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

[cajun tom]

I say upgrade, upgrade, upgrade Cajun Field.

[RaginEsquire06]

Man, I love this subject. But, there are two things that scare me.

1) If you were a business man, would you invest a pile of money into something that is only utilized maybe "5" times a year?

2) How bad does 25,000 or 30,000 people look in a stadium that holds 50,000?

I would go with "quality" & "uniqueness" over sheer quantity. I mentioned this once before, but a great example is one that we're all familiar with. Several years ago, the Houston Astros left the Astrodome for a much smaller stadium. But, Minute Made Park is "High Quality" & "Unique". Cajun Field is already somewhat unique in that it is mostly underground, but it does have a "generic" look. Moldy concrete does not look "inviting". I would like to see more color. Paint is not that expensive and has an immediate impact. Start with the rim around the field....Paint it red and cover it with "Ragin Cajuns" & Fleur de lis & Louisiana. Build "open air" luxury boxes across the top of the upper deck, it wouldn't be too expensive & (no one sits there anyway). Cover the
top section of the end zones with "Cajun Pattios". Do something with the top of the student side......anything....it looks like ~~~~. Paint a huge "UL" covering 2 entire sections on the student side. Make an "inside the stadium" tailgaiting area on the Congress side end zone where people can actually pitch their tents and "tailgate" during the games (for a nice fee of course). There are a lot of things that we can do without spending a bundle and still have a sizeable impact. We should have a policy to have something new in the stadium every year.

Any other thoughts along these lines??????

Now that's what i'm talking about RedBug! Vision! Just think...If we had a large group of Ragin Cajun supporters to go out gather up funds from business owners and individuals....we could make some of these ideals reality! I desire to see our school grow! Let's make it happen!

[Clutch0364]

I have nothing against renovations but I am against adding seating. I want new luxury and press boxes and a good cleaning but unless we are filling the seats adding 10,000 r so seats means nothing.

[DaddyCajun]

Press boxes(sky boxes)were renovated this past year, twice actually due to vandals. New sky boxes at a lower level are on the drawing board now, as UL wants to be ready with a set of plans when Ricky and the Cajuns WIN the Belt and a Bowl game to capitalize on what they(UL admin) feels will be a ground swell of support!

There is talk a next step with "Skyboxes" would be extending the current ones to the ends of the upper deck as no one sits there and IF demand is there that will be the phase of skyboxes that are build after a lower level set is built!!

DaddyCajun!!

[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"