Win The Event?

[Bandwagon King]

So my homecoming weekend started with a victory. I had a busted water line which I was able to fix leak free by 12:30 with about 5 trips to the local hardware store mixed in Friday afternoon. Got showered & left the house at 1:45 headed for Old Tyme Grocery. Got the loaded Shrimp Poboy for under 13 dollars. once again not bad in today's screwed up over priced economy.

As I was waiting for my sandwich I worked the crowd to see who was game ready & was shocked that only one other group in the joint even knew there was a football game at UL of (Martin Hall)Lafayette on Saturday. I met a family from Houma who came to see their Cajuns & they were all decked out in Cajun gear. SO kuddos to those guys.

So it took like 5 minutes to get my sandwich as busy as OTG was & out the door I went to Congress & turned right on CDB. to follow the line to park. That line met the other line & instead of turning right, I turned left & had a nice shade tree to park under in front of some government building which was great. Pulled down the tail gate & listened to the new FM version of KPEL while devouring my Shrimp Poboy & washed it down with a beverage of choice in absolutely pristine weather.

I then proceeded across the "free" parking area in the back 40 which was just fine with me since the weather was lovely & the grass fresh & green with no mud & muck anywhere to deal with. Until coming to the FENCE. Why the university has 40 acres of grass fenced off is beyond me. Maybe they do it for liability & to keep cars from trying to cut across he sidewalk at the end of games to shortcut their way onto Congress Street. I get that. But why not put a couple of pedestrian gates along the fence line where people can get to the side walk & get to the the stadium parking lot at the point of convenience? I mean how hard & expensive could this be? So Instead of going back East toward the Cajun dome to get to the open exit on CDB. I continued to the fence & followed it west on Congress until it met the UMC property line then back halfway toward where I originally parked in the field until finally getting to an opening to the Medical center property & then came right back around the fence to cross to Cajun Field & went to tail gating spot #26 where all the radicals come to hang out.

There I met Escalito, Mel Rock, M$M, etc. In fact I met everyone but MAT. WTF Mat? Girl's soccer on a beautiful homecoming afternoon at UL? Anyway, It was all still pretty great except for the idiot fence. I got to meet a lot of the fellow posters on here & got to hang out with a lot of old friends who are so cool inside. So that experience was really really great.

But I have come to one very rock solid reality about UL of Martin Hall, or ULMH for short. They are never ever ever ever going to change anything concerning the way they market themselves & the way they put out their product & the demographic they cater to & the demographics they clearly don't give a flying fart about. And nothing, nobody, no amount of screaming, or begging, or cojoling, or zoom meetings, or power point presentations, or internet conferencing is ever going to change that entrenched bureaucracy.

[ULvictory]

Lack of communication between HMFsIC is one of the biggest issues. Event coordinator at CF, University officials, the Mayor's office, Berthelots's office, CD officials, and who ever the hell the designated official for athletic's is should ALWAYS be in touch when scheduling is on the table. In fact, throw the DT group in there as well.

Bingo. Again, SIX SATURDAYS at most. Heck, maybe 3-4 if we have midweek home games.

Shoudn't be that hard.

[cjr3888]

When it comes to festivals, they’re set by weekends and it’s the same every year. Examples:
Gumbo Cookoff - 2nd weekend of October
Tailgate Cookoff - 3rd weekend of October
Christmas in the Village - 1st Saturday of December
New Iberia Christmas - 2nd weekend of December

Point is, these are set way before any football schedule is released. Planning is done year round and you can’t just move these events because of a football game.

[ULvictory]

When it comes to festivals, they’re set by weekends and it’s the same every year. Examples:
Gumbo Cookoff - 2nd weekend of October
Tailgate Cookoff - 3rd weekend of October
Christmas in the Village - 1st Saturday of December
New Iberia Christmas - 2nd weekend of December

Point is, these are set way before any football schedule is released. Planning is done year round and you can’t just move these events because of a football game.

Comic Con comes in random dates to Lafayette. As far as the others, find a way to correlate the events with our football games. We did it with Festivals Acadiens et Créoles
a few years back, and it worked out just fine. There's ways around it, but the problem is that we don't TRY.

[HelmutVII]

When it comes to festivals, they’re set by weekends and it’s the same every year. Examples:
Gumbo Cookoff - 2nd weekend of October
Tailgate Cookoff - 3rd weekend of October
Christmas in the Village - 1st Saturday of December
New Iberia Christmas - 2nd weekend of December

Point is, these are set way before any football schedule is released. Planning is done year round and you can’t just move these events because of a football game.

Who goes to these things? Can't be a lot of people. I am familiar with the first one but not the other 3.

[ManAboutTown]

We are in desperate need of organization here. Now every thread is a number of pop shots and hit pieces.

Is there anything we do right so we can take that off the table? Let’s get that list going so we can start with some enjoyment.

Then can we make two list- two long list of suggested changes.

The first being the little things that can be fixed without much effort or money. Little things. Things that can and should happen before the next home game.

Then the big list. The major things that are a must but may take time and/or money to implement.

Each list needs to be made with organized direction and the steps needed to implement.

Let’s go . . .

