Finally out in the open, UL season ticket sales marking gains

[NewsCopy]

The University of Louisiana has already surpassed its football season ticket sale of the 2005 season, still with more than a month remaining before its first home game.

That shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the Ragin' Cajuns had their most successful football season in over a decade last fall.

It also shouldn't come as a surprise that the great majority of those tickets are sold within only a few miles of Cajun Field.

UL interim athletic director David Walker said that, as of last Friday, the Cajun ticket office had sold a total of 5,805 season football tickets for the 2006 season.

That number is already over 600 above the final 2005 total of 5,276 sold season tickets, and Walker said this year's sales will increase prior to the Sept. 23 home opener against North Carolina A&T.

"We didn't set a number goal," Walker said, "but we wanted to continue to increase our numbers and we've been able to do that. Now we just need to sell as many as we possibly can before that first game."

Last year's 5,276 total was 417 higher than the previous year's 4,859 ticket sale.

"We've been able to show an increase," Walker said. "And they're still going briskly. I just talked to Shivaun (UL ticket manager Shivaun Bertrand) and she said they're still having people come in."

"We've been busy, nonstop," Bertrand said. "It's a great problem to have."

Bertrand's office in the Cajundome isn't far from UL's season ticket base. According to figures received from the UL ticket office, UL has 1,627 active ticket accounts for football, accounts which can include any number of actual tickets.

Of those 1,627 accounts, approximately 75.3 percent (1,224) have zip codes in Lafayette Parish.

The averages indicate that approximately 4,400 UL season football tickets sold so far have gone to individuals or businesses within Lafayette Parish.

Walker said that season tickets would be sold up to the Sept. 23 home opener, continuing after the Cajuns' first two road games at LSU on Sept. 2 and at Texas A&M on Sept. 9. UL has an open date on Sept. 16 prior to the annual Herbert Heymann Football Classic against N.C. A&T.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[1stTake]

Should be better.

[shof]

Should be better.

Agree; but lets face it. We are coming off our first winning season in a decade. It will take sustained excellence to get where we need to be. At least they are talking about sales now. So many of us have wondered how the drive was going but no info to be found. At least now we know. Hopefully a push from now thru the opener will get us closer to 7,000. I'll definitely make it in to town to use mine!

[ulforlife]

Agree; but lets face it. We are coming off our first winning season in a decade. It will take sustained excellence to get where we need to be. At least they are talking about sales now. So many of us have wondered how the drive was going but no info to be found. At least now we know. Hopefully a push from now thru the opener will get us closer to 7,000. I'll definitely make it in to town to use mine!

This is true! But don't forget my friends... Coming off a winning season with the ticket sales up knowing that this is posed to be the season everyone has been waiting for, next year should quickly be another step up. It's all beginning to come together!

Keep pushing your friends to purchase season tickets! They will never look back!

[JMV JustMyView]

Got my tickets...We should be able to reach 7000 tickets sales

[ATXCajun]

Got my tickets...We should be able to reach 7000 tickets sales

I would love some, but it is just not working out from over here in Austin. I'll be able to make one home game and at least two road games. Cheap entertainment. If I lived a little closer, I'd get that family pack. It's a steal. Still, I have flirted with the idea. The problem is that my visits to Louisiana are structured and I can't control which weekends I am there. This year, fortune has lined me up for the LSU and EMU games. I expect to go to the Houston game as well.

[shof]

I would love some, but it is just not working out from over here in Austin. I'll be able to make one home game and at least two road games. Cheap entertainment. If I lived a little closer, I'd get that family pack. It's a steal. Still, I have flirted with the idea. The problem is that my visits to Louisiana are structured and I can't control which weekends I am there. This year, fortune has lined me up for the LSU and EMU games. I expect to go to the Houston game as well.

I hear ya loud and clear here in SA. I may only make it to 2 or 3 home games this year; but my tickets will still get used by family and friends. I figured it was a good way to help out a little and get some butts in the seats. I enjoy my visits back to Lafayette; just wish I could get there more often.

[RedBug58]

Agree; but lets face it. We are coming off our first winning season in a decade. It will take sustained excellence to get where we need to be. At least they are talking about sales now. So many of us have wondered how the drive was going but no info to be found. At least now we know. Hopefully a push from now thru the opener will get us closer to 7,000. I'll definitely make it in to town to use mine!

First let me say that I work in the Oil Industry. What I see is that thousands of season tickets for the school to the East are purchased by Oil related businesses to help promote business with their customers. The school to the East is considered a "Hot Ticket". The Cajuns have never really been considered a "Hot Ticket". So all of the UL season tickets are purchased by individuals. With success on the field and more people going to the games, UL will start becoming a "Hot Ticket" and Oil related companies will then start buying them. Do not under estimate this market......it is huge. There is probably more of this kind of money in Lafayette than any where else in the state.

[TheRaginCajun06]

With close to 7,000 season tickets sold... you will have another 7,000 walk ups coming to the games.... 7,000 students and 4,000 out of town guests.... UL attendance 25,000.

I think this season will have some of the highest attendance records.

