I don't disagree with most of what you are suggesting above, but it takes two to get agreements done. Maggard is behind the ball because his predecessor didn't do his job. I dislike the mid-week games as well, playing a nationally televised game in an empty stadium damages your brand. They the only way to rectify the damage is to win.
The 6 home games mantra does not hold water. We already throw away a home game and screw the fans for 2 months in the middle of the season with the mid-week idiocy. We do that for TV money and brand exposure.
I say we accomplish the same thing in scheduling UP with the Non-Con schedule. P5 game = money and brand exposure.
If this school and the SBC as a whole really cared about the fans and growing fanbases and brands, they would tell ESPN to shove it with the mid-week games and encourage more P5 games to make up the difference. This would enable much more fan friendly home schedules and offer more opportunities to get quality wins.
I realize that I'm tilting at windmills here, but one day, people will see things my way.
Not playing Saturday home games in October is depressing. I know we had a couple last year after some down years but in recent history we have not. That's prime-time tailgating and game weather.
I’m 100% against mid week games. It does absolutely nothing for us. It helps raise the profile of the Sun Belt but kills individual programs. Give us 7pm kickoffs at home Saturday nights from mid September to mid November. Attendance would rise and perception around Acadiana would increase. We are selling our souls to the networks with minimal ROI. Produce our own content and sell it ourselves.
This deal with ESPN is not ours. It is a contract between the Sun Belt Conference and ESPN. We have no choice in the short term but to play when they tell us. Next time the contract comes up, it is perhaps something we can discuss. Not sure when that is. I imagine if we don't agree to some mid week games, they may drop the ESPN+ option which allows everyone to see all our games. Perhaps some type of middle ground could be reached whereas no team plays more than 2 mid week games and no more than 1 at home per season. Having 3 total (like we have this year) is quite a burden. We should start by offering no more than 1 a year and no more than 1 at home every other year for any team. That would force them to show more of the teams in the league. For this to change, we have to lobby the commissioner and folks in the conference office, not our administration.
This is just my opinion and I have stated it many times, but there is two ways to get 30k+ at every home game.
1. Play the Alabama's, LSU's, Notre Dame's, USC's......types at home. People will come in groves to see these teams at Cajun Field. (I'm not talking money here...that is another subject for another time.)
2. Play the Alabama's, LSU's, Notre Dame's, USC's......types at their stadium and beat the crap out of them. Not a moral victory, but a true butt whipping type of victory. Then you will get 30k+ no matter who you are playing, even if it is CHS.
I'm so tire of moral victories. They mean nothing. There is no reason in the world why the Cajun's can't start kicking butt of their opponents, even if the opponent happens to be in the SEC.
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