What we do well: Nothing. Anything that is being done properly is at the fan level. We tailgate like no other.

What we need to address: Every freaking thing.

Small issues that can be changed immediately: Rip up the Sodexo contract. Hire experienced event staff and stop trying to train on the job. Spend money on marketing and promotion, especially within the Acadiana outskirts area. Fill the RCAF roles that are open and STOP chasing white collar donors. Blue collar folks fill you stadiums and support your teams with passion. Get RCAF separated from the Foundation. Hire more event staff people so that we can efficiently usher people into our events. Leave the damn students alone. Stop blaring music over the band. Teach people about the game of football. Teach the band when and what to play. Spruce up the stale halftime same ole - same ole. Fix the tailgating structure. Lower the costs in the RV area until you return to the wait list. Add another band stand and make the tailgate spots a long the Betrand/Congress fences free, first come / first served basis. Add tents to both band stands to keep people out of the sun. Bring Festivals to CF parking lot. Promote the music acts in the tailgate WAY more. Bring back and prop up local vendors. Stop pricing them out of the market by trying to take too big of a cut. (They already operate on razor thing margins. Bring the food tracks back to CF and create a food truck alley at Gate C. Teach the cops how to handle traffic control. Consistency with game day schedule from beginning to end. SELL MERCHANDISE THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY. Stay consistent with the branding and make what we wear a fun thing again. Stop telling the customer that they are the problem. Get back to making the students feel like a big part of the equation and teach them game etiquette. Get a damn mascot. Put a cap on corporate season tickets so that the tickets we actually sell have butts in those seats. (Thats how you create atmosphere.) Bring back cocktail hour before the games. Let people tailgate inside the stadium.

That would be a decent start. There you go, Vic.

[ManAboutTown]

Comic Con comes in random dates to Lafayette. As far as the others, find a way to correlate the events with our football games. We did it with Festivals Acadiens et Créoles
a few years back, and it worked out just fine. There's ways around it, but the problem is that we don't try.

Same Ole BS. "We can't do it that way because we've always done it this way."

There is a way to do anything, if you care enough to try. Stop telling me it can't be done.

[ULvictory]

Small issues that can be changed immediately: Rip up the Sodexo contact. Hire experienced event staff and stop trying to train on the job. Spend money on marketing and promotion, especially within the Acadiana outskirts area. Fill the RCAF roles that are open and STOP chasing white collar donors. Blue collar folks fill you stadiums and support your teams with passion. Get RCAF separated from the Foundation. Hire more event staff people so that we can efficiently usher people into our events. Leave the damn students alone. Stop blaring music over the band. Teach people about the game of football. Teach the band when and what to play. Spruce up the stale halftime same ole - same ole. Fix the tailgating structure. Lower the costs in the RV area until you return to the wait list. Add another band stand and make the tailgate spots a long the Betrand/Congress fences free, first come / first served basis. Add tents to both band stands to keep people out of the sun. Bring Festivals to CF parking lot. Promote the music acts in the tailgate WAY more. Bring back and prop up local vendors. Stop pricing them out of the market by trying to take too big of a cut. (They already operate on razor thing margins. Bring the food tracks back to CF and create a food truck alley at Gate C. Teach the cops how to handle traffic control. Consistency with game day schedule from beginning to end. SELL MERCHANDISE THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY. Stay consistent with the branding and make what we wear a fun thing again. Stop telling the customer that they are the problem. Get back to making the students feel like a big part of the equation and teach them game etiquette. Get a damn mascot. Put a cap on corporate season tickets so that the tickets we actually sell have butts in those seats. (Thats how you create atmosphere.) Bring back cocktail hour before the games. Let people tailgate inside the stadium.

Low hanging fruit.

[ManAboutTown]

So my homecoming weekend started with a victory. I had a busted water line which I was able to fix leak free by 12:30 with about 5 trips to the local hardware store mixed in Friday afternoon. Got showered & left the house at 1:45 headed for Old Tyme Grocery. Got the loaded Shrimp Poboy for under 13 dollars. once again not bad in today's screwed up over priced economy.

As I was waiting for my sandwich I worked the crowd to see who was game ready & was shocked that only one other group in the joint even knew there was a football game at UL of (Martin Hall)Lafayette on Saturday. I met a family from Houma who came to see their Cajuns & they were all decked out in Cajun gear. SO kuddos to those guys.

So it took like 5 minutes to get my sandwich as busy as OTG was & out the door I went to Congress & turned right on CDB. to follow the line to park. That line met the other line & instead of turning right, I turned left & had a nice shade tree to park under in front of some government building which was great. Pulled down the tail gate & listened to the new FM version of KPEL while devouring my Shrimp Poboy & washed it down with a beverage of choice in absolutely pristine weather.