[HoustonCajun]

With close to 7,000 season tickets sold... you will have another 7,000 walk ups coming to the games.... 7,000 students and 4,000 out of town guests.... UL attendance 25,000.

I think this season will have some of the highest attendance records.

You know, I think if we get 40-50% of our student enrollment to attend games, we are doing great. That would be around 7,000 students per game. The problem is, we give them roughly 10-12,000 seats. I know the opposing team, finally, now sits on the student side, so that is maybe 3,000 - 5,000 seats. That still leaves over 5,000 seats that may not be filled.

I may stand corrected, but LSU for example only has about 9-10,000 seats for its students and that is 10% of the entire stadium and roughly 1/3 of its enrollment. Texas allows about 15,000 seats for its students, but has over 50,000 students, so roughly 1/3 of the students get to attend. Many more would very likely attend if they could get tickets. But neither LSU nor Texas will give up other revenue seats to accomodate students. Most of the other students either don't go or end up going with their families who already have season tickets. UL, on the other hand, gives 40-50% of its seats to its students and expects 75%+ of total student enrollment to attend. A lot of revenue is lost with this approach and too much is required of the students.

UL should put 50 yard line chair back seats on the student side of the stadium. Give the students 5,000 seats (roughly 1/3 of enrollment) on 1/3 of that side of the stadium. Sell the chair back seats and put general admission along with the opposing team seats. Overflow students can sit in the end zones and/or and general admission seats, if available. This will also create a much better atmosphere at Cajun Field when both lower decks are completely full.

If we make the ticket more valuable, it will be more cherished. We may be getting to a position, if we keep winning, of having more demand for seats and for season tickets. If so, it is imperative that we do something along the lines of what I recommended in order to accomodate more fans and increase attendance and, most importantly, increase revenue to grow our program.

[rhineaux]

You know, I think if we get 40-50% of our student enrollment to attend games, we are doing great. That would be around 7,000 students per game. The problem is, we give them roughly 10-12,000 seats. I know the opposing team, finally, now sits on the student side, so that is maybe 3,000 - 5,000 seats. That still leaves over 5,000 seats that may not be filled.

I may stand corrected, but LSU for example only has about 9-10,000 seats for its students and that is 10% of the entire stadium and roughly 1/3 of its enrollment. Texas allows about 15,000 seats for its students, but has over 50,000 students, so roughly 1/3 of the students get to attend. Many more would very likely attend if they could get tickets. But neither LSU nor Texas will give up other revenue seats to accomodate students. Most of the other students either don't go or end up going with their families who already have season tickets. UL, on the other hand, gives 40-50% of its seats to its students and expects 75%+ of total student enrollment to attend. A lot of revenue is lost with this approach and too much is required of the students.

UL should put 50 yard line chair back seats on the student side of the stadium. Give the students 5,000 seats (roughly 1/3 of enrollment) on 1/3 of that side of the stadium. Sell the chair back seats and put general admission along with the opposing team seats. Overflow students can sit in the end zones and/or and general admission seats, if available. This will also create a much better atmosphere at Cajun Field when both lower decks are completely full.

If we make the ticket more valuable, it will be more cherished. We may be getting to a position, if we keep winning, of having more demand for seats and for season tickets. If so, it is imperative that we do something along the lines of what I recommended in order to accomodate more fans and increase attendance and, most importantly, increase revenue to grow our program.

First of all, if you want to put chairbacks on the student side and make those seats desirable, you're gonna need to mix in a weedeater or a bottle of roundup every now and again to dress it up.

Secondly, I think it might be a little challenging to put regulars on that side with the reputation the student side has.

Not to mention, more winning means more students. So, when these seats start filling up more, and the ticket is more desirable, then start opening up a season ticket package just for students.

I think that Cajun Field is unique because the students are right on the opponents and right on the field, not stuck in some corner just so the school can make more money on those seats. I know that making money is big, but, I guaruntee that those players are feeding off of the students, who are yelling, screaming and chanting, standing up on the benches, and everything else, with the band alongside, than they are feeding from all of the older crowd sitting in their chairbacks across the field. It adds a ton to the atmosphere.

[TheRaginCajun06]

First of all, if you want to put chairbacks on the student side and make those seats desirable, you're gonna need to mix in a weedeater or a bottle of roundup every now and again to dress it up.

Secondly, I think it might be a little challenging to put regulars on that side with the reputation the student side has.

Not to mention, more winning means more students. So, when these seats start filling up more, and the ticket is more desirable, then start opening up a season ticket package just for students.

I think that Cajun Field is unique because the students are right on the opponents and right on the field, not stuck in some corner just so the school can make more money on those seats. I know that making money is big, but, I guaruntee that those players are feeding off of the students, who are yelling, screaming and chanting, standing up on the benches, and everything else, with the band alongside, than they are feeding from all of the older crowd sitting in their chairbacks across the field. It adds a ton to the atmosphere.

Oh I agree! I am always there in time to sit right on the 50 yard line and I have rarely ever sat anywhere but on the field. We scream at the players and get in their heads. It's an awesome idea by the University to put the students right there. We've been through a lot there and you can't take that away. If they want more seating at UL.... open the grass to seating.