Cajuns Football 2022 Record

[LouisianaB]

Be careful. There's already been a thread about how television affects attendance. And, the argument was it doesn't. Evidence means nothing to those folks.

In reality, it's the biggest reason attendance is down. By a wide margin.

I think it’s deeper than that. It’s a societal thing. Almost nobody I know that went to games religiously in the past even watch the games these days. They stay up to date on how the team is doing (probably through articles in social media), but they don’t watch the games. It’s an attention thing. People can’t stay still for more than a few hours and watch a game unless it’s extremely important or is talked about extensively (see Super Bowl, CFP, LSU v Bama, etc).

[ManAboutTown]

Multi-pronged answer.

1) TV hurts crowds
2) Attendance is down across the country.
3) Cost is keeping families away. This has been a trend for a decade.
4) People have soured on the professionalization of collegiate athletics.
5) It’s been proven time and time again that Gen Z & Millennials do not love sports like the 3 previous generations did.
6) More classes are online, more students are transient and less connected to the universities they attend.
8) Game Day at CajunField is boring, repeated awful concession experiences, hot af and poorly run by event staff in general.

We just completed the most successful 3 year stretch in our history, had a coach hired away to a top P5 SEC school, won a conference championship game in our home stadium on national TV, and enjoyed unprecedented national coverage with being ranked and beating a ranked Fiesta Bowl participant. How did we capitalize on that? What exactly did we do to energize our fanbase?

To this point, it feels like 2014 all over again.

[Balanced_view]

Multi-pronged answer.

1) TV hurts crowds
2) Attendance is down across the country.
3) Cost is keeping families away. This has been a trend for a decade.
4) People have soured on the professionalization of collegiate athletics.
5) It’s been proven time and time again that Gen Z & Millennials do not love sports like the 3 previous generations did.
6) More classes are online, more students are transient and less connected to the universities they attend.
8) Game Day at CajunField is boring, repeated awful concession experiences, hot af and poorly run by event staff in general.

We just completed the most successful 3 year stretch in our history, had a coach hired away to a top P5 SEC school, won a conference championship game in our home stadium on national TV, and enjoyed unprecedented national coverage with being ranked and beating a ranked Fiesta Bowl participant. How did we capitalize on that? What exactly did we do to energize our fanbase?

To this point, it feels like 2014 all over again.

you left out, there is a generations worth of fans gap within the base. you dont just make that up over a 2/3 year period. i like to believe what these last 4 years have done is start building a new and larger size fan base among the 18 and under age group. unfortunately, we wont see the fruit of those for some years.

[JMV JustMyView]

Multi-pronged answer.

1) TV hurts crowds
2) Attendance is down across the country.
3) Cost is keeping families away. This has been a trend for a decade.
4) People have soured on the professionalization of collegiate athletics.
5) It’s been proven time and time again that Gen Z & Millennials do not love sports like the 3 previous generations did.
6) More classes are online, more students are transient and less connected to the universities they attend.
8) Game Day at CajunField is boring, repeated awful concession experiences, hot af and poorly run by event staff in general.

We just completed the most successful 3 year stretch in our history, had a coach hired away to a top P5 SEC school, won a conference championship game in our home stadium on national TV, and enjoyed unprecedented national coverage with being ranked and beating a ranked Fiesta Bowl participant. How did we capitalize on that? What exactly did we do to energize our fanbase?

To this point, it feels like 2014 all over again.

The same happened when the Cajun baseball team went back to back in the Supers. They never took advantage of that success.

[NOCajun]

Steele has it 130 of 131

Athlon Southeastern has us at #79 and we win the Western Division again.

#cULture
#WeAreLouisiana
#GeauxCajuns
#SunBeltChampions

[moorecajun]

Multi-pronged answer.

1) TV hurts crowds
2) Attendance is down across the country.
3) Cost is keeping families away. This has been a trend for a decade.
4) People have soured on the professionalization of collegiate athletics.
5) It’s been proven time and time again that Gen Z & Millennials do not love sports like the 3 previous generations did.
6) More classes are online, more students are transient and less connected to the universities they attend.
8) Game Day at CajunField is boring, repeated awful concession experiences, hot af and poorly run by event staff in general.

We just completed the most successful 3 year stretch in our history, had a coach hired away to a top P5 SEC school, won a conference championship game in our home stadium on national TV, and enjoyed unprecedented national coverage with being ranked and beating a ranked Fiesta Bowl participant. How did we capitalize on that? What exactly did we do to energize our fanbase?

To this point, it feels like 2014 all over again.

So, I agree with 1-5, 6 somewhat, and 8. Not sure how I feel about 7

My question here is, with 1-5 being stacked against us, and I suppose most schools, what can be done to "capitalize" on our success? Free admission, free beer and food?

Offering families a very affordable ticket option (which they already do) should get them into the game. Concessions are a big problem, and probably always will while there is a concessionare to run things. Having local concessions is a big step up but I don't know if we will ever see it.

