Cajun Field Expansion ??

[Just1More]

_ Expanding Cajun Field is the absolute stupidest idea I've ever heard of.

Please tell me I'm not the only one here!

If anything we should reduce capacity by 10,000...

A good example to look at is Major League Soccer, whose teams average about 18,000 per game just like UL has for the past few years. Instead of building 50,000 seat stadiums hoping for a miracle to happen they have built really nice 22-25,000 seat stadiums. This creates a much more intimate setting. When you have 20,000 people in a 20,000 seat stadium the atmosphere is great. When you have 20,000 people in a 45,000 seat stadium you have a lot of empty seats and not a lot of atmosphere. Also it creates big demand for tickets which means you get tons more season ticket holders. This means more people paying for tickets for an entire season which means more tickets being purchased and a steadier source of income. And if we start to sell out every game consistently that's when we slowly expand. If we expand too quickly we lose season ticket holders because there is no need to buy them anymore when you can just walk up and buy them.

This is why the MLS team in Toronto won't expand their 21,000 seat stadium despite the fact they have sold out every game since they started playing.

This is also why Seattle's MLS team won't sell more than 28,000 tickets in the NFL stadium they play in even though they also sell out every game.

This is also why MLB teams have built smaller stadiums. Instead of spending $800 Million on huge stadiums they spent that money on making fewer seats more valuable by building nicer stadiums with intimate atmospheres.

Small, first-class facilities will create a high demand for seats. Spend that money making Cajun Field nicer and not bigger. There are a million things we need to improve! We have enough empty seats as it is. _

No. When you make major structural mods to a stadium like Cajun Field, and when you have the plan that we have in the works, you make the stadium seating expansion in conjunction with that new architecture. You phase it, but you definitely make mods to facilitate the easy off-season seating expansion. The predominant cost to our current modification plan is the press box/suites and the structural mods required to do so. This modernization/expansion is not being taken lightly. It isn't about how many people we "have seated" at Cajun Field. It is about the new ties to business and community that have been prescribed for decades. There is no relevance to the past 15 year attendance and what the new facility push has in mind. It is very similar to a business expansion. You don't talk about what you used to stock in the warehouse when you expand your business. The new warehouse expansion is being done in correlation to the new business venture. We are bringing an expanded clientel with the press box/suite rennovation. It is part of an "understanding" between the business people that are involved and are targeted to get involved.

You only need to have x amount on-hand, and only x amount of increased yearly "guarantees" to pay for the expansion. Part of RCAF is to establish a stable membership financial stream. It only currently constitutes a very small base of easily reached fans. The money coming in is far more powerful in banking and borrowing terms that some realize. Phase I has to promote and facilitate the new commitments that are coming into our athletic system. Once that has happened, we will... without a doubt... require the additional seating. Balancing the whole thing with increases in coaching salaries and required performance will drive the investments into wins, championships, bowls and more. If you play FBS, you either suck it up and do the heavy lifting... or you get stomped on.

The average participating fan talking about what is and isn't "practical"... does not understand why and how we have had so many habitual bad or less than spectacular seasons. You have to put forth a bold plan and seek new investors. UL cancelled a lot of faith in former willing Cajun participants. When you do what we did, you do not win folks back with marginal moves. We have to go extreme to rally our former friends to come back. The people that fear these fans are not "one of us"... are completely incorrect. They are Ragin Cajun hearted people that got shafted when they tried to help many years ago.

[Hardcore]

_ No. When you make major structural mods to a stadium like Cajun Field, and when you have the plan that we have in the works, you make the stadium seating expansion in conjunction with that new architecture. You phase it, but you definitely make mods to facilitate the easy off-season seating expansion. The predominant cost to our current modification plan is the press box/suites and the structural mods required to do so. This modernization/expansion is not being taken lightly. It isn't about how many people we "have seated" at Cajun Field. It is about the new ties to business and community that have been prescribed for decades. There is no relevance to the past 15 year attendance and what the new facility push has in mind. It is very similar to a business expansion. You don't talk about what you used to stock in the warehouse when you expand your business. The new warehouse expansion is being done in correlation to the new business venture. We are bringing an expanded clientel with the press box/suite rennovation. It is part of an "understanding" between the business people that are involved and are targeted to get involved.

