They’ve Given Up

[Big Buds]

During the time after I graduated and before the wife and I had kids (2008-2016), we would routinely go to Cajun Field with the sole intention of tailgating. We would bounce around from one spot to another, visiting and catching up with people, drinking some cold beers... Sometimes we'd go to the game if we got handed tickets. Sometimes if enough people said they were going in, we'd pick up a family four pack of tickets ($40), and then find two more people to give the second pair to. The gameday experience was no different than, say, Festival Acadiens or any of the other 200 festivals this city pulls off without issue.

The challenge for UL was always: "how do we get the 40k+ people in the parking lot to come into the actual game?". It was routine to have 25k in the stadium watching UL, and another 10-15k in the parking lot drinking and watching LSU in their truck bed. But the problem seemed simple enough.. We have enough people to fill this stadium standing outside, we just have to get them in.

Then, after a year or two of success with Hud, the university tries 'clean up' the tailgate experience so they can charge more for it. Moving people out of the spots they've had for a decade so those spots could now be "premium spots".. Charging 3-4x more for new spots. Cracking down on music, on food, on parking personal vehicles.. Campus police go from writing MIPs in the student section during the game, to handing out tickets to students in the parking lot. What used to be a 'gameday festival', was turned into "we'll just meet you by the door 10-15 minutes before kickoff", and the 40k people outside were gone.

What the university and some fans just don't want to admit, is that college football gameday is not a 'family friendly' event any more than say Festival International or Mardi Gras. Kids are of course welcome, but they're going to hear foul language, they're going to see Uncle Kevin get drunk and yell at other teams' fans, they're going to see 18-20 year olds drinking. Whatever the number of people is that say "we won't go to UL game because we don't want our kids around that", there are five people that would love to bring their families and enjoy a day of shooting the ____ outside the stadium. Then the university will be back to figuring out how to get the people outside to buy tickets, but at least you got them off the couch.

You walk through the tailgate area now and it's anything BUT Ragin' or Cajun. If you want to fill Cajun Field, you need to fill the parking lot first.

Those we’re the good ole’ days.

[ManAboutTown]

Those we’re the good ole’ days.

Which is why we’ve been hollering at them to get the festival model back to the parking lots. None of the people in our athletic administration were here to experience those times. And they certainly have no idea how to recreate it.

It’s like TBoy says, “In south Louisiana, you can’t Manufacture fun. You don’t need to anyway.”

Give the tailgates back over to the people and let us fix the problem. Do some premium sponsor slots near the stadium but other than that, turn the fans and students loose again.

[RaginDave]

I have my frustrations with the administration and the athletic department as much as the next guy. I have moved around most of my adult life and traveled allot in those areas for work that all had G5 schools near them, schools like Charlotte, UNT, App State, ECU, SMU, Houston, Coastal, ODU, JMU amongst a ton of others. I will say this most of these schools are terrible about marketing themselves, just like we are. But I would say, and I think Fanof71 would agree, one of the best at doing this and getting the community behind them is App State.

We do a great job of rewarding businesses in Acadiana that are large donors/sponsors of the program, but we do a terrible job of promoting those that can only give a little. This was a push a few years ago for companies to put signs up that supported UL, but it ended up dying on the vine. If you travel to Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock and West Jefferson, NC you will drive by restaurants, boutiques, antique stores, construction companies and everything in between promoting the hell out of App. These are not 5K or 100K donors, but instead small businesses that support them the best way they can. Flags are flying year-round, signs are up year-round. We need to be better at this and we suck at it, to be honest.

I always tell people when I go somewhere that has a UL flag or sign in it, I feel a sense of pride. A business like The Crawfish Boss (formally in Broussard) or Judice Inn or others. They are proud to be supporters of the Cajuns, we have thousands of businesses in Acadiana who can't give the big donation, but could support them in other ways. Why not reward these guys every way possible. For instance, we should have feet on the street year round going to these businesses and asking them for a small donation, maybe it is $1000 or maybe it is $500, I don't know the amount, but in return you will give them a flag, banner and sign to display as well as X amount of tickets to sporting events, based on the dollar amount to give to all of their employees and/or hand out to customers. If the seats are going to be empty anyway why not offer our GA tickets out to these guys.

