UL has big decision to make on Cajun Field renovation

[CajunT]

Yep.

The development of an entertainment district needs to be green-lighted yesterday. Green light the development and immediately announce the Stadium renovation, complete with plan & renderings. Let the fan base get behind this thing. The complete plan needs to be sold to the public, with the stadium renovation being the spearhead. If Billy and staff can come through in a big way this season, announce it all at the Bowl game.

In Lafayette, we spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to enhance downtown as the entertainment district. Unfortunately we would need developers from out of town to come in to Lafayette that are willing to think out of the box. And then we would need a President that is willing to embrace it.

[CajunT]

Why couldn't it be both? It would be a state of the art football stadium and the other designs we have had for cajun field look terrible and outdated. And if that meant bringing an mls team to lafayette it would be worth it. No nfl, nba, mlb team would ever come here so getting an mls team here while mls is on the rise would be the best thing to ever happen to lafayette. Its not like we need a bigger stadium for football. Not anything more than 30 or 40k. I don't see the problem here

MLS in Lafayette? We would be the smallest market in the league. That's not going to happen and you don't build a stadium to cater to a league that isn't going to come to Lafayette.

[Ragin9221]

This would be amazing. I would move back to lafayette if this happened lol

The only way we can get this done is to get the city of Lafayette involved, Just like the Cajundome, we would have to lease the land to the city , get something here to justify the cost of a new stadium. We should be trying to get soccer, rugby, cricket anything that can be used at the new complex

There are small towns in MLS
Chester, Pennsylvania 33k people
Team: Philadelphia Union

Commerce City, Colorado 45k people
Team: Colorado Rapids

[CrazyCajun]

MLS in Lafayette? We would be the smallest market in the league. That's not going to happen and you don't build a stadium to cater to a league that isn't going to come to Lafayette.

If you tore down the upper deck and put canopies around Cajun field it would look exactly like a “soccer stadium”. I don’t see why anyone would be opposed to having shade/rain protectant surrounding the field.

[Ragin' Caleb]

MLS in Lafayette? We would be the smallest market in the league. That's not going to happen and you don't build a stadium to cater to a league that isn't going to come to Lafayette.

Austin, St. Louis, Nashville don't seem like world beaters. I didn't say it would happen, just that if it was possible and would bring an mls team, our football team would be better for it and have a state of the art facility

[ManAboutTown]

In Lafayette, we spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to enhance downtown as the entertainment district. Unfortunately we would need developers from out of town to come in to Lafayette that are willing to think out of the box. And then we would need a President that is willing to embrace it.

The development team that is interested in doing the work is very far removed from Lafayette.

And downtown spending goes a lot deeper than just misappropriated funds; you know that. Purely political and the people making those decisions are mostly in it for personal gain. Including redistricting. Our stadium & entertainment district need to be handled by capitalists; not bureaucratic eunuchs. Separate RCAF from the Foundation NOW!

[ManAboutTown]

The only way we can get this done is to get the city of Lafayette involved, Just like the Cajundome, we would have to lease the land to the city , get something here to justify the cost of a new stadium, we should be trying to get soccer, rugby, cricket anything that can be used at the new complex

Please elaborate. I don't think it's the only way.

[Ragin9221]

Please elaborate. I don't think it's the only way.

Unless we can secure the funds of 70 million to renovate the stadium. I just don’t see it happening, maybe I am wrong. Getting 18k a game is just enough to run the athletic dept., not build or renovate Cajun Field.

[MelRock]

Until the stadium upgrades are decided, you should not build the entertainment/shopping part. Our guys are thinking of the future not just one part of the design. This has been the problem in the past. By building the entertainment/shopping part without a plan for the stadium you are going to limit what you can do with the stadium. The stadium is the focal point of the complex, get the plans and start before you decide on the what is going where in entertainment/shopping part.

There is a process they are going through to do it the right way and they are doing that. Everyone at the university knows that funding needs to come from out side sources, but you have to have a plan. Once stadium plans are complete they can move forward with the other parts of the complex. We can not build in a shell.

[talktomewillis]

Reality check.

They've had tons of meetings about fund raising. We cannot raise that kind of money it would take to build a new stadium. Nor can we raise enough money to do the proper renovations to Cajun Field all at the same time.

And, raising money is about building relationships. Three major RCAF folks have left and the new staff will need time to build those relationships

Dr. Maggard has said publicly the goal right now is to raise enough money to take care of the west side of the stadium.

That's where we are at this time.