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

[Cajunsmike]

I saw a ton of fans for UCF vs FAU. Just saying be great or be late. We all recall UCF from American South Conference or early SBC merger. Didn’t have a football team, and a crap baseball park.

UCF also won the Access Bowl last season and is strong again. If we get our program to that level, support will be fine. Anything leas may be only a moderate improvement.

[CajunRebel]

This is lame ___ ____ stuff here. I’m sorry, but that’s exactly what this is.

You want to compete even in the Sunbelt, you’ve got to raise money. Private donations to UL athletics continues to rise, so somebody is willing to pay at this point. Maybe there’s a point where people stop paying, and at that point, we need to seriously re-asses what we’re doing, but we’re still not towards the top of Sunbelt athletic budgets at this point.

The community will ultimately decide to what Athletic competitiveness they want UL to be. If monies start to remain static, then that means the community is ok with being a bottom G5 football program school that can boast baseball and softball as our pride and joy.

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.

[facelessjonmoon]

I’m actually going to agree here. During the Baldwin and early Bustle years, we still showed up because we thought with our close proximity to the other team, we could have an effect. I like to be on the very front row yelling. Whether it really made a difference or not, who knows. But from a student’s perspective, that “getting into the game” makes attending worth while rather than just drinking at an apparent watching other bigger games.

That was a nice tradition. I haven’t seen the same student involvement since they were moved to the corner TBH

Is there a Sunbelt policy keeping students from behind the visitors bench? That was the case for basketball if I’m not mistaken

[Ragin' Caleb]

That was a nice tradition. I haven’t seen the same student involvement since they were moved to the corner TBH

Is there a Sunbelt policy keeping students from behind the visitors bench? That was the case for basketball if I’m not mistaken

There's no policy against it. Purely made for other apparent fans or visitors who "needed"the space. I'd get it if we were selling out and they wanted to restrict us to that corner but it does hurt the involvement some

[Oiler]

I think Geaux speaks very directly and clearly. I have always said there are two ways to fill the stadium on a weekly basis:
1. Bring the big schools here...the Alabama's, Michigan's, UT's, and yes the LaSU's..etc.... people will fill the stand to see these teams play in Cajun field......do you remember TXA&M game?
2. Play those same big schools at their place and beat them. If we beat MSU and AL, then it wouldn't matter if we played Comeaux HS, the stands would be full to see the team that beat the AL's, Michigan's, LaSU's...

Though we didn't even have a "moral" victory against MSU, I"m so tired of moral victories. What are we now against the SEC, 0-46 (or something like that). Seems like every other team in the Sunbelt has had a victory against SEC schools. But not UL. And yet we feel like we deserve to be in another, bigger, better conference. Until we can dominate this conference, beat major universities (not a moral victory, but actual "W"), or raise enough money to buy our way into a bigger, better conference, the stands will be empty. People are tired of having to wait three years until .......

I hope Napier will turn this team around and get us to the promise land. I hope we can be the next Boise State. I hope we will get major conferences begging us to be a member someday, but until then, going to the games is not a priority. Though I sat in the raining stands for the Grambling game, I was not ready to do it twice.

I stayed home and watched it on ESPN+. And on that note, alternating QB's killed our momentum. It's time to make a stand and just play one....Nunez and use Lewis for special occasions. But this last part should be in another thread.

Eureka! All we have to do is schedule OOC home games with teams like Michigan, Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, and LSU to make our attendance problems vanish. For good measure, we might want to throw Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Ohio State in the mix as well. Why didn't someone think of doing this sooner?

[Ragin9221]

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.

I agree with this. There should be a happy medium when it comes to all of this.

[zephyr]

This is lame ___ ____ stuff here. I’m sorry, but that’s exactly what this is.

You want to compete even in the Sunbelt, you’ve got to raise money. Private donations to UL athletics continues to rise, so somebody is willing to pay at this point. Maybe there’s a point where people stop paying, and at that point, we need to seriously re-asses what we’re doing, but we’re still not towards the top of Sunbelt athletic budgets at this point.

The community will ultimately decide to what Athletic competitiveness they want UL to be. If monies start to remain static, then that means the community is ok with being a bottom G5 football program school that can boast baseball and softball as our pride and joy.

If there were that many unsold tailgating locations as he suggests, he is right. Three years ago we had a waiting list on these spots and if they are now going unpurchased and unused, the idea that the university is pricing itself out for these once high demand spots is accurate. I can tell you from my perspective it is getting harder and harder to justify the money I spend yearly for football and I've been doing this for about 15 years.

I would agree with you wholeheartedly with the exception that I don't think just because you are getting high level donations that you are guaranteed success. At some point, the fan has to feel that there is a relationship between what they are spending (donating) and the success of the team.

[Cajunologist]

didnt go bc I knew we would win

[Jacob81]

I don’t disagree with the argument of pricing out the casual fan, but I took my wife and 2 kids to the movies last night. Tickets,2 large popcorns, and 2 large drinks were $65.00. We stopped at Walgreens for candy and snuck it in. Life is just freakin expensive. You can either go out and enjoy it or keep your pasty, grumpy, _____ at home and live vicariously through your internet connection.

[BananaHammock]

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.

Sounds like one big as* excuse if you ask me. Why don't we make parking free, tailgating free and everything else free. The demand was there so raising prices was a logical decision. When people stop paying it then they will have to reconsider and maybe lower prices.

Seriously though, your argument is a case I always tell myself about the price of new vehicles. I _____ and moan about the price of them but apparently there are enough stupid people in this world buying them to justify the $50-70,000 price tag. They won't catch me paying that price but I must be in the minority....

[CajunRebel]

I don’t disagree with the argument of pricing out the casual fan, but I took my wife and 2 kids to the movies last night. Tickets,2 large popcorns, and 2 large drinks were $65.00. We stopped at Walgreens for candy and snuck it in. Life is just freakin expensive. You can either go out and enjoy it or keep your pasty, grumpy, _____ at home and live vicariously through your internet connection.

The goal for UL is to get those pasty grumpy ______ inside the damn stadium.

If you buy football tickets online it will cost you $140 for a family of four. Add $10 if you park, and add another $20-$30 if you don’t sneak food in. It gets expensive quick.

Is the product we’re putting out there worth over $150?

BTW I can buy tickets to the UL vs Alabama game next week for cheaper than that on StubHub.

To be fair, there are deals like the McDonalds 4 pack that make it much cheaper, but still.

[SMD7636]

I like the discussion going on here, but let me clarify my question.

Why did you stay home or just do something different?

I’m not referring to the fans out of state, out of country, etc. If you live in LA and didn’t go, WHY?

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