The university should randomly throughout the year promote these guys on digital and promotional advertisements and also announce them periodically throughout the year at sporting events and other events. Between the grassy knoll, the NEZ and the upper decks, we have tons of free seats that could be given out and when you drive around town you would see UL flags, banners and signs everywhere, much more than we see now.

And for those of you that say, we just don't have the staff to do it, you don't need a staff, you have students in the marketing and business departments that could get extra credits or rewards for selling these promotions.

This is an easy, grassroots approach to getting arsses in seats and getting people around Acadiana to proudly promote their support for the Cajuns.

ECU and JMU are both good at this as well. I am sure there are others. People in this world love free _____, if you give them free _____ for the most part they will use it. The good news is if businesses see this working others will come along for a small fee, plus those that are on board might just up the ante each year if they see it working for their small businesses.

Just a thought.

[Cajunrunner]

During the time after I graduated and before the wife and I had kids (2008-2016), we would routinely go to Cajun Field with the sole intention of tailgating. We would bounce around from one spot to another, visiting and catching up with people, drinking some cold beers... Sometimes we'd go to the game if we got handed tickets. Sometimes if enough people said they were going in, we'd pick up a family four pack of tickets ($40), and then find two more people to give the second pair to. The gameday experience was no different than, say, Festival Acadiens or any of the other 200 festivals this city pulls off without issue.

The challenge for UL was always: "how do we get the 40k+ people in the parking lot to come into the actual game?". It was routine to have 25k in the stadium watching UL, and another 10-15k in the parking lot drinking and watching LSU in their truck bed. But the problem seemed simple enough.. We have enough people to fill this stadium standing outside, we just have to get them in.

Then, after a year or two of success with Hud, the university tries 'clean up' the tailgate experience so they can charge more for it. Moving people out of the spots they've had for a decade so those spots could now be "premium spots".. Charging 3-4x more for new spots. Cracking down on music, on food, on parking personal vehicles.. Campus police go from writing MIPs in the student section during the game, to handing out tickets to students in the parking lot. What used to be a 'gameday festival', was turned into "we'll just meet you by the door 10-15 minutes before kickoff", and the 40k people outside were gone.

What the university and some fans just don't want to admit, is that college football gameday is not a 'family friendly' event any more than say Festival International or Mardi Gras. Kids are of course welcome, but they're going to hear foul language, they're going to see Uncle Kevin get drunk and yell at other teams' fans, they're going to see 18-20 year olds drinking. Whatever the number of people is that say "we won't go to UL game because we don't want our kids around that", there are five people that would love to bring their families and enjoy a day of shooting the ____ outside the stadium. Then the university will be back to figuring out how to get the people outside to buy tickets, but at least you got them off the couch.

You walk through the tailgate area now and it's anything BUT Ragin' or Cajun. If you want to fill Cajun Field, you need to fill the parking lot first.

Good stuff here.

[shof]

I have my frustrations with the administration and the athletic department as much as the next guy. I have moved around most of my adult life and traveled allot in those areas for work that all had G5 schools near them, schools like Charlotte, UNT, App State, ECU, SMU, Houston, Coastal, ODU, JMU amongst a ton of others. I will say this most of these schools are terrible about marketing themselves, just like we are. But I would say, and I think Fanof71 would agree, one of the best at doing this and getting the community behind them is App State.

We do a great job of rewarding businesses in Acadiana that are large donors/sponsors of the program, but we do a terrible job of promoting those that can only give a little. This was a push a few years ago for companies to put signs up that supported UL, but it ended up dying on the vine. If you travel to Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock and West Jefferson, NC you will drive by restaurants, boutiques, antique stores, construction companies and everything in between promoting the hell out of App. These are not 5K or 100K donors, but instead small businesses that support them the best way they can. Flags are flying year-round, signs are up year-round. We need to be better at this and we suck at it, to be honest.

