The Basketball Conversation 2021

[ManAboutTown]

Maybe that is a good idea. The Cajundome costs the city a large amount of $$$ annually. If UL could/would take it AND be able to not lose money with it AND be able to control ticket costs better I would consider it a no brainer.

We don’t have the staff to handle what we have now. I just can’t envision a scenario where they take on even more responsibility now or in the near future. MBB doesn’t make money.

[moorecajun]

Multiple reasons. We don’t control scheduling. We’re at the whim of CD events. We can’t sell advertising, hence can’t make money off of ads. We don’t control concessions and I don’t think make more than 50% of the revenue on concessions. The building is consistently at 20% capacity and for all the business people in here, a thriving business has to make a certain amount of money per square foot to churn a profit. The energy costs alone might be reason to down size. The environment, even at 50% capacity (which is really is) is severely lacking. It’s not a UL property so can never renegotiate who handles ticketing as long as the CD is using them. (And no hint of that changing anytime soon.)

I can go on, but those are most glaring issues.

Again, having a nice car means absolutely nothing if you can’t afford the gas to drive it.

I might be wrong on this, but I think we (UL) did handle ticketing not too long ago but had a very hard time getting things synced up and running well. That is how Ticket Master came on board.

[Turbine]

And why would the city allow that? It’s a great deal for the CD. They’re fleecing MBB.

UL would have to wait for the current contract with the city to expire before they could take over operations of the building they own.

[Turbine]

There has to be purchaseable concert ticket selling software on the market that can be converted to athletic events.

GitHub has developers that will write the program for you. CajunFun use to have developers working at UL Today. It can be done.

Louisiana can make way more money than they are selling online tickets for way less.

Here is one
https://www.attendstar.com/event-spe...ting-software/

[CajunEXPRESS]

No I am not. It is only my opinion from walking around under the stands when they had the last "special" game there. The architecture is also very dated and does not complement the look of other athletic facilities. The location is detached from Cajun field, baseball, Softball and the rest of the athletic facilities. Again I realize that some on here lived out some memories there, but to most of us passing on Johnston Street, it is just a sad looking eyesore from long gone days. As stated in the podcast, the Cajun Dome is a good recruiting tool. But all of this is my opinion. BTW, I was a season ticket holder for many years, and the dome rocked when Jesse was there. (Yes I'm aware of all of the issues back then)

Fish, Mrs Express and I were at Blackham in the glory days. We’d get there 1.5 hours early to be squeezed like sardines onto flimsy bleachers. The single best time ever at then USL.

Those days are gone, and almost forgotten. That facility was built for 4H cow shows not 21st century basketball.

We need to fill the Dome. It rocked against UNO and Tim Floyd, Arrow and USA in championship. Tommy Joe Eagles and his LoTech boys. It rocked when Penny Hardaway kick our rear ends with Memphis Tigers, and U Mass. it’s never going to rock for West Florida.

[Turbine]

More than one MBB game a year at Blackham would be too many.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I'm no expert, but I can't see how remodeling would cost more if the structure is sound.
Gut the inside and there would be plenty of space for 5k seats, suites, widened, modern concourse and restrooms.
The outside would just need some new panelling and paint with improved parking areas.

There’s no room for concourse. We had a 12’ ground level isle under the seating. The current seats is probably not more than 5500

To configure with fire codes, plumbing, heating and AC, electrical we might be at 4500.

[CajunEXPRESS]

There’s no deal that the university can strike with the city that would be better or more profitable than playing in a university owned property.

We own the property. We just have a bad contract with the city/parish. Contracts are made to be restructured.