Tailgate spot wanted

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Originally Posted by Datt Meggs

There’s always an excuse for not attending a game at Cajun field. But these same people will do whatever they can to make it across the basin or find a tigger watch party on that same Saturday. Disgusting

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I don't think its the same people or you wouldn't have seen a dropoff because they would have already been on the other shore.

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Originally Posted by John Cocktolstoy

You are right but unfortunately, I think many on here are missing the boat as to why our tailgates aren’t packed any more. And it has nothing to do with where people park or people walking by empty parking spots and getting up set. It is not a parking thing at all.

The reason attendance is down today is because of 2 different incidents. If you look at the dates and the attendance decline I think you’ll find they coincide with one another.

The first one is the F DJT video that took place in the locker room. The video was bad enough. 18 - 22 year old misguided youth can be forgiven. But when Hud came out and basically called 60% of Louisiana a bunch of hypocrites because they voted for Trump and not Clinton that turned a lot of folks away that haven’t come back.

The next is when Billy’s team had the BLM (self proclaimed Marxist’s) march that ended at the police station that really p!$$€d some people off including the Lafayette PD. Several people have vowed to never come back after that incident.

Lafayette, like it or not, is one of the most conservative cities in America. You can’t do that kind of stuff and think it won’t have a lasting effect. Don’t believe me just ask Bud Light. I don’t know what the answer would be to get those people back but hopefully someone can figure it out.

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Maybe partially on those.

Another correlation would be the downturn in attendance corresponded to the downturn in the local offshore O&G market that started late 2014 into 2015. Disposable income for alot of local companies went way down at that time

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Originally Posted by John Cocktolstoy

You are right but unfortunately, I think many on here are missing the boat as to why our tailgates aren’t packed any more. And it has nothing to do with where people park or people walking by empty parking spots and getting up set. It is not a parking thing at all.

The reason attendance is down today is because of 2 different incidents. If you look at the dates and the attendance decline I think you’ll find they coincide with one another.

The first one is the F DJT video that took place in the locker room. The video was bad enough. 18 - 22 year old misguided youth can be forgiven. But when Hud came out and basically called 60% of Louisiana a bunch of hypocrites because they voted for Trump and not Clinton that turned a lot of folks away that haven’t come back.

The next is when Billy’s team had the BLM (self proclaimed Marxist’s) march that ended at the police station that really p!$$€d some people off including the Lafayette PD. Several people have vowed to never come back after that incident.

Lafayette, like it or not, is one of the most conservative cities in America. You can’t do that kind of stuff and think it won’t have a lasting effect. Don’t believe me just ask Bud Light. I don’t know what the answer would be to get those people back but hopefully someone can figure it out.

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Damn right.

Go woke, Go not to Cajun Field.

We should monetize the hell out of everything... except parking. Damn right, C4L. You said it best. Make it a party. Throw the doors open.

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Originally Posted by Louisiana84

We should monetize the hell out of everything... except parking. Damn right, C4L. You said it best. Make it a party. Throw the doors open.

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Exactly!!

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Originally Posted by KajunKrazy

If the lot would be open to general parking with a fee, what would be the principal?

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The principle is: we used to get a parking pass with our RCAF membership. Since they took the only perk that I used, I reduced my membership. This is because there was already most of Cajun Field empty at that time. Now there is even more because I believe a lot of people feel the same as I do.

Its simple supply and demand. There was not a supply problem. We always had plenty of parking area unused at Cajun Field. Now we have even more. I would completely understand going up or taking away the RCAF parking pass perk if there was not enough room for parking. But that is not the case.

Again, supply and demand. We were one of the 1st groups in line during the Bustle days when they started charging for tailgating. At that time, it was a fight each week to get the spot that we wanted to tailgate. The demand was high. Now, not so much.

I dont have the exact numbers but I would be willing to be that RCAF memberships have dropped in total. Have no idea if the RCAF revenue is up or down.

This shouldn't be that hard. Passes are $60, or $10/game. You don't want to buy a whole season pass? Fine, but single games are $20.

The question is how to manage the parking lots filling up. Again, easy...you put a disclaimer on there that says "if you haven't entered the parking lot 45 minutes before game time, your spot is not guaranteed and no refunds will be given."

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Originally Posted by RedTails

It won't. If there even is a small subset of "fans" that are claiming those two incidents as to why they have pulled support, I fully believe that it's merely a convenient excuse for them to stay home and watch the game on ESPN+.

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COVID + ESPN+ has made it easy to stay home, barbecue and get Cajun Sports for 10 bucks a month.

The other opinions are valid. But COVID forced people to stay home in 2020.

We never recovered

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Originally Posted by JayWalker

COVID + ESPN+ has made it easy to stay home, barbecue and get Cajun Sports for 10 bucks a month.

The other opinions are valid. But COVID forced people to stay home in 2020.

We never recovered

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https://www.d1ticker.com/2022-fbs-attendance-trends/

Interesting data here. We had the largest drop attendance between 2021 and 2022 in any school in FBS. We have the 7th largest drop compared to 5 year attendance average (which, the 5 year numbers are abnormal based on the covid year, but still worth something for trend tracking).

It wouldn't make sense to say that the drop from 2021 to 2022 had something to do with covid (2020), FDJT videos (20...17?), or BLM (2020).

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Originally Posted by BabbForHeisman

https://www.d1ticker.com/2022-fbs-attendance-trends/

Interesting data here. We had the largest drop attendance between 2021 and 2022 in any school in FBS. We have the 7th largest drop compared to 5 year attendance average (which, the 5 year numbers are abnormal based on the covid year, but still worth something for trend tracking).

It wouldn't make sense to say that the drop from 2021 to 2022 had something to do with covid (2020), FDJT videos (20...17?), or BLM (2020).

