2005: How I would love to see our stadium upgraded and renovated!

[CajunNation]

All of this is probably a moot point. If history has taught us anything, it has taught us that the old man only focuses on athletics when he is motivated to do so. Only one thing motivates him to spend money on athletics:

FEAR

This current little rebirth of Cajun football was brought on by fear of us losing 1-A status due to attendance requirements. It is my understanding that these requirements are likely to be watered down this month by the NCAA, virtually guaranteeing our future in 1-A.

Thus, we can all dream about a refurbished Cajun Field, skyboxes, luxury suites, adding seats, etc. It will remain just that, A DREAM.

[Pirogue]

I wanted to add on to what I said...one other improvement i think should be made to Cajun Field is a renovation of the press boxs. With a much nicer press box and a clean Staduim would be great for the program

I disagree... they should stick the press in those corners where no one sits... and pimp out the suites...

[Corndog308]

The Swamp needs a healthy pressure washing. But, in the mean time, if we just let the mold and mildew grow, it'll just look like we painted all the concrete black. So, your choice of color. White or black stands? Not intended to be racist just in case someone takes it the wrong way.
A cool idea would be to have these huge nostalgic tapestry banners hanging down from the stadium. ALmost something like the new athletics poster; something on the line of that design, and the billboard designs. Let em' wave in the wind. Hell, why not a huge UL Flag waving at the highest point of the press boxes. God, I am getting to excited? I just got THAT much more excited for football!

[cajun tom]

Now that we have had the athletic facilities upgraded and are getting the indoor practice facility, I think it is time we move our attention to upgrading Cajun Field. You bring in a recruit and you show him the athletic facility, the indoor practice facility, then Cajun Field it show be something that is very impressive. As of right now it is not too impressive.

[CajunRebel]

Do you think because Tulane plays in Superdome they can get huge names to come in and play? Well, they can't. And neither will we. Big name teams could really care less about what stadium they play in.

We have to focus on improving what we have.

We need a major renovation in Cajun Field. But that can't happen right now because we have a tiny little budget of about 8 million. If we want to renovate or rebuild the press box, add suites, a hall/walk of fame, etc. it will cost at least 8 million. We can't afford that, especially when we have to look under the sofa cushions to find enough money to give Coach Hall a 5-10,000 raise.

So where do we get the money? Well, it will have to come form private donations. And that won't happen until we reach a certain level of success. In my opinion, we wouldn't be able to push for this until we go to the NO Bowl. At that time, the students (through student fees) and the community should be pumped up enough to want to dig into their pockets and help out.

Another thing about adding seats is that it is unwise to expand too much because of supply and demand. If we start getting 30,000 people at Cajun Field, season ticket sales will go through the roof because people are going to want to make sure they have good seats for the games. This is why people shell out thousands of dollars for LSU tickets. More money from these guaranteed ticket sales means the AD can allocate more money toward improving football, and football facilities.

A priority should be SUBSTANTIAL renovations to the press box and the addition of suites. From what I understand, the handful of suites that we have aren't being used. I would have to guess that this is only because those suites are getting close to 40 years old. I wouldn't watch a game in a 40 yr old suite if they paid me. In a suite, it's all about luxury. It's all about being privileged and important. You don't get that feeling while standing on shag carpeting and stained ceiling tiles from 1970. We need to truly modernize these suites, plasma TVs and all. These things would sell.

But none of this happens until we start winning.

[Turbine]

What I would like to see done with the Football Stadium...for now.

At the North West EndZone I would like to see a fireproof nook for the Cannon. Appearance wise, it would look a lot like the Tunnel on the SouthEast end except it would be slightly elevated with the base being about as high as the top of the wall.

At the NorthWest endzone I would like to see a matching upper levee sidewalk.

Then at both endzones I would like to see a wraparound lower sidewalk for standing fans to greet the players after touchdowns. Not unlike the "Lambo Leap", the walk would make possible the "Ultimate Louisiana Leap"

[AirBill]

I also would like to see luxury suites added. I think they should go in the open-air area between the lower and upper sections. Give you a much better view than the blimp-cam look from way up top, too.

Also, what about actual seats? I know they have them between the 35's on the west side. What about putting them all throughout the lower bowls? And not those aluminum seats either. Nice, shiny red ones with drink holders. THAT would be an upgrade that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, and could be paid for with those new luxury suites.

[RaginEsquire06]

That would be very nice! I also like the ideal Turbine stated...in reference to the "walk around!" Doesn't seem like it would cost to much to complete!

[RaginEsquire06]

When will we be having a stadium cleaning bash?

[ATXCajun]

UCF went 0-11 last season.

Nobody went to their games.

They just got approval from their board of trustees to build a 45k on-campus football stadium.

They are looking to the future, to the Big East. They will most likely get it.

You can't play with the big boys if you don't have any cajones.

...which is a stadium only slightly larger than ours (and then not really since we can fill the endzones) and substantially smaller than the stadium they were playing in (Orange Bowl, I think). Sounds like they have Tulane's problem. Trying to develop an on-campus atmosphere and excitement around football. I don't think we have that problem. We just need a little success to fuel progress. Ours stadium needs some touch up and maybe a larger, sexier press box. That's it, for now. Big stadiums with no people in them are just weird and uncomfortable (Tulane, UAB, UCF).

[Turbine]

I've been a Cajun fan since enrolling at USL in 87'....and I'm curious to know why hasn't any funds been vested in the development of our Football stadium? I know some would argue that we are not filling the seats in the stands to justify it. However, I think filling the stadium seats could be the end result of up grading our stadium!

Think about this...How much would it cost to add more aluminum benches to increase our seating capacity to say...50 thousand? Redesign our consession area? Or even create a covered lobby that goes completely around the arena or just connects both sides of the stadium...Kinda like a "walk of fame" with pictures of past players and replica trophy's, etc....with our fight song playing through speakers...or with monitors showing football clips from the past.

I think if we seriously update our stadium...market it like crazy to the acadiana area...People will come just out of pure curiosity! Kind of the place to be before going out to experiance Lafayette's wonderful night life!

I also think a larger seating capacity will be encouraging to larger schools to come and play use here in the swamp....and Finally, Image is everything...If we want to get better player's on our team...we have to give the appearance of being big time! Our stadium is not that much bigger than some of these high schools in Florida and Texas...



More food for thought....

Half time....maybe we can develop more interesting half time shows...Add something a little more interesting in addition to our wnderful marching band! Maybe sky divers, fire works, cajun/zydeco bands...I don't know....Maybe make every home game something like a mini superbowl for our area! Let's be creative!

One out of two requests granted.... and it only took twenty years