You only need to have x amount on-hand, and only x amount of increased yearly "guarantees" to pay for the expansion. Part of RCAF is to establish a stable membership financial stream. It only currently constitutes a very small base of easily reached fans. The money coming in is far more powerful in banking and borrowing terms that some realize. Phase I has to promote and facilitate the new commitments that are coming into our athletic system. Once that has happened, we will... without a doubt... require the additional seating. Balancing the whole thing with increases in coaching salaries and required performance will drive the investments into wins, championships, bowls and more. If you play FBS, you either suck it up and do the heavy lifting... or you get stomped on.

The average participating fan talking about what is and isn't "practical"... does not understand why and how we have had so many habitual bad or less than spectacular seasons. You have to put forth a bold plan and seek new investors. UL cancelled a lot of faith in former willing Cajun participants. When you do what we did, you do not win folks back with marginal moves. We have to go extreme to rally our former friends to come back. The people that fear these fans are not "one of us"... are completely incorrect. They are Ragin Cajun hearted people that got shafted when they tried to help many years ago. _

AMEN

We must be forward-thinking! Everyone talks about "being a sleeping giant" and positioning ourselves for realignment if/when it occurs....this is how you go about doing it!

[RedBug58]

No. When you make major structural mods to a stadium like Cajun Field, and when you have the plan that we have in the works, you make the stadium seating expansion in conjunction with that new architecture. You phase it, but you definitely make mods to facilitate the easy off-season seating expansion. The predominant cost to our current modification plan is the press box/suites and the structural mods required to do so. This modernization/expansion is not being taken lightly. It isn't about how many people we "have seated" at Cajun Field. It is about the new ties to business and community that have been prescribed for decades. There is no relevance to the past 15 year attendance and what the new facility push has in mind. It is very similar to a business expansion. You don't talk about what you used to stock in the warehouse when you expand your business. The new warehouse expansion is being done in correlation to the new business venture. We are bringing an expanded clientel with the press box/suite rennovation. It is part of an "understanding" between the business people that are involved and are targeted to get involved.

You only need to have x amount on-hand, and only x amount of increased yearly "guarantees" to pay for the expansion. Part of RCAF is to establish a stable membership financial stream. It only currently constitutes a very small base of easily reached fans. The money coming in is far more powerful in banking and borrowing terms that some realize. Phase I has to promote and facilitate the new commitments that are coming into our athletic system. Once that has happened, we will... without a doubt... require the additional seating. Balancing the whole thing with increases in coaching salaries and required performance will drive the investments into wins, championships, bowls and more. If you play FBS, you either suck it up and do the heavy lifting... or you get stomped on.

The average participating fan talking about what is and isn't "practical"... does not understand why and how we have had so many habitual bad or less than spectacular seasons. You have to put forth a bold plan and seek new investors. UL cancelled a lot of faith in former willing Cajun participants. When you do what we did, you do not win folks back with marginal moves. We have to go extreme to rally our former friends to come back. The people that fear these fans are not "one of us"... are completely incorrect. They are Ragin Cajun hearted people that got shafted when they tried to help many years ago.

Thank You!!

[MiamiCajun32]

_ No. When you make major structural mods to a stadium like Cajun Field, and when you have the plan that we have in the works, you make the stadium seating expansion in conjunction with that new architecture. You phase it, but you definitely make mods to facilitate the easy off-season seating expansion. The predominant cost to our current modification plan is the press box/suites and the structural mods required to do so. This modernization/expansion is not being taken lightly. It isn't about how many people we "have seated" at Cajun Field. It is about the new ties to business and community that have been prescribed for decades. There is no relevance to the past 15 year attendance and what the new facility push has in mind. It is very similar to a business expansion. You don't talk about what you used to stock in the warehouse when you expand your business. The new warehouse expansion is being done in correlation to the new business venture. We are bringing an expanded clientel with the press box/suite rennovation. It is part of an "understanding" between the business people that are involved and are targeted to get involved.