[Turbine]

... We just completed the most successful 3 year stretch in our history, had a coach hired away to a top P5 SEC school, won a conference championship game in our home stadium on national TV, and enjoyed unprecedented national coverage with being ranked and beating a ranked Fiesta Bowl participant. How did we capitalize on that? What exactly did we do to energize our fanbase?... .

Going into the 2022 season, they have 46 days to show some ingenuity.

[Atown cajun]

Being that the sunbelt and MAC will probably have two mid week game slots in the future, I don’t see the average crowd numbers increasing.

[JamesTheJeweler]

Man I’ve tried my damnedest to get people to come back that used to attend during the hud years. They just don’t care anymore. Why? Cause the games are boring, can watch from home while watching 3 other games at the same time, etc etc etc. I don’t know what the solution is. We’ve lost two games in two years and have finished top 16 both years. People still don’t give a f. It’s frustrating to say the least.

With all that being said, I do think we will have a very good crowd for SLU(25-30k). They will bring some folks and lsu doesn’t play till either Sunday or Monday in New Orleans. And if we were to somehow run the table with a conference championship, one would think ESPN would make some moves to get us into a better matchup in the bowl game. Whether it be having a better opponent play us in Nola or actually sending us to a bigger bowl gsme(if not NY6).

Man I’m ready for some football!

People just don't understand the concept of community. Supporting your own. It's why they have no qualms about sitting at home and watching. It's sad

[HoustonCajun]

Multi-pronged answer.

1) TV hurts crowds
2) Attendance is down across the country.
3) Cost is keeping families away. This has been a trend for a decade.
4) People have soured on the professionalization of collegiate athletics.
5) It’s been proven time and time again that Gen Z & Millennials do not love sports like the 3 previous generations did.
6) More classes are online, more students are transient and less connected to the universities they attend.
8) Game Day at CajunField is boring, repeated awful concession experiences, hot af and poorly run by event staff in general.

We just completed the most successful 3 year stretch in our history, had a coach hired away to a top P5 SEC school, won a conference championship game in our home stadium on national TV, and enjoyed unprecedented national coverage with being ranked and beating a ranked Fiesta Bowl participant. How did we capitalize on that? What exactly did we do to energize our fanbase?

To this point, it feels like 2014 all over again.

While all of those things are certainly true, people still look to get out of the house and do something entertaining. #8 to me is the most telling because they are not entertained at our games. Look at the successful P5 schools. People who go to those games are entertained, they are participants in the game, and they are invested in their football team regardless of who they are playing. Not so at UL.

What does it cost to go to a UL game? $20 a ticket. Go to any P5 game and the only ticket under $60 is in the nose bleed section. Yet, their stadiums are full. And, it they are a little less than full, then they have 60,000 instead of 70,000. The price is a great bargain, but the experience is not.

When Hudspeth took us to our first couple of bowl games, we had that excitement at the game. Hud did a lot to excite fans. Tailgating was at an all time high and a great experience. While the games were exciting, the fan experience at Cajun Field was no different than it has ever been. Yet, we had over 40,000 fans drive to New Orleans to watch us play in those first two bowl games. But, in Lafayette, we can't get 15,000 people outside of students to show up because of the repeated boring experience. When things began to unravel for Hud, our fans backed off. Tailgating took a nose dive. Napier restored football, but he was low key and did not excite fans to attend our games. Coach Des appears to be the same. A lot of schools have low key coaches, but still have full stadiums. So, it has to be more than just a rah rah coach.

For UL, is it competition? We played Alabama, OK State, K State and Texas A&M at Cajun Field. Only Alabama and Texas A&M are in our Top 20 attendance and only once have we gotten over 40,000 and that was vs. Southern. The SBC as a whole does not excite most fans and neither does our home schedule, but what else do we have? Despite over 100 years of football, we don't have much tradition and long-term winning that automatically brings in the fans.

We can post all we want, but until the athletic department gets serious about addressing this problem, nothing will change. Those of us who have traveled to P5 games and made an effort to notice what happens at tailgating and inside the stadium that make each school unique yet successful can help contribute to finding the right application of these successful models for UL. But, ONLY IF UL gets serious about reprogramming its gameday experience because clearly what it has done up until now hasn't worked.

[Duggie35]

I can't understand why people that go to a "Football Game" are not happy unless there is other entertainment also! When I buy a ticket to a game, it is for a "Football Game", not a circus! When I go to concert or circus, I buy a ticket for the concert or circus.

[Cantstandza]

I can't understand why people that go to a "Football Game" are not happy unless there is other entertainment also! When I buy a ticket to a game, it is for a "Football Game", not a circus! When I go to concert or circus, I buy a ticket for the concert or circus.

LOL, it's the craziest thing, right? There will always be an excuse in this city.