I always tell people when I go somewhere that has a UL flag or sign in it, I feel a sense of pride. A business like The Crawfish Boss (formally in Broussard) or Judice Inn or others. They are proud to be supporters of the Cajuns, we have thousands of businesses in Acadiana who can't give the big donation, but could support them in other ways. Why not reward these guys every way possible. For instance, we should have feet on the street year round going to these businesses and asking them for a small donation, maybe it is $1000 or maybe it is $500, I don't know the amount, but in return you will give them a flag, banner and sign to display as well as X amount of tickets to sporting events, based on the dollar amount to give to all of their employees and/or hand out to customers. If the seats are going to be empty anyway why not offer our GA tickets out to these guys.

The university should randomly throughout the year promote these guys on digital and promotional advertisements and also announce them periodically throughout the year at sporting events and other events. Between the grassy knoll, the NEZ and the upper decks, we have tons of free seats that could be given out and when you drive around town you would see UL flags, banners and signs everywhere, much more than we see now.

And for those of you that say, we just don't have the staff to do it, you don't need a staff, you have students in the marketing and business departments that could get extra credits or rewards for selling these promotions.

This is an easy, grassroots approach to getting arsses in seats and getting people around Acadiana to proudly promote their support for the Cajuns.

ECU and JMU are both good at this as well. I am sure there are others. People in this world love free _____, if you give them free _____ for the most part they will use it. The good news is if businesses see this working others will come along for a small fee, plus those that are on board might just up the ante each year if they see it working for their small businesses.

Just a thought.

Good, positive thoughts!

[Cajun Soldier]

Some of these thoughts are great I travel a lot and see some of the same things. I once saw an App St flag hanging on the ceiling of a cabana in Cozumel my buddy and I ask if we could hang a Ragin Cajun Shirt up their and they were trilled. Imagine if we could get business to do things like that inside and outside of their places. I wish I had the answer of how we could go around the administration if needed to make this happen.

[Swamp]

Some of these thoughts are great I travel a lot and see some of the same things. I once saw an App St flag hanging on the ceiling of a cabana in Cozumel my buddy and I ask if we could hang a Ragin Cajun Shirt up their and they were trilled. Imagine if we could get business to do things like that inside and outside of their places. I wish I had the answer of how we could go around the administration if needed to make this happen.

First we need a cool flag. All the ones we got bleaux

[ragincajun97]

During the time after I graduated and before the wife and I had kids (2008-2016), we would routinely go to Cajun Field with the sole intention of tailgating. We would bounce around from one spot to another, visiting and catching up with people, drinking some cold beers... Sometimes we'd go to the game if we got handed tickets. Sometimes if enough people said they were going in, we'd pick up a family four pack of tickets ($40), and then find two more people to give the second pair to. The gameday experience was no different than, say, Festival Acadiens or any of the other 200 festivals this city pulls off without issue.

The challenge for UL was always: "how do we get the 40k+ people in the parking lot to come into the actual game?". It was routine to have 25k in the stadium watching UL, and another 10-15k in the parking lot drinking and watching LSU in their truck bed. But the problem seemed simple enough.. We have enough people to fill this stadium standing outside, we just have to get them in.

Then, after a year or two of success with Hud, the university tries 'clean up' the tailgate experience so they can charge more for it. Moving people out of the spots they've had for a decade so those spots could now be "premium spots".. Charging 3-4x more for new spots. Cracking down on music, on food, on parking personal vehicles.. Campus police go from writing MIPs in the student section during the game, to handing out tickets to students in the parking lot. What used to be a 'gameday festival', was turned into "we'll just meet you by the door 10-15 minutes before kickoff", and the 40k people outside were gone.

