In his position, he canąt play favorites. But Billy Ferrante wonąt be unhappy if UL's football team, as predicted, wins the Sun Belt Conference title and becomes the league's representative in the New Orleans Bowl.

"That would obviously be a big boost for us," said the bowląs executive director during Tuesday's Sun Belt football Media Day activities.

"They're the closest football team in the league, and people here and in Lafayette have so many connections with each other. If you have a local team, you're obviously going to have local people involved and a bigger fan base."

It didn't hurt that Lafayette became an unexpected host city for last year's New Orleans Bowl, when Hurricane Katrina made the Louisiana Superdome unplayable and turned New Orleans into a city not ready for prime-time events.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com