You only need to have x amount on-hand, and only x amount of increased yearly "guarantees" to pay for the expansion. Part of RCAF is to establish a stable membership financial stream. It only currently constitutes a very small base of easily reached fans. The money coming in is far more powerful in banking and borrowing terms that some realize. Phase I has to promote and facilitate the new commitments that are coming into our athletic system. Once that has happened, we will... without a doubt... require the additional seating. Balancing the whole thing with increases in coaching salaries and required performance will drive the investments into wins, championships, bowls and more. If you play FBS, you either suck it up and do the heavy lifting... or you get stomped on.

The average participating fan talking about what is and isn't "practical"... does not understand why and how we have had so many habitual bad or less than spectacular seasons. You have to put forth a bold plan and seek new investors. UL cancelled a lot of faith in former willing Cajun participants. When you do what we did, you do not win folks back with marginal moves. We have to go extreme to rally our former friends to come back. The people that fear these fans are not "one of us"... are completely incorrect. They are Ragin Cajun hearted people that got shafted when they tried to help many years ago. _

The best post I have ever seen on raginpagin. Hopefully all this can happen.

[Cajunsmike]

_ The best post I have ever seen on raginpagin. Hopefully all this can happen. _

I agree that Just 1 More generated an excellent post. I especially liked the part about the average fan not understanding the lack of resources is why we have struggled. Of course is point about irritating donors being responsible for lack of resources is something that has always been an issue. Looking ahead, hopefully the guys who can move the needle will be back in the fold soon.

[HOUCajun]

_ I was President of the UL Houston Alumni Chapter for a couple years several years ago and we had a very active chapter with great attendance at our functions. We had an annual Chapter Event at the Polo Club attracting as many as 400 people with a band, silent auction, UL coaches as speakers, local Cajun restaurants providing food, etc. We had monthly meetings at the Ragin Cajun that were well attended. That was a few years ago. Things have changed as the Houston Alumni Chapter was fragmented. With approximately 4,000 alumni in the greater Houston area, it is sad that things have fallen so badly. It would certainly help to play a football game vs. Houston or Rice every year here in Houston, not only for alumni but for recruiting and university recognition. None of that happens, UL athletics have not been successful, and people have nothing locally to get them excited. That, plus the factions that I mentioned, have sadly left the Houston Alumni Chapter practically null and void. _

As a newly minted alum, the Houston Alumni functions really helped shape my perception of university. Great venues, food, bands, atmosphere, made you proud to be a USL Alum. I even made some beneficial business contacts at some of the happy hours.
I really miss those 1st class events!

[LSUTiger4RaginCajuns]

_ If you build it..... they will come..... _

Not true. At least not for Cajun Field. It is a very very nice complex that sorely needs more attendance.

[4LSU]

_ Not true. At least not for Cajun Field. It is a very very nice complex that sorely needs more attendance. _

I kinda think it's more along the line of: if you entertain them, they will come no matter what you build.

[Just1More]

_ I kinda think it's more along the line of: if you entertain them, they will come no matter what you build. _

It's everything being done in parallel... as is planned.

[rhineaux]

_ Hey ---I think everybody knows that you are the guy---tell Luke and tell the board what you need---and don't forget Mike the pirate---let's get it going again---how about a huge party near the end of Summer????? _

Stay Tuned...Already in the works

[4LSU]

_ It's everything being done in parallel... as is planned. _

Hey, that's great, but I was talkin' bout the quote and not making any statement bout any plans.

I will say, since you brought me into the discussion, that while I'm not any great business expert, I always thought you 1st had the demand for access to the product and with that demand in place you start to feed everything else from that demand. Just saying I don't know if anything runs parallel to demand, but what do I know...I'm but an average Joe.

Whatever the case, good luck in building the Cajun sports program into all that you want it to be.

[DestinCajun]

_ Hey, that's great, but I was talkin' bout the quote and not making any statement bout any plans.

I will say, since you brought me into the discussion, that while I'm not any great business expert, I always thought you 1st had the demand for access to the product and with that demand in place you start to feed everything else from that demand. Just saying I don't know if anything runs parallel to demand, but what do I know...I'm but an average Joe.

Whatever the case, good luck in building the Cajun sports program into all that you want it to be. _

Henceforth, anytime we plan any updates/additions/etc. at the UL athletic complex we'll call you. Be patient and just wait for the call.