I then proceeded across the "free" parking area in the back 40 which was just fine with me since the weather was lovely & the grass fresh & green with no mud & muck anywhere to deal with. Until coming to the FENCE. Why the university has 40 acres of grass fenced off is beyond me. Maybe they do it for liability & to keep cars from trying to cut across he sidewalk at the end of games to shortcut their way onto Congress Street. I get that. But why not put a couple of pedestrian gates along the fence line where people can get to the side walk & get to the the stadium parking lot at the point of convenience? I mean how hard & expensive could this be? So Instead of going back East toward the Cajun dome to get to the open exit on CDB. I continued to the fence & followed it west on Congress until it met the UMC property line then back halfway toward where I originally parked in the field until finally getting to an opening to the Medical center property & then came right back around the fence to cross to Cajun Field & went to tail gating spot #26 where all the radicals come to hang out.

There I met Escalito, Mel Rock, M$M, etc. In fact I met everyone but MAT. WTF Mat? Girl's soccer on a beautiful homecoming afternoon at UL? Anyway, It was all still pretty great except for the idiot fence. I got to meet a lot of the fellow posters on here & got to hang out with a lot of old friends who are so cool inside. So that experience was really really great.

But I have come to one very rock solid reality about UL of Martin Hall, or ULMH for short. They are never ever ever ever going to change anything concerning the way they market themselves & the way they put out their product & the demographic they cater to & the demographics they clearly don't give a flying fart about. And nothing, nobody, no amount of screaming, or begging, or cojoling, or zoom meetings, or power point presentations, or internet conferencing is ever going to change that entrenched bureaucracy.

Spot 26 is where the hoodlums hangout. Notice to anyone who hates Ragin Review: Steer clear! Complainers abound!

I tailgated from 10-2. I was back for kickoff, but I had some business to attend to on the pitch Saturday, Kyle. My Rainbow Mermaids dominated on defense. 2-0 victory and now 3-1 on the season. At least one of my favorite teams won this weekend...

[Bandwagon King]

What we do well: Nothing. Anything that is being done properly is at the fan level. We tailgate like no other.

What we need to address: Every freaking thing.

Small issues that can be changed immediately: Rip up the Sodexo contact. Hire experienced event staff and stop trying to train on the job. Spend money on marketing and promotion, especially within the Acadiana outskirts area. Fill the RCAF roles that are open and STOP chasing white collar donors. Blue collar folks fill you stadiums and support your teams with passion. Get RCAF separated from the Foundation. Hire more event staff people so that we can efficiently usher people into our events. Leave the damn students alone. Stop blaring music over the band. Teach people about the game of football. Teach the band when and what to play. Spruce up the stale halftime same ole - same ole. Fix the tailgating structure. Lower the costs in the RV area until you return to the wait list. Add another band stand and make the tailgate spots a long the Betrand/Congress fences free, first come / first served basis. Add tents to both band stands to keep people out of the sun. Bring Festivals to CF parking lot. Promote the music acts in the tailgate WAY more. Bring back and prop up local vendors. Stop pricing them out of the market by trying to take too big of a cut. (They already operate on razor thing margins. Bring the food tracks back to CF and create a food truck alley at Gate C. Teach the cops how to handle traffic control. Consistency with game day schedule from beginning to end. SELL MERCHANDISE THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY. Stay consistent with the branding and make what we wear a fun thing again. Stop telling the customer that they are the problem. Get back to making the students feel like a big part of the equation and teach them game etiquette. Get a damn mascot. Put a cap on corporate season tickets so that the tickets we actually sell have butts in those seats. (Thats how you create atmosphere.) Bring back cocktail hour before the games. Let people tailgate inside the stadium.

That would be a decent start. There you go, Vic.

MAT, I love your passion. This is ULMH & it's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! These people down't care about any of us. Not a single poster on this site. In fact they don't care about all of us put together. So nothing is ever going to get done. Just like with the gate, or gates on the congress side of the free parking area. It's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. And the whole time I walked thinking surely the powers that be would know this is a major inconvenience to these people. Surely thy want to make it as easy as possible. But the truth is they don't want to make it easy for "freeloaders". Because they don't want to cater to "freeloaders". This is ULMH. Where mediocrity is king. And over achievement is strictly against university policy.

[CajunNation]

2 things.

1) Scanning. I don't care where it comes from, but we HAVE TO find whatever money it takes to fix Ticket Scanning. EVERY line of entrance should have a Scanner that works ready to scan tickets. Yeah, we like to tailgate until the very end and rush the gates for kickoff. You know what? DEAL WITH IT.

2) Concessions. Again, I don't care where we get the money, but we HAVE TO hire enough Concession staff and supply enough Food/Drink for 35k. EVERY GAME.

The costs incurred with the above 2 things is the freakin cost of doing business in the game of FBS football. They are loss leaders because getting those 2 things right leads to increased revenue/donations/season tix etc. etc. over time.


If Martin Hall refuses to care enough about athletics to do this, then step aside and let the RCAF do it. I would gladly donate to a specific fund just to do these 2 things as long as Martin Hall sits down and shuts up.

[Bandwagon King]

Spot 26 is where the hoodlums hangout. Notice to anyone who hates Ragin Review: Steer clear! Complainers abound!

I tailgated from 10-2. I was back for kickoff, but I had some business to attend to on the pitch Saturday, Kyle. My Rainbow Mermaids dominated on defense. 2-0 victory and now 3-1 on the season. At least one of my favorite teams won this weekend...

Good for you. Think you could help out with the field goal kicking somewhere else? Ouch!