Why didn’t you go to LA Football game on Sat?

[Ragin' Caleb]

Dre, if they didn’t go it’s because the casual fan doesn’t care about Louisiana Athletics and they are not here.

Pretty much all it boils down to

[GreatestStory]

If every tailgating spot was sold and we packed Cajun Field every game I'd agree with you. But there are tons empty tailgating spots, empty parking spots, and seats at every game.

"Maybe there's a point where people stop paying"

Yeah, we found that spot at least 2 years ago.

Back when Bustle was here (and our team was not good) fans organically filled up every tailgating spot at Cajun Field. Once Hud came in, we started charging a couple hundred bucks and we still filled up every spot and had a waiting list. But now that it costs over $1,000 for a spot once you throw in season tickets and the RCAF donation, there are almost 70 spots unused. Not 2 or 3, SEVENTY!!!

This is LITERALLY pricing out fans. This is the free market speaking loud and clear. We are charging way too damn much for our product. People would fill those spots if prices were more reasonable. They'd actually buy parking passes if prices were more reasonable. They'd go to games if prices were more reasonable.

I know a lot of people who don't go to games anymore for these reasons.

Yes, the RCAF is making more money than ever, but cleary it is coming at the cost of lower attendance.

While I do agree with you that there are many more vacant spots, I think a lot of that has to do with it used to be cheaper to purchase a tailgating spot and park 2-3 vehicles on it than it was to buy individual parking spots for those same vehicles.

It was always a joke that half the tailgating spots were being purchased to park several vehicles with no intentions of actually tailgating.

Now that they fixed the issue, there are plenty of tailgating spots available for people who want to actually tailgate. Of the folks I know who tailgate, none of them have stopped due to the price increase of tailgating spots.

Regarding the original questioned of why we didn't go to the games: rain for the first two home games makes it difficult to bring my family. My wife and daughters don't really like sitting in the rain to watch football. I don't like sitting in the rain watching my family get wet while we get our azzes handed to us by teams we should beat.

[Kid Rock]

While I do agree with you that there are many more vacant spots, I think a lot of that has to do with it used to be cheaper to purchase a tailgating spot and park 2-3 vehicles on it than it was to buy individual parking spots for those same vehicles.

It was always a joke that half the tailgating spots were being purchased to park several vehicles with no intentions of actually tailgating.

Now that they fixed the issue, there are plenty of tailgating spots available for people who want to actually tailgate. Of the folks I know who tailgate, none of them have stopped due to the price increase of tailgating spots.

Regarding the original questioned of why we didn't go to the games: rain for the first two home games makes it difficult to bring my family. My wife and daughters don't really like sitting in the rain to watch football. I don't like sitting in the rain watching my family get wet while we get our azzes handed to us by teams we should beat.

My brother and I gave up our tailgating spots due to the increase of our patio baseball boxes. With the oil crunch and increase in Cajun athletics we can not afford it all.
First time in 15 years I had to park somewhere else and walk to game. They are pricing themselves out, make no mistake about it!

[CajunRebel]

Cars are being purchased and fans are going to games. Neither may be at the levels certain folks want but there are people buying.

Car makers are satisfied with their new car sales.

If our AD is satisfied with our attendance we need a new AD.

[Jacob81]

I purchased 1 season ticket along with family members as a part of a family 5 pack. My ticket for the year cost $88.00. My 2 kids have kid club passes for the year. If the weather is nice we all go and pay $10 to park. When it’s not nice they stay home and my wife drops me off. So when I’m alone I spend about $30 a game only because I like beer. If I take my family and for some reason have to buy my wife a ticket( which they aren’t hard to find for free) I could spend $100 with food and drinks. Is it a good chunk of change, yes. But does the cost really have to keep you from Cajun field? I don’t think so. If we were winning this would be a non issue. Oh and I brought a poncho with me which I sat on the whole game. It never drizzled hard enough to wet my shirt.

[Frenchie35]

Half of the problem is that we are quite literally pushing away the casual fan.

There are nearly 70 tailgate spots that didn’t get purchased this year. Pretty sure this even includes a ton of RV spots. There are also tons of empty parking spots in the RCAF parking lot. It has become so unbelievably expensive to participate that people are saying eff it and not showing up. That’s 70 spots that people would almost certainly buy if they were affordable. But nope, let’s keep charging $700 for them.

They are clearly signaling to the community that if you aren’t willing to hand over hundreds or thousands of dollars to the RCAF every year you aren’t welcome here. Instead you can pay $10, park in the mud, and walk a half mile to the stadium. It is a really horrible way to treat your fan base.

And all this comes while families are still struggling to recover from the recession.

We used to have a ton of tailgaters at our spot around Bustle’s last years. It was always really easy for them to get there. They showed up early, parked close to the spot, and enjoyed the day. Once they closed off Cajun Basin to only RCAF members about half of them immediately stopped coming.

But boy I bet those huge RCAF numbers will look great for Jim Harris when he jumps to another school.

Looking at the RV spots empty tells me that the big money spenders are not coming. Krewe de Chew is not what it use to be either. That area use to be packed not only with the Krewe members but also with visitors. The atmosphere is not there anymore.

[facelessjonmoon]

Looking at the RV spots empty tells me that the big money spenders are not coming. Krewe de Chew is not what it use to be either. That area use to be packed not only with the Krewe members but also with visitors. The atmosphere is not there anymore.

I'd be curious to know how many RV spots were actually unsold. When our group looked into moving RV spots before this season, there were only a couple available. General tailgating spots, I am not sure

As far as the empty RV spots go, there are a lot of factors that go into that. For the first game out of my group of 8 tickets/ people, I was the only one that went and used a ticket. This was mostly due to weather. Last weekend, they were all out of town. I was at both games myself, but our tailgating spot did not get used either weekend. It takes way too much time and effort to setup an RV spot by yourself. And those spots require an RV to be present. You can't just pop up a tent even if you bought or have access to the spot.Just an example


It would be nice if there was a secondary market (whether free or for a charge) for making these spots available to others if they are not going to be used

[anhil8tor]

Are we 100% sure that tailgating spots didn't sell out?

There are open spots around me but they are all paid for. Most only show up for Homecoming for whatever reason.

[Cajunsmike]

While I do agree with you that there are many more vacant spots, I think a lot of that has to do with it used to be cheaper to purchase a tailgating spot and park 2-3 vehicles on it than it was to buy individual parking spots for those same vehicles.

It was always a joke that half the tailgating spots were being purchased to park several vehicles with no intentions of actually tailgating.

Now that they fixed the issue, there are plenty of tailgating spots available for people who want to actually tailgate. Of the folks I know who tailgate, none of them have stopped due to the price increase of tailgating spots.

Regarding the original questioned of why we didn't go to the games: rain for the first two home games makes it difficult to bring my family. My wife and daughters don't really like sitting in the rain to watch football. I don't like sitting in the rain watching my family get wet while we get our azzes handed to us by teams we should beat.

Rain stopped right before kickoff in both games. Understand that the forecast was poor however. You could attend without family but that probably would not go well. I do that often. However I explained that would be the case before we said I Do's.

[CharlieK]

Are we 100% sure that tailgating spots didn't sell out?

There are open spots around me but they are all paid for. Most only show up for Homecoming for whatever reason.

We tailgaited for many years. Even when there was a waiting list a mile long, if it was even kind of raining the tailgaiting area was a ghost town.