event from its traditional Cotton District venue --the intersection of University Drive and Maxwell Street -- to campus and away from businesses could impact 2 percent returns since many area bars and restaurants keep their doors open to accommodate the crowd upward of 30,000 people.

Food and drink purchases inside Starkville's city limits incur an additional 2 percent tax on top of their 7 percent sales tax, and that levy supplements a number of tourism- and economic development-funding streams.

Alcohol sales are not permitted on MSU's campus.

Law mandates funding

State law enacting Starkville's 2 percent tax prevents the city from specifically setting budgets for the entities funded by the additional levy. Those organizations simply submit a fiscal year budget, and aldermen can either approve it or delay action.

Since MSUSA announced Bulldog Bash's move from the Cotton District, negotiations and meetings between student group representatives, university officials and city leaders were held, numerous sources confirmed, after aldermen and business owners said moving the event on campus could reduce its attendance and diminish one of Starkville's biggest tourism events.

MSUSA has not yet unveiled Bulldog Bash's fall date or musical lineup.