You're right about the 42k not being "all UL"... but Cajungrad06 just pointed out something that clearly refutes your "we are not special" clause (he didn't do it intentionally... he only gets stoked about Tech/CUSA stuff). The prior NO Bowl contests had an opponent that helped bring fans. Our NO Bowl did not. We (UL) attended that game exceptionally better than everyone prior, despite having a west coast team that both brought no one, but also didn't light up too many people's interest in seeing the matchup. If we had had a CUSA team, you could easily add 10k to the 42k.
The point someone was making is strictly that we will travel exceptionally better to New Orleans (or Mobile) than ULM. And that is a fact. I was in Monroe when NLU played in the D1AA national championship (their version of a bowl game). I went to the semi-final game at NLU. The biggest thing that had ever happened at that school. They announced 17,000. It felt like being at a high school game.
You can take it to the bank that UL is way more "special"... in a good way... than ULM.