Tulane Game Week (pregame)

[SlickRick]

That is a complete lie. Our attendance steadily climbed in the Napier years. The narrative that the community didn’t respond to the on field success of his tenure is an embarrassing narrative pushed by lazy people to cover up for their failures. People simply didn’t show up in the numbers that some people would have expected of Top 25 teams. Biggest contributing factors to this were atrocious game day operations (everyone I’ve spoken to who no longer attends our games doesnt do so for that reason) and undesirable game times and weekdays. Our highest average attendance since 2015 or 2016 actually came in 2021 (Napier’s last year and most successful season). That attendance would have been even higher if we had cleaned up our operations and not had 3 midweek games and an 11 AM Homecoming. We had 6 games to display to Acadiana the height of our program. People were only able to get the full experience of the Louisiana football party twice. That absolutely kneecapped any fanbase gains we could have made. But boy didn’t we cash in on that public exposure the next year right. 7,000 strong at the Troy game. Fanbase stronger than ever.

Yep, this right here.

[Rainman66]

Based on the comments, it is apparent most people on here haven't negotiated big time contracts in the past. This isn't negotiating buying a car and demanding they throw in the luxury package for free.

The SunBelt, and G5 conferences in general, are in no position to demand anything from ESPN, at the moment, and/or for the foreseeable future. You want to get one veto per team, per year ... cool, ESPN will drop the contract offer by 25%, minimum. How does that affect our athletic budget and the budget of every other G5?

Ask CUSA, what trying to flex their muscle with ESPN got them, the vaunted CBS sports channel, but hey I am sure they are selling out all of their 7 p.m. games, right ?

I hate weekday games, but MACaction has turned into a good brand for them and has definitely helped their profile. Has it made the league better or attendance better, I don't know, but I guarantee you no one knew or cared about the MAC before that, outside of their fans.

I am not saying don't be ____ed, but at least be realistic in what can be won in the negotiating battle with the behemoth that is ESPN.

[CajunSID]

Shut up.

Grow up

[CajunSID]

I'm free to _____ about anything.

You sure are. And can have an opinion too. As can everyone else.

[Jacob81]

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned in the thread is that since the belt started playing espn+ games and national tv games on the espn networks, the product on the field and perception of this league have skyrocketed from the bottom of the barrel to a g5 top contender. There’s really no way to know if that success would have happened without the contract, but it would be pretty dumb to right it off as a big reason.

[SlickRick]

You sure are. And can have an opinion too. As can everyone else.

Bless your heart...

[zeppelincajun]

Yes but I'm commenting on the sheer amount of _____ing about what's not in our control only having people think we can control it.

You specifically responded to me so I will ask you at what point did I say we had control of this? I am pushing back against the fallacy that this is good for us. I’d also like to point out that you don’t have to be in control of something to acknowledge it for what is. I am simply not willing to engage in the mental gymnastics others want to do to convince themselves that this is actually a net positive for us. The national exposure is not comparable long term to the engagement we are losing with our community.

[facelessjonmoon]

That is a complete lie. Our attendance steadily climbed in the Napier years. The narrative that the community didn’t respond to the on field success of his tenure is an embarrassing narrative pushed by lazy people to cover up for their failures. People simply didn’t show up in the numbers that some people would have expected of Top 25 teams. Biggest contributing factors to this were atrocious game day operations (everyone I’ve spoken to who no longer attends our games doesnt do so for that reason) and undesirable game times and weekdays. Our highest average attendance since 2015 or 2016 actually came in 2021 (Napier’s last year and most successful season). That attendance would have been even higher if we had cleaned up our operations and not had 3 midweek games and an 11 AM Homecoming. We had 6 games to display to Acadiana the height of our program. People were only able to get the full experience of the Louisiana football party twice. That absolutely kneecapped any fanbase gains we could have made. But boy didn’t we cash in on that public exposure the next year right. 7,000 strong at the Troy game. Fanbase stronger than ever.

Yep.

The 2020 covid year and the 2021 mid week schedule were absolutely brutal for attendance

3 mid week home games was total horse ____ for season ticket and season long tailgate paying customers

[Turbine]

Lifestyle changes change lifestyle.

If you want your fanbase guaranteed. Then make football a guaranteed part of their lifestyle.

Only consistency can regrow what was lost.

"Louisiana Saturday Nights"

If ESPN 3+U2 time changes makes them have to think about it, the battle is already half lost.

[Duckster]

In defense of the 2021 season attendance, in addition to what's been written about the mid-week games the COVID spreads were still a damper. Sure the SBC Championship game had what, about 33,000 attending when the Omicron spread was getting underway? All things considered, at that time I thought that was a good number.

Every D-1 conference has eagerly turned control of college football over to the television networks directly leading to conference consolidation and trashing of long time traditions which does nothing to improve student athlete quality of life or the fan experience who pay the bills. This is nationwide not just here in Cajun Nation. So more crappy kick off times are in our future because the TV networks are not in the business of pleasing fans or student athletes. Regardless of all that, we need to beat Tulane and we need to do our best moving the football program to become competitive for the CFP ASAP.