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Of course it makes sense. Compare 2019 to 2021. 2021 was our best year ever. Then we lost our coach… And a ton of players… Which precipitated another decline.

Other schools survived Covid plus television. We have not.

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Originally Posted by JayWalker

COVID + ESPN+ has made it easy to stay home, barbecue and get Cajun Sports for 10 bucks a month.

The other opinions are valid. But COVID forced people to stay home in 2020.

We never recovered

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You would know better than me as you travel with the team. How did the rest of the league recover from covid. Were most able to bounce back to pre covid numbers or are they experiencing the same. I know App st from the facebook page are always listing sell outs. They were in the same covid boats. How about the rest?

We need to stop worrying about people tailgating and not coming inside the stadium. At every school there are people that do this and that's their prerogative, we need to stop trying to police every aspect of gameday. Having a bigger tailgate crowd will draw more people to attend tailgating and/or the game. When an event looks to be underattended the avg person will keep on driving. When an event looks to be well attended the avg person will be intrigued and attend.

I'm totally fine with a small area of the parking lot being available for first come-first serve to non-RCAF or season ticket holders. Make tailgating more accessible, make parking a tad bit more friendly for the casual fans and I believe you see better attendance as a whole. Perhaps not a sold out stadium but it should be better.

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Originally Posted by KajunKrazy

You would know better than me as you travel with the team. How did the rest of the league recover from covid. Were most able to bounce back to pre covid numbers or are they experiencing the same. I know App st from the facebook page are always listing sell outs. They were in the same covid boats. How about the rest?

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In my opinion, we have been hurt more by that than any other team in the league. I think the reasons are twofold… Our Fanbase is not as passionate as some other schools… Combine that with a stadium that has absolutely no amenities whatsoever and you’ve got a lot of reason to stay home.

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Originally Posted by JayWalker

Of course it makes sense. Compare 2019 to 2021. 2021 was our best year ever. Then we lost our coach… And a ton of players… Which precipitated another decline.

Other schools survived Covid plus television. We have not.

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Correct. COVID did a number on attendance. Then, Billy gutted the program with NIL and the Portal helping with the plunder.

The miracle is that we made a Bowl game last year. The next miracle will be getting back to 10 wins and 20k+ avg. attendance with a new stadium.

Not many people see it, but I do. We are on the precipice of a Cajun revival. What Martin Hall has to do is not F this up with harassment or overpricing of students or fans.

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Originally Posted by BananaHammock

... Having a bigger tailgate crowd will draw more people to attend tailgating and/or the game. When an event looks to be underattended the avg person will keep on driving. When an event looks to be well attended the avg person will be intrigued and attend.

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Which is why, I hope the upper deck is quickly filled.

I feel as you do besides parking, for decades passers by have looked at a mostly empty upper deck so their perception is sort of "nothing worth seeing."

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Originally Posted by SMD7636

“The next is when Billy’s team had the BLM (self proclaimed Marxist’s) march that ended at the police station that really p!$$€d some people off including the Lafayette PD. Several people have vowed to never come back after that incident.”

Should this new football team & coaches have a law enforcement appreciation day similar to military appreciation day? Would this help to bring back those disgruntled fans?

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People forget that this F the Police March was led by the team captain of the basketball team.

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Originally Posted by JayWalker

Of course it makes sense. Compare 2019 to 2021. 2021 was our best year ever. Then we lost our coach… And a ton of players… Which precipitated another decline.

Other schools survived Covid plus television. We have not.

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If others were able to “survive Covid” but UL was not, even though we were all in the same boat, that would make Covid the scapegoat and not the actual reason. That’s an easy out and any administration that would say attendance is down due to Covid, while others are selling out, has their head in the sand.

Maybe the reason is because the in game experience has been horrible the last few years from concession lines to concession choices I could go on and on. That’s why only the die hard show up.

To the admin don’t look to Covid for your answer as to why crowds are down. In the mirror is where you will find your answer.

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

People forget that this F the Police March was led by the team captain of the basketball team.

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Not the one I saw.

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Originally Posted by JayWalker

In my opinion, we have been hurt more by that than any other team in the league. I think the reasons are twofold… Our Fanbase is not as passionate as some other schools… Combine that with a stadium that has absolutely no amenities whatsoever and you’ve got a lot of reason to stay home.

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You are correct about the antiquated stadium. IMO people will come back to games out of curiosity to see the new stadium once completed. It will be very important everything goes well and makes them want to come back.

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Originally Posted by KajunKrazy

You are correct about the antiquated stadium. IMO people will come back to games out of curiosity to see the new stadium once completed. It will be very important everything goes well and makes them want to come back.

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This will be huge. We are our worst enemy majority of the time.

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Originally Posted by Turbine

Which is why, I hope the upper deck is quickly filled.

I feel as you do besides parking, for decades passers by have looked at a mostly empty upper deck so their perception is sort of "nothing worth seeing."

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I can understand your point with the upper deck and I do believe there is credence to that argument. Even in our best years of attendance the upper deck wasn't really very full (from what I can recall) but the tailgating area and parking was seemingly full.

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Originally Posted by Turbine

Which is why, I hope the upper deck is quickly filled.

I feel as you do besides parking, for decades passers by have looked at a mostly empty upper deck so their perception is sort of "nothing worth seeing."

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There soon wont be an upperdeck ever again.

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Originally Posted by crazycajun

There soon wont be an upperdeck ever again.

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Thank you, Baby Jesus!

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Originally Posted by crazycajun

There soon wont be an upperdeck ever again.

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Be prepared for one. Will house club level and suites. Just a lower profile.

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Originally Posted by BeauCajun

Be prepared for one. Will house club level and suites. Just a lower profile.

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I meant your usual cheap seats nobody ever sits in upperdeck. The club and suites will look great from the road.