What the university and some fans just don't want to admit, is that college football gameday is not a 'family friendly' event any more than say Festival International or Mardi Gras. Kids are of course welcome, but they're going to hear foul language, they're going to see Uncle Kevin get drunk and yell at other teams' fans, they're going to see 18-20 year olds drinking. Whatever the number of people is that say "we won't go to UL game because we don't want our kids around that", there are five people that would love to bring their families and enjoy a day of shooting the ____ outside the stadium. Then the university will be back to figuring out how to get the people outside to buy tickets, but at least you got them off the couch.

You walk through the tailgate area now and it's anything BUT Ragin' or Cajun. If you want to fill Cajun Field, you need to fill the parking lot first.

100% true

[facelessjonmoon]

That's right. Robe was a true Acadian. Win. That's what Robe did. Quitters never win. Winners never quit.

Airing grievances accomplishes what? Earn a position of Strength and make it happen. DJT ring a bell?

Make Cajun Field great again

[Turbine]

First we need a cool flag. All the ones we got bleaux

ReRe "Fill the Swamp, like its 1943."

ps Louisiana football went undefeated when they re-"Filled the Swamp"

[Big Buds]

Which is why we’ve been hollering at them to get the festival model back to the parking lots. None of the people in our athletic administration were here to experience those times. And they certainly have no idea how to recreate it.

It’s like TBoy says, “In south Louisiana, you can’t Manufacture fun. You don’t need to anyway.”

Give the tailgates back over to the people and let us fix the problem. Do some premium sponsor slots near the stadium but other than that, turn the fans and students loose again.

I get it…and agree with this.

[Big Buds]

I have my frustrations with the administration and the athletic department as much as the next guy. I have moved around most of my adult life and traveled allot in those areas for work that all had G5 schools near them, schools like Charlotte, UNT, App State, ECU, SMU, Houston, Coastal, ODU, JMU amongst a ton of others. I will say this most of these schools are terrible about marketing themselves, just like we are. But I would say, and I think Fanof71 would agree, one of the best at doing this and getting the community behind them is App State.

We do a great job of rewarding businesses in Acadiana that are large donors/sponsors of the program, but we do a terrible job of promoting those that can only give a little. This was a push a few years ago for companies to put signs up that supported UL, but it ended up dying on the vine. If you travel to Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock and West Jefferson, NC you will drive by restaurants, boutiques, antique stores, construction companies and everything in between promoting the hell out of App. These are not 5K or 100K donors, but instead small businesses that support them the best way they can. Flags are flying year-round, signs are up year-round. We need to be better at this and we suck at it, to be honest.

I always tell people when I go somewhere that has a UL flag or sign in it, I feel a sense of pride. A business like The Crawfish Boss (formally in Broussard) or Judice Inn or others. They are proud to be supporters of the Cajuns, we have thousands of businesses in Acadiana who can't give the big donation, but could support them in other ways. Why not reward these guys every way possible. For instance, we should have feet on the street year round going to these businesses and asking them for a small donation, maybe it is $1000 or maybe it is $500, I don't know the amount, but in return you will give them a flag, banner and sign to display as well as X amount of tickets to sporting events, based on the dollar amount to give to all of their employees and/or hand out to customers. If the seats are going to be empty anyway why not offer our GA tickets out to these guys.

The university should randomly throughout the year promote these guys on digital and promotional advertisements and also announce them periodically throughout the year at sporting events and other events. Between the grassy knoll, the NEZ and the upper decks, we have tons of free seats that could be given out and when you drive around town you would see UL flags, banners and signs everywhere, much more than we see now.

And for those of you that say, we just don't have the staff to do it, you don't need a staff, you have students in the marketing and business departments that could get extra credits or rewards for selling these promotions.

This is an easy, grassroots approach to getting arsses in seats and getting people around Acadiana to proudly promote their support for the Cajuns.

ECU and JMU are both good at this as well. I am sure there are others. People in this world love free _____, if you give them free _____ for the most part they will use it. The good news is if businesses see this working others will come along for a small fee, plus those that are on board might just up the ante each year if they see it working for their small businesses.

Just a thought.

Great post, Dave!