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Don't look now, but the New Orleans Bowl is coming together right under your noses.
Executive Director Billy Ferrante said the bowl game has someone working in Lafayette five days a week, and that several of the bowl staff members are now in town two to three days every week.
The entire bowl staff will be in the city after Dec. 1.
"We know where and when all our functions will be," Ferrante said this week. "It's only a matter of working out some details. We've had meetings with several local sponsors and we've received a tremendous amount of support."
The Dec. 20 game's shift to the University of Louisiana's Cajun Field after Hurricane Katrina ravaged its Superdome home has created many changes.
Now, the New Orleans Bowl even has a revised logo with "at Lafayette" added, and instead of those ESPN cutaway shots showing Bourbon Street, cable cars and Cafe du Monde, the national broadcast of the game will show crawfish boils, zydeco dancing and Cajun joie de vivre.
And it's here for a reason, Ferrante said.
"We found a community in Lafayette that offers very similar types of entertainment amenities as New Orleans," he said. "You'll see a lot of the same special events surrounding the game with a local Lafayette flavor. We've got player parties, VIP functions, luncheons and a huge tailgate party."
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
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The bowl, sponsored by the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, pits the Sun Belt Conference champion against one of the bowl-eligible teams from Conference USA.
Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation President and CEO Jay Cicero said it was important to keep the event in Louisiana.
"We want to use the broadcast as a vehicle to show how great Lafayette is, and also to show that Louisiana and New Orleans are coming back," he said.
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