Attendance Decline

[CajunVic]

some of the students going to school here but following LSU can’t afford to go to LSU . . . so, they live at home, get their education here but are LSU fans at heart . . . you will never change those . . .

[CajunFun]

I provided ChatGPT with the yearly average home attendance of Cajun Field over the last 10 years and asked for an analysis:


I then asked if our trending data aligned with national trends:

Thanks, great work.

That is the point we all need to discuss. Attendance, and perhaps interest, in Cajuns football, and all college football, is in decline.

So let's talk about how athletics can either assist or detract from our mission; and then let's align our priorities with those insights.

[CajunVic]

. . . and you can say what you want but Covid caused many long time supporters who would never have thought of missing a game live before Covid to experience during Covid the convenience, comfort, availability to see other games of national interest and reduced costs associated with being a patio fan or man cave fan and they have just not gone back . . .

[CajunFun]

I have no understanding of your graph. It was said in another thread. When the team has a good year the following year espn hits them with 3 or 4 midweek games usually against teams that would draw a good crowd on a Saturday. I’d consider that one big factor in winning decreasing attendance.

Sorry about that. It's a scattergram; if you look at it, the points seem to be tracking slightly downward over time. In statistics, they can analyze those points to see if that is happening, which is what Pearson's coefficient does.

RedTails' clever use of AI supports that.

[CajunNation]

Thanks, great work.

That is the point we all need to discuss. Attendance, and perhaps interest, in Cajuns football, and all college football, is in decline.

So let's talk about how athletics can either assist or detract from our mission; and then let's align our priorities with those insights.

We need to rethink things. Be original, innovators.

Your ticket should not be just a ticket for a football game. It should be your ticket for the Louisiana Gameday Experience. Your ticket should grant you access to the area outlined by Reinhardt, Bertrand, Congress, Cajundome Blvd. You could consider that the Outer wall of Cajun Field.

This is what were selling when we sell season tickets.

[Ragin9221]

Sorry about that. It's a scattergram; if you look at it, the points seem to be tracking slightly downward over time. In statistics, they can analyze those points to see if that is happening, which is what Pearson's coefficient does.

RedTails' clever use of AI supports that.

Yeah because generationally the interest in college sports has dropped over time. Why is Swift and Kelce a big thing! Its a way to get young people engaged so they don’t lose profits.

Just like a business we have to find a way to connect with the younger generation to keep our profit margin, and raising ticket prices is not the way!!!

Better become more inventive when it comes to getting more fans involved.

Instead of blaming the fan actually they need to figure out what is actually going on, and what appeals to fans that attend football games.

[CajunFun]

How much you want to bet that you can find those same students tailgating on Nicholson Drive on Saturdays?

Cajuns games are boring as hell. My kids won't sit through more than a quarter without wanting to go to the hill or straight up leave. Look around the stadium -- most people spend more time looking at their phone than the game. Also, whatever our announced kickoff attendance is, it's usually 1/3 of that by 4th quarter.

If UL continues to market itself as "more college football", they will eventually fold the program. We are playing minor league sports. They will have to get more creative to keep people interested in this school.

Yes, some of our students attend LSU games. But before we argue that this is a major problem, it would help if we had some numbers on it.

But then, what would we do with the numbers? More important, what should we do? Even if we discovered that half our student population goes to LSU's games, should we change UL to be like LSU, just so that our students come to our games?

Should we design UL around football?

That's what started this discussion in the other thread: We hate LSU we want to be just like them. Some people here seem to advocate that approach, but I may be misinterpreting.

Me, I prefer UL, the way we are now. I love this place, I love this community. I love our priorities: students, and education, and leadership. So I want UL to play to our strengths, so that we might in turn strengthen our state and our world.

And I'm sorry, I don't see how that works by putting football first.

I just don't see that with the LSU model.

[Ragin9221]

Probably why we are spending 65 million on taking seats out and adding premium seating.

Its gonna take more then that!

[zeppelincajun]

I’ve never seen a reach quite like this one. Makes you wonder what sort of Lucy pulling the football away moves are upcoming from Martin Hall.

[Ragin9221]

Yes, some of our students attend LSU games. But before we argue that this is a major problem, it would help if we had some numbers on it.

But then, what would we do with the numbers? More important, what should we do? Even if we discovered that half our student population goes to LSU's games, should we change UL to be like LSU, just so that our students come to our games?

Should we design UL around football?

That's what started this discussion in the other thread: We hate LSU we want to be just like them. Some people here seem to advocate that approach, but I may be misinterpreting.

Me, I prefer UL, the way we are now. I love this place, I love this community. I love our priorities: students, and education, and leadership. So I want UL to play to our strengths, so that we might in turn strengthen our state and our world.

And I'm sorry, I don't see how that works by putting football first.

I just don't see that with the LSU model.

We can do our thing and play to our strengths it doesnt have to be like LSU. Without going into details there is alot the administration can do to improve attendance they dont listen !

[CajunFun]

Yeah because generationally the interest in college sports has dropped over time. Why is Swift and Kelce a big thing! Its a way to get young people engaged so they don’t lose profits.

Just like a business we have to find a way to connect with the younger generation to keep our profit margin, and raising ticket prices is not the way!!!

Better become more inventive when it comes to getting more fans involved.

Instead of blaming the fan actually they need to figure out what is actually going on, and what appeals to fans that attend football games.

OK, we connect our kids; but connect them to what, exactly? No one ever explains the steps from football, to a robust education, to a thriving economy.

That's my concern here: we connect them to football, and then... voilá! The whole world becomes great?

That has been LSU's proposition for about a century.

And I don't see how it has improved our state.

[cajun4life]

Give us winning seasons and 6pm kickoffs on Saturdays with great weather and